For years, Laura Rhodes-Levin, a licensed marriage and family therapist, has been trying to get the message out that engaging your five senses can help you lower your work stress. “I am always telling my patients: ‘Come to your senses,’” she said. As the founder of the Missing Peace Center for Anxiety in Agoura Hills, Calif.
, she wishes mindfulness were called “bodyfulness.” “It’s about getting into your body, and your five senses are the best way to do it, said Rhodes-Levin. “The last thing our stress needs is to think about itself.
” Dr. Heather Stevenson , a licensed clinical psychologist in New York City, explained that you can use your five senses to help shift the sensory input your body is receiving, which activates your nervous system, telling your body it’s safe to relax and slow down. This is the body’s physiological way of responding to both stress and positive stimuli.
“When your body is stressed, it’s like your internal system is set off by alarm bells triggering an alert that starts to impact how your brain and body react by increasing cortisol,” said Stevenson. “The practice of using your five senses to help reduce stress and down-regulate your nervous system is part of both mindfulness and somatic therapy exercises.” Having learned and practiced many of these techniques for herself, she now teaches them to clients as part of her therapy practice.
But, you’re a hassled and ever-harried New Yorker. How can you tap into your cor.