Using Your Senses To Relax
Below are evidence-based instructions to use your five senses to bring your body and mind back into focus and into the present moment. As you follow the steps, you will slowly start feeling your body and mind become focused on what is right in front of you.
The Five Senses Technique
- Say out loud the name of five things you can see with your eyes.
- Say out loud the name of four things you can touch with your hands.
- Say out loud the name of three things you can hear. (It is ok to make soft noises and then name them.)
- Say out loud the name of two things you can smell. (It is ok to find things to smell and then name them.)
- Say out loud the name of one thing you can taste. (It is ok to find something to eat or drink and then name it.)
Your Grounding Observations:
- 5 things you see:
- 4 things you touch:
- 3 things you hear:
- 2 things you smell:
- 1 thing you taste:
Why It Works
Using your senses to calm and regulate yourself has lasting, evidence-based health benefits. The technique has been shown to reduce emotional overwhelm, regulate intense emotions, release the sympathetic nervous system's stress response, and increase immediate cognitive focus.
Worksheet References:
1. Scott, A., et al. (2025). Somatic Grounding Practices and Sympathetic Regulation in Health Coaching. Journal of Integrative Health Practice, 18(2), 112-120.
2. Webb, M. (2023). The Present Moment: Visual and Sensory Orienting in Somatic Stress Release. Somatic Psychology Review, 9(4), 45-56.
TV Repairs Health Coaching • Student Practice Worksheet for UMN Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing
Where You Look Is How You Feel
Have you ever gotten lost in rumination? Rehearsing a conversation that you are about to have, or replaying one that did not go as planned? Next thing you know, you've been ruminating longer than you wanted, leaving you with less time in your day and feeling rushed or exhausted.
You are invited to use your visual senses to bring yourself back to the present moment. As you follow the exercise below, you may notice a release of physical tension, your breathing becoming more relaxed, or you may notice no change at all. There is no wrong way to orient yourself to the present.
Visual Orientation Exercise
- Let your gaze widen your view like a panorama. Widen your peripheral vision.
- Look around your room slowly. Move your gaze from side to side, above you, on the ground, and behind you.
- Take in the room. Notice the colors, shapes, light, and shadows around you.
- Allow yourself to gaze on things that feel pleasing or give you a sense of ease. Let your eyes linger there.
- Practice this orienting sweep for as long as you'd like, or until you feel your body come into the present.
Why Visual Orienting Helps
Scanning and orienting visually signals to the primitive areas of the brain (the brainstem and amygdala) that there is no imminent threat in the environment. By widening your gaze, you actively interrupt active hyper-focus on stressors and allow the parasympathetic nervous system to restore balanced breathing and pulse rates.
Worksheet References:
1. Somatic Experiencing Boundary Models & Visual Scanning (Earl E. Bakken Center, 2025).
2. Polyvagal Theory and the Neurobiology of Environmental Orientation.
TV Repairs Health Coaching • Student Practice Worksheet for UMN Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing
Being Compassionate with Your Self-Talk
Our family systems and childhood experiences instill us with beliefs to guide our behavior. Sometimes these beliefs are passed on by parental figures, and sometimes they are created from childhood experiences we had to merely survive. These beliefs become little inner voices helping us make choices.
Many of these beliefs remain supportive, while others become limiting, often speaking to us in a harsh, judgmental, self-critical voice (such as imposter syndrome: "Everyone thinks you know what you are doing, but you're just faking it..."). Follow this practice to learn how to transform your self-criticism into a compassionate inner voice.
The 4-Step Reframing Practice
Step 1. What are the objective facts? (Remove stories or absolute judgments like "idiot" or "failing").
Step 2. What are you feeling emotionally? (e.g., vulnerable, nervous, tired).
Step 3. What do you need? (Identify the positive universal human need, e.g., competence, safety, connection).
Step 4. What is your request? (Formulate a clear, concrete, and doable next action).
The NVC Compassionate Reframing Formula
"When [Facts], I feel [Feelings], because I am needing [Needs]. Therefore, I now would like [Request]."
Your Compassionate Reframe Statement:
"When I don't know the answer to a question, I feel vulnerable because I need professional competence and growth. Therefore, I would like to request support from a teammate."
Example Reframe
Critical Voice: "Everyone thinks you are qualified, but you're just faking it. When they figure out you don't have all the answers, they'll see you are an idiot."
Compassionate Reframe: "When I don't know the answer to a question at my job, I feel vulnerable because I am needing professional competence and growth. Therefore, I now would like to request support from a teammate or allow myself time to research the solution."
Worksheet References:
1. McKay, M., & Fanning, P. (2016). Self-Esteem: A Proven Program of Cognitive Techniques for Assessing, Improving, and Maintaining Your Self-Esteem. New Harbinger Publications.
2. Rosenberg, M. B. (2015). Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life. Puddledancer Press.
TV Repairs Health Coaching • Student Practice Worksheet for UMN Bakken Center for Spirituality & Healing
