The five-minute reset
A written guided exercise. Read it slowly and do each step as you go.
This takes five minutes, start to finish. You can do it at a desk, in a car that's parked, or in bed. You don't need privacy and no one needs to know you're doing it.
Minute 1. Land
Stop moving. Let both feet rest flat on the floor. Let your hands rest. You don't have to relax. You just have to stop adding to it.
Minutes 2 and 3. The long exhale
Breathe in through your nose, at a normal pace. Let the exhale run longer than the inhale. Not forced, just longer. Do this slowly, again and again, for about two minutes. If your mind wanders, that's fine, bring it back to the next exhale. You'll know it's working when the breath catches slightly on the way out. That small hitch is your body finding its bottom and starting back up.
Minute 4. Ground
Look around wherever you are. Name three specific things you can see. Not categories, specifics. The exact objects in front of you. Then notice the temperature of the air on your hands.
Minute 5. One small thing
Before you stand up, pick one small, reasonable next action. Not a plan for the whole day. The next single thing. When the five minutes end, go and do that.
You didn't fix everything in five minutes. That was never the goal. You changed the direction your system was heading, enough to keep going. That's what a reset is for.
A reset interrupts the moment. To work on the loop underneath it, I'd start with the Pattern Library, where each loop has its own page, and how the shrinQ system works, which walks through the four moves I use. When you want the full structure, the shrinQ program is where I teach it.
Related reading on shrinkMD: how to stop anxiety when it's building (opens in a new tab). shrinkMD is part of The Shrink Network, founded by Shariq Refai, MD.
Tap start and follow the circle. Four seconds in as it grows, six seconds out as it shrinks.
Get the guided audio version when it's ready.
This is one exercise. shrinQ, the paid program, is the full set: the body-first tools, the shrinkMD Reset, and a daily practice that makes resets like this a habit instead of an emergency measure. Enter your email and we'll tell you when the audio version ships, plus a short series that introduces the program.
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Common questions
Work through five short steps: land and stop adding to it, spend two minutes letting the exhale run longer than the inhale, name three specific things you can see, and pick one small next action before you stand up. It takes five minutes and you can do it at a desk, in a parked car, or in bed.
It is not fixing everything in five minutes, which was never the goal. It is changing the direction your system is heading, enough to keep going. A longer exhale and a moment of grounding shift you from alert toward settle, and one small action gives you somewhere to go next.
Yes. You do not need privacy and no one needs to know you are doing it. The breathing minutes are easiest with the pacer on the page: tap start and follow the circle, four seconds in and six seconds out.