You Are Here: 5 Senses Grounding Exercise

Mental Wellness

Often the noise of your thoughts can take you out of the present moment. Grounding exercises are a way to come out of your head and back into your body and environment. Using your own body to bring you into the present is a useful tool during these moments. Try this simple exercise to ground you to your environment. You can add in the additional senses to ground to self. By being present in your body and environment, you are now in the present moment.

Tune into the 5 Senses

• Sight: Tune into 5 things you can see.

• Touch: Tune into 4 things you can feel.

• Sound: Tune into 3 things you can hear.

• Smell: Tune into 2 things you can smell.

• Taste: Tune into 1 thing you can taste.

Bonus: Once you have completed the 5 sense cycle, add in a few others to continue grounding to your environment and body.

Proprioception (perception of body position) : tune into where your body is in the room

Temporal Perception (perception of the passage of time): tune into what sitting for a minute feels like to you

Equilibrioception (perception of balance): stand and tune into the slight adjustments your body makes to be upright

Thermoception (ability to feel hot and cold): tune into the sensation of where your body feels hot and where it feels cold

Mindfulness is a series of practices that assist in creating a mindful experience. Instead of judging yourself or feeling as if you have to get it “right”, take a moment to use how you show up during the exercise as information and not judgement. To ground to your body, the breath is a great way to do this. I invite you to practice this exercise on a regular basis to keep strengthening your overall mindfulness toolbox.