I am sharing a simple exercise I heard while listening to Tamara Levitt on the Daily Calm App.

When you feel like you've got too much on your plate, it's easy to fall in to overwhelm and feel a heightened sense of anxiety, often incapable of taking action.

Here is a technique to bring you out of your head and into your body, to find relief. It's a simple practice called 5,4,3,2,1 where we countdown from 5 and tune in to our senses

5 - Acknoledge five things you can see visibly see around you in your environment. (Walls, pictures, pets)

4 - Acknowledge four things you can physically touch in your environment, reach out, and feel their texture. (A table, the clothes you are wearing, a book that's in front of you). Try to feel the fine sensations of a texture

3 - Acknowledge three things you can hear.
(A voice of a car driving by, the hum of a refrigerator).

2 - Acknowledge two things you can smell.
(Even subtle smells count; smells in the air, cooking nearby, your shirt sleeve)

1 - Acknowledge the one thing you can taste in your mouth.
(Food, coffee from earlier in the day).

These five steps explore the five senses, a way to ground yourself from signs of anxiety. Coming to our senses brings us back to a sense of stability.

By going out of your mind you come to your senses. Alan Watts