Signal Psychiatric Services

Relaxation techniques

Simple skills to calm your body and mind.

A few techniques I like, with free videos to follow along. Pick one and practice it a few minutes a day.

Grounding (5-4-3-2-1)

This is one of my favorite techniques. It’s simple, but it works. It’s useful when anxiety has you stuck in your head.

  • Name 5 things you can see.
  • Name 4 things you can feel.
  • Name 3 things you can hear.
  • Name 2 things you can smell.
  • Name 1 thing you can taste.
Animated countdown from 5 to 1. Name five things you see, four you feel, three you hear, two you smell, and one you taste, each shown for four seconds with a simple icon and a row of dots that fill in, repeating every twenty seconds

Videos to follow along

Box breathing

Anxiety makes your breathing faster and shallower, and that makes you feel more anxious. Slow, even breathing helps break that cycle. The long breath out does most of the calming, so don’t rush it.

  • Breathe in through your nose for a count of 4.
  • Hold for 4.
  • Breathe out slowly for 4.
  • Hold for 4, and repeat for a few minutes.

If holding your breath makes you dizzy or more anxious, shorten the holds or skip them.

Animated square that traces each side for four seconds while the words Breathe in, Hold, Breathe out, Hold appear, repeating every 16 seconds

Videos to follow along

Belly breathing

Most of us breathe up in the chest, especially when stressed. Breathing down into the belly uses the diaphragm, your main breathing muscle, and naturally slows things down. The other techniques here build on it.

  • Rest one hand on your belly and sit or lie comfortably.
  • Breathe in slowly through your nose so your belly rises.
  • Breathe out slowly through pursed lips.
  • Keep going for five to ten minutes.
Animated circle that grows for four seconds while the words Breathe in appear, then shrinks for four seconds while the words Breathe out appear, repeating every eight seconds

Videos to follow along

Progressive muscle relaxation

Stress often sits in the jaw, neck, and shoulders, and after a while we stop noticing it. Tensing and then letting go teaches you to feel the difference between tight and loose.

  • Start at your feet and work up to your face.
  • Tense each area for about five seconds, without pain.
  • Let go all at once and notice the difference for ten to twenty seconds.
Animated simple figure seated in a chair. Muscle groups light up one at a time from the feet up to the face and neck, then the whole body, each shown as tense and then rest. Each area is tensed for five seconds and rested for ten.

Videos to follow along

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