The 5-4-3-2-1 Method for Anxiety

If you struggle with anxious thoughts and feelings, have you tried the 5-4-3-2-1 method for anxiety?

Now, when I think of 5-4-3-2-1, I get the Manfred Mann song stuck in my head for hours. I blame the 80’s TV advert that used it (to advertise the long forgotten 54321 chocolate bar).

Recently I wrote about the 3-3-3 rule for anxiety and you can find that in another article. The 5-4-3-2-1 method for anxiety is another grounding technique that can help you to shift your focus away from anxious thoughts and back into the present moment. Anxiety is all about the ‘what if’ type thoughts of what might happen in the future. By moving your focus back to the here and now, you focus on what is actually happening now, rather than imagined future catastrophes.

You already know that when anxiety strikes, it can feel like your mind has been hijacked. Your thoughts spiral from one worry to the next. You find it hard to think clearly. Your heart pounds, you feel hot and tense and you get entangled in the web of anxiety. Anxious thoughts feed anxious feelings that then leads to even more negative thinking and on and on it races. You experience the discomfort when you feel anxious. And, even in calmer moments, you may have started to worry about the possibility that you may experience it again. The fear of the fear constantly lurks inside of you.

The 5-4-3-2-1 grounding technique for anxiety is a simple and powerful tool that can help you interrupt anxiety and quickly come back to calm. You shift your focus away from anxious thoughts and back into the present moment. It’s something you can use anywhere, anytime and without anyone else even noticing.

 

What is the 5-4-3-2-1 Method?

In essence, the 5-4-3-2-1 method is a grounding technique designed to use your senses to bring you back to now.

When you feel anxious, your mind races and jumps into all the ‘what if’ thoughts about the future or you replay negative moments from your past. The more anxious you feel, the more this spirals. It brings a sense of doom and seemingly inevitable disaster.

The 5-4-3-2-1 method helps you to learn how to interrupt that pattern by bringing your focus and attention back to the here and now. If you are lost in thoughts of future scenarios then keep in mind that is your imagination guessing what will happen. As humans we aren’t that great at accurately making predictions of what will happen. After all, you’re sure to have had many times when things didn’t pan out how you thought they would. In the present moment we are dealing with facts and not guesswork.

Here’s what you do:

• 5 things you can SEE – look around and notice five things you can see in your current surroundings. It could be the colour of a wall, a car, a book or anything at all that you can see around you right now.

 

• 4 things you can TOUCH – notice four things you can physically feel right now. It could be your feet on the floor, your back against the chair, the feel of your clothes, the breeze on your skin.

 

• 3 things you can HEAR – listen and notice three sounds you can hear – the sound of a ticking clock, a bird singing or the sound of your footsteps on the ground as you walk.

 

• 2 things you can SMELL – notice two smells or scents around you. It could be the smell of a cup of coffee or your perfume for example.

 

• 1 thing you can TASTE – Then finally you tune into one taste in your mouth, perhaps from a drink or a sweet.

 

You use this simple sequence of see, touch, hear, smell and taste. You can run through it as many times as you need to. You reconnect with the present moment rather than being somewhere else inside your head.

 

How It Helps With Anxiety

Anxiety grows through focus and attention. It thrives on overthinking and mental noise. The more you think negatively, the more negative thoughts you have to think about. your brain scans from one perceived threat to the next with no way out of the loop.

When you place your focus on your senses, as with the 5-4-3-2-1 method, you move your attention away from thinking and back into what you can sense right here in the present moment. You calm your brain and body to ease physical symptoms and clear your mind.

Of course, like any technique you benefit from practice and repetition. You want to know it so well that you can start the method as soon as you notice your thoughts moving towards anxiety. Through repetition over time, you can train your brain to respond to anxious feelings in a calmer, more balanced way. Many of my clients find that practising this method daily for a while, even when they are feeling fine, helps make it second nature when anxiety does arise.

And, as always, the more strategies and techniques you know for interrupting anxious thoughts and calming anxious feelings, the more equipped you will feel and the more able you will be to manage how you feel.

As well as its simplicity, one of the best things about the 5-4-3-2-1 technique for anxiety is that it is versatile enough to be quickly used anywhere at any time.

 

From Anxiety To Calmness and Confidence

Grounding techniques, like the 5-4-3-2-1 method for anxiety, are fantastic tools. They help you to take control over your thoughts and feelings rather than being controlled by them. But strategies are just one part of learning to manage anxiety effectively.

If you often find yourself feeling anxious, tense or caught up in racing thoughts, then you may benefit from some support to help you retrain your mind to feel calmer and more in control. Through hypnotherapy, I’ve helped hundreds of people move from anxiety and overwhelm to feeling calm and confident again.

If anxiety has been getting in the way of your life and you’d like to feel more relaxed, focused and in control then do get in touch today and find out how we can work together to help you feel calmer, happier and more confident again.

You can learn more about how I help people overcome anxiety here: Overcoming Anxiety with Hypnotherapy

To your health and happiness, 

Dan Regan

Anxiety Hypnotherapy in Ely, Newmarket & Online

Helping your feel more calm, confident and in control.

 

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