Wake Up Your Senses

This is a simple exercise that I have included in my meditation practice, but can be done any time really - even at work when your stress levels are hitting the roof. It only takes a minute or 2, so your colleagues won't think you've fallen asleep!

I have found this practice to be very calming and grounding, and it also develops your senses to become more attentive and receptive to what is going on around you.

We have 5 recognised senses - sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch - but most of us will mainly rely on 2 or 3 to navigate through life. Senses are like muscles, the less you engage them, the less responsive they will become in time.

The technique:

• Sit down comfortably but straight with your back supported (you can also lie down if you want to do this exercise in bed or at the end of your yoga practice, for instance). You do not need to be in a quiet place;
  
• Close your eyes and relax - breathe slowly and deeply for 4-5 breaths;
  
• Focus on what you can hear close to you (or inside you) - it can be your breathing, your heart beating, often I can hear internal buzzing - whatever comes to you. Don't force it and do not think about what you should hear. Just listen and pick it up;
  
• Focus on what you can hear further away - kids playing near you, cars outside;
  
• Then switch to what you can see with your eyes closed - I know it sounds pretty contradictory, but even with your eyes closed, light does go through your eyelids, so you are still able to see specks of light, or maybe colours. I very often can see the blood vessels in my eyeballs, the same way I do when I have an eye test; at the beginning, it really freaked me out but I have now learnt to make my peace with it;
  
• Next, focus on what you can smell - it can be a fragrance or the smell of cold, rain, warm... That is the one sense that I personally struggle the most with in this exercise, even though I can always smell someone's perfume on the bus, even if they are at the very back;
  
• Then, focus on what you can taste - from your bad morning breath to the delicious chocolates you've just gobbled up!
  
• After this, focus on what you can touch, what you can feel - your bum sitting on the chair, your clothes on your skin, your hair falling on your neck or your forehead, your watch around your wrist - anything. Again, as for all the other senses, stay with it, observe it internally, enjoy it;
  
• Finally, repeat all the steps briefly but, instead on focusing on each sense individually, layer them up one by one to eventually feel all your 5 senses fully active. Hold them and enjoy the experience of what it feels like to be fully human;
  
• Finish by a few deep breaths and slowly open your eyes to come back to where you are.

The order in which you go through the senses, both individually and in the last phase, doesn't really matter. You can go with the order that you feel most comfortable or natural for you. It will not alter the effects.

Have a try and let me know how your experience was, either by commenting below, or on the Facebook page HERE. I'd love to hear what you thought of this exercise.

Enjoy x