Hailey Bieber reveals her husband Justin uses 'havening' technique to manage stress

'It’s like when you’re a little kid and you suck your thumb to soothe yourself', says Hailey

Hailey Bieber has opened up about the technique her husband Justin uses to manage his stress.

During the latest episode of the singer’s YouTube docuseries, Justin Bieber: Seasons, it was revealed that the 25-year-old regularly practices “Havening”; rubbing his hands on his face and head.

Justin used the technique in the episode titled “Album on the Way” to help him relax after he began to feel anxious amid a crowded scene on set as he filmed the video for his single “Yummy”.

Hailey, who also appears in the ninth episode, discussed the technique on camera and described it as a “self-soothing thing”.

“Everybody kind of has their own version of Havening without knowing it,” she said.

“It’s like when you’re a little kid and you suck your thumb to soothe yourself. When you’re starting to feel really stressed out or just to keep yourself calm – it’s almost like when you’re a kid and your mum is rubbing your back to sleep and it’s the best feeling in the world?

“It’s kind of like that, except you’re doing it for yourself.”

Justin’s health coach Dr Buzz Mingin, who also appears in the latest episode of the docuseries, added to Hailey’s explanation of Havening, describing it as a “psychosensory technique that actually raises the feel-good chemicals in your brain on demand”.

Justin applies the technique by rubbing his head and face continuously while hunched over, which Mingin says allows him “to know what it is he should be doing in the moment he’s feeling stressed, and then he has a coordinated signal back to me that lets me know what’s wrong, how he feels, and what he needs”.

Mingin added that the changes he has seen in Justin are “monumental”.

“He’s matured tremendously,” Mingin said. “He’s not living in survival mode anymore.”

Later in the episode, Justin explained why he felt the need to use Havening during that moment, saying: “It was just a lot, a lot of people, a lot of dynamic, a lot of stuff [sic].

“I was in my head a lot and it’s hard for me to really enjoy it like that, but I know that some days are just gonna be like that. In any work space, there’s gonna be those off days where you just kind of feel like, ‘I got a good crew, I should be good but today, I just feel off.’ I think that day I was just a little off.”

Havening was first developed by US neuroscientist Ronald Ruden who provides the following description of the technique, which is used as a form of trauma therapy.

“First is activation of the emotional content of the traumatic event by imaginal recall,” the website Havening.org reads.

“A gentle and soothing touch is then applied to the upper arms, palms, and around the eyes. It produces an extrasensory response of safety that arises from the evolutionary equivalent of what a mother’s touch does at the time of birth. It is innately wired.

“Concurrently with Havening touch the therapist distracts the individual. Since the mind cannot hold two thoughts simultaneously, the use of distraction displaces the recalled event from working memory.”

In an earlier episode of Justin’s docuseries, the “Sorry” singer opened up about his past drug use and admitted developing a “dependency” on cannabis, ecstasy and hallucinogenic mushrooms.

“People don’t know how serious it got,” Bieber said. “It was legit crazy scary.

“I was waking up in the morning and the first thing I was doing is popping pills and smoking a blunt and starting my day.”

The singer went on to describe the drugs as an “escape” from the pressures of being one of the most famous musicians in the world.