Self-Soothe with Six Senses

Use your six senses (vision, hearing, smell, taste, touch, and movement) to comfort yourself during emotional distress.

Self-Soothe with Six Senses is a distress tolerance skill that uses your senses to bring comfort and calm during emotional pain. By deliberately engaging each sense with something pleasant, you activate your body's natural relaxation response.

This skill works because sensory input directly influences your nervous system. When you intentionally focus on comforting sensations, you interrupt the fight-or-flight cycle and bring yourself back toward baseline.

The Six Senses

  • Vision — Look at something beautiful or calming. Nature scenes, art, photos of loved ones, a candle flame, stars.
  • Hearing — Listen to soothing sounds. Music, nature sounds, rain, a favorite podcast, wind chimes, a purring cat.
  • Smell — Inhale comforting scents. Essential oils (lavender, eucalyptus), fresh coffee, baking bread, flowers, clean laundry.
  • Taste — Savor something pleasant. Hot tea, chocolate, a favorite meal. Eat slowly and mindfully.
  • Touch — Feel something comforting. A soft blanket, warm bath, pet fur, cool breeze, stress ball, weighted blanket.
  • Movement (Kinesthetic) — Gentle motion that soothes. Rocking, stretching, slow walking, yoga, swaying.
Build a Self-Soothe Kit in advance — a box or bag with items for each sense that you can grab during a crisis. Having it ready removes the barrier of figuring out what to do when you're overwhelmed.

Tips

  • Focus completely on the sensation — practice mindfulness while self-soothing
  • Give yourself permission to feel comfort without guilt
  • Experiment to find which senses work best for you
  • Combine senses for stronger effect (warm bath + music + candle)

For more ideas, see dbt.tools: Self-Soothe and DBT Self Help: Self-Soothe.

Resources