The five-finger breathing technique is an effective way to decrease stress and manage anxiety. This mindful breathing practice works quickly and is easy to learn, even for kids!

Feeling anxious or stressed? I got you! Give five-finger breathing a try to instantly calm your mind and body. Here’s how to get started.

I first heard about five-finger breathing when Dr. Judson Brewer published his book Unwinding Anxiety. As he was on tour discussing his book, he suggested using the practice as an easy technique for dealing with the anxious mind.

Unwinding Anxiety

Let’s get a little bit of background information here.

In Unwinding Anxiety, Dr. Brewer discusses anxiety as a habit loop in which many of us get stuck. To get unstuck, we need to find what he refers to as the bigger, better offer for our brains. In other words, we need to give our minds something better to do or focus on. He recommends breathing as one way to break the anxiety habit loop.

Breathing as a Bigger, Better Offer

According to Dr. Brewer, there are three reasons breathing is particularly helpful in overcoming anxiety as a bigger, better offer.[1]

  1. Your breath is always with you. Thus, it’s easy to practice anywhere, anytime.
  2. When you pay attention to your breath, it’s hard to pay attention to your old anxiety loop.
  3. Breathing doesn’t contribute negatively to your old anxiety habit loop. Many of us increase our anxiety by feeding the habit loop. Breathing won’t do that.

Breathing and the Parasympathetic Nervous System

In addition, I’ve discussed the fact that slow breathing, particularly slow exhales, activate the parasympathetic nervous system. This is associated with the rest and digest function, a counter to our fight-or-flight mode.

As our breath slows, the parasympathetic nervous system is activated, and we send a signal to our brain that we are safe, and we are calm. Slow breathing is a way to overwrite the current stressful and anxious messages being sent to the brain with calmer signals that help us relax.

Five-Finger Breathing as Mindful Meditation

One of the best things about paying attention to your breath is that it forces you to pay attention to the present moment. In other words, it’s a mindfulness practice that gets you out of your head and down into your body.

The New York Times described the five-finger breathing practice as a “multi-sensory meditation practice” in an article titled “Meditate On The Go.”[2] For those of you who swear you can’t meditate, this might be a great practice for you to try.

Five-finger breathing forces you to focus on the sensations of sight and touch, hence the multi-sensory aspect of it. Paying attention to our five senses is a very easy way to come back to the present moment and get unstuck from a mental habit loop. For more on this, check out my discussion on the five senses grounding technique.

Practice the Five-Finger Breathing Technique

  1. Spread the palm of one hand out in front of you.
  2. Place your index finger of the opposite hand at the base of your thumb.
  3. Inhale slowly while you trace your index finger up to the top of your thumb.
  4. Pause briefly at the top of the thumb, then exhale as you trace down to the bottom of the thumb.
  5. Inhale as you slowly trace up to the tip of your index finger, pause briefly at the top, and then exhale as you trace down to the bottom of the index finger.
  6. Repeat this for all of your fingers until you get back down to the bottom of your palm.
  7. Repeat as needed.

I’ve used this technique many times over the years, and taught multiple clients to use it as well. It’s so simple that I’ve taught children to use it with just a few minutes of instruction.

Here are a few modifications to try:

  • Try teaching your kids to use this technique. It’s something you can use together when one of you is stressed or while trying to fall asleep.
  • Try repeating the exercise on the opposite hand and noticing how the sensations are different.
  • If you think you might be breathing too rapidly, try counting to five for each inhale and each exhale. This slows the breath even more. (It’s also known as the perfect breath or coherent breathing.)
  • If you’re in a comfortable, safe spot, consider closing your eyes. Just focus on the sensation of touch, which can drastically intensify the sensation.

Small Changes, Big Transformation

Using the five-finger breathing technique is one small change we can make to build resilience and mange our stress. Anxiety doesn’t have to feel so overwhelming. Give this practice a try this week and let me know how it goes!

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[1] Brewer, J. (2021). Unwinding anxiety: New science shows how to break the cycles of worry and fear to heal your mind. New York: Avery.

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/24/well/pandemic-wellness-meditation.html