COME TO YOUR SENSES

All my life I’ve heard the phrase “come to your senses.” It wasn’t until I worked regularly with anxiety that I realized the phrase is quite literal. Anxiety exists mostly in our heads and subsequently causes intense physical symptoms. I have found that when directing my patients to their 5 senses, it becomes very difficult for them to remain highjacked by their anxiety driven thoughts. Try this yourself.

If you are feeling anxious…

*Smell something pleasant and relaxing, we use essential oils here at the center.

*Focus on the sound in the room, or play sounds that relax you.

*Look at something and describe it out loud in detail.

*Touch or feel something pleasant, we found cold things help in relieving anxiety, like an ice pack or cool towel.

*Taste something pleasant.

It’s hard to do all five at one, but if you can do 2-3 together, your anxiety will slip to the background, or disappear completely. That’s why places like Hawaii or the mountains are so relaxing because all of your senses are engaged and your anxiety quiets down. If the anxiety creeps back do it again.