Look Around

A short grounding exercise with no breath focus at all.

For when focusing on breathing feels uncomfortable.

Evidence: Early evidence

Choose a length

Good for: When attention to the breath makes you more uneasy, or you would simply rather look outward.
Rhythm: No pacing
Feel: Very gentle

Go gently. Keep your eyes open and move at your own pace.

Want to know why this works?

Noticing what is around you — what you can see, hear and feel — is a grounding skill included in the World Health Organization's self-help stress guide. It shifts attention outward instead of inward.

Show breathing science

Grounding — noticing what you can see, hear and feel around you — is one of the skills in the World Health Organization's self-help stress guide.

Early evidence: Promising but limited or indirect research.

Sources

World Health Organization. Doing What Matters in Times of Stress: An Illustrated Guide. Geneva: WHO; 2020. ISBN 9789240003927. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240003927 (opens in a new tab)
World Health Organization. Self-Help Plus (SH+): a group-based stress management course for adults. Geneva: WHO; 2021. https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240035119 (opens in a new tab)

The evidence

Technical timing

Six prompts, 12 s each (72 s), or the set twice (144 s). No breath pacing.