Scattered? Overwhelmed? Nervous? Start here.
Come back to your senses.
We spend so much time in our heads — thinking, analysing, reacting, planning — that we often forget one of the most powerful self-regulation tools is available at all times: our senses.
At any given moment, we can return to the body — to what it’s seeing, hearing, touching, smelling, tasting — and find a way back to ourselves. When we engage consciously with our senses, we shift our internal state. We settle our nervous system. We widen our perspective. We come into the here and now where presence, clarity, and choice live.
This isn’t about tuning out the world, it’s about tuning into it.
What happens when we don’t?
Let’s say you’re about to walk into a high-stakes meeting. Your heart is racing, your jaw is tight, and thoughts are speeding ahead to all the possible outcomes. You try to mentally “power through,” but your body hasn’t caught up. Your nervous system is still in threat mode. So you rush, stumble, over-explain, or shut down completely.
Now imagine if, just before walking in, you paused to feel the soles of your feet on the ground, tune into some ambient sounds, soften your gaze and notice your hands as they swing by your side. All while breathing steadily through your nose, feeling your belly rise and fall. You wouldn’t have solved the anxiety, but you’d have regulated just enough to arrive. To choose how you want to show up.
Our senses speak to the nervous system — not the mind
You can’t think your way into calm. The body doesn’t respond to logic, it responds to sensory input. Your nervous system is constantly scanning your environment for cues of safety or threat. This is a process called neuroception, which happens before conscious thought kicks in.
When your system perceives safety, it shifts into a calmer, more connected state, often called “rest and digest.” You gain access to the parts of your brain responsible for emotional regulation, creative thinking, and connection. But when your system senses danger or overwhelm, it shifts into fight, flight, or freeze. Your breath shortens, your perspective narrows, and presence becomes much harder to access.
The science behind it
Research in neuroscience backs this up. Sensory input like the warmth of touch, the sound of a calming voice, or the visual rhythm of nature, directly influences how your autonomic nervous system functions.
When you consciously engage your senses, you’re activating the parasympathetic branch of the nervous system, the one responsible for rest, digestion, and restoration. This helps reduce activity in the amygdala (the brain’s fear centre) and re-engage the prefrontal cortex, the area associated with emotional regulation, decision-making, and empathy.
Put simply: when your body feels safe, your brain can lead.
That’s why the shift from dysregulation to grounded presence often begins with something as simple as feeling your feet, hearing birdsong, or taking in colour and light.
Using your senses to regulate and realign
Here are some simple but potent ways to bring sensory awareness into everyday moments:
1. TOUCH
Touch, especially gentle or warm touch, cues safety and brings you into the present moment because it directly signals to the nervous system that you are not in danger.
Feel the weight of your body in your chair before a Zoom call.
Place a hand on your chest or stomach when you feel overwhelmed.
Run your hands under warm water after a difficult conversation.
2. SOUND
Your nervous system listens for danger even when you're not aware of it. Sudden, sharp, loud, or unpredictable sounds often signal potential danger. In contrast, calm, natural, rhythmic, or melodic sounds signal that all is well.
Step outside and listen to ambient noise when your mind is spinning.
Put on instrumental music while writing or problem-solving.
In moments of stress, tune into the rhythm of your own breath.
3. SIGHT
In a threat state, your vision tends to narrow and focus sharply (called “tunnel vision”). When you soften or expand your gaze, you signal safety to your body. This calms the stress response and promotes a sense of groundedness and ease. Research shows that natural imagery, patterns, and soft colours can reduce stress, lower heart rate, and increase feelings of wellbeing — a concept known as biophilic response (our innate draw toward nature).
Name five things you can see when you feel disconnected or anxious.
Soften your gaze and take in your surroundings before making a decision.
Use natural beauty — a tree, the sky, a texture — as a reset.
4. SMELL + TASTE
Smell (olfaction) is the only sense that bypasses the brain’s usual processing route and goes straight to the limbic system, the part of the brain involved in emotion, memory, and survival instincts. That’s why certain scents can instantly calm you down without any conscious thought. Familiar smells and tastes (like your morning coffee, a particular essential oil, or a warm soup) can evoke comfort and groundedness. These associations help your nervous system feel at ease, reminding it: ‘You’re safe, you’ve been here before.’
A citrus essential oil in the afternoon slump.
A hot tea before or after a difficult task.
A piece of fruit eaten slowly and intentionally to ground between back-to-backs.
Regulation creates presence. Presence creates impact.
Your senses create rituals and rituals regulate. The more regulated you are, the more choices you have. You can hear what’s really being said. You can pause before reacting. You can lead from alignment instead of urgency.
This is especially powerful in moments of uncertainty, conflict, or transition. When others are dysregulated, your presence becomes the grounding force.
So the next time you feel scattered, overwhelmed, or unsteady, don’t go searching for answers in your head. Start with what your body can see, hear, feel, smell, or taste. Your senses will show you the way back.