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5 Senses Meditation

If you’re feeling 5 senses meditation, you can use your senses to ground yourself in the present moment. This mindfulness exercise can help you feel more connected to your surroundings, calm feelings of stress or anxiety, and improve focus and emotional regulation in just 5 minutes each day.

To try this practice, find a comfortable place where you can sit or lie for a few minutes and notice each of your five senses:

Awakening Awareness: Exploring the 5 Senses Meditation

Start with your sense of sight and look around you. Notice the colors, shapes, and textures of your environment. Then move on to touch and notice four things that you can feel with your hands. This could include the coolness of your phone screen, the soft fabric of your jeans, or the warmth of your mug. Finally, shift your attention to smell and note two things you can notice with your nose. You may notice some strong or even involuntary scents, but try to stay open and nonjudgmental as you go through each of the senses.

This type of meditation can be especially helpful for people who have experienced trauma, or are feeling anxious due to current events. For example, Gomez says that those who are experiencing a combination of the effects of police violence and biases on their lives might have a hard time staying in the moment because they’re “in the middle of a re-play of something that’s happened.” The sensory grounding technique can help them to engage with their surroundings and stay in the present moment instead of re-living a past experience.