Sensory Energy Bath

Connect with the pure and immediate experience of your senses by dropping through the story of language into the raw sensation of Right Now. We will systematically open each sense door, including that of thinking, and conclude with awareness of awareness itself.

Transcript

First,

You can just take a moment to settle in here.

You can close your eyes if you like.

Maybe move into a posture that feels stable and relaxed.

And maybe just a few deep breaths.

Lose your head and come to your senses.

Or lose your mind and come to your senses.

That's essentially what we'll be doing here.

I'll guide you through systematically becoming aware of each of the senses.

You could call them each of the sense doors.

We'll pay attention to each sense one by one.

And notice how story immediately begins to build in relation to the sense.

It's like we start by just feeling.

And then we start climbing up a ladder into our filters,

Into story.

We start labeling what we feel.

And we evaluate it.

We judge it.

Keep adding more story to it.

We keep automatically climbing into story.

It's just what the mind does and it's very powerful.

But it can take us over.

It's a powerful helper,

But a terrible master.

So in this practice we will just keep noticing the movement into story.

And then keep dropping back down the ladder into pure sense.

In this realm of pure sense,

Nothing needs to be done.

Nothing needs to be described or figured out or fixed or optimized.

It just is.

Okay,

And you might come back to your breath.

Maybe a couple deep inhales and exhales.

Returning to an awareness that you are alive right now.

That this is the present moment.

And now if you can just take all of your attention and shine it like a flashlight on just the sense of hearing.

Just become aware of the feeling of hearing.

There is a certain sensation to it.

Might be sounds coming from me,

Or sounds from your environment,

Or from inside your body.

And just notice whenever you begin to label sound.

Maybe the sound of a bird,

Or a car,

Or someone from another room.

And see if you can drop those familiar labels.

Let them go completely.

Let go of the label and the mental image.

Let go of any evaluation of this is something I don't want to hear,

This is something I want to hear,

This is good,

This is bad.

All the way down to any sort of label at all.

But just keep dropping back down into the pure feeling of hearing.

Just hear it.

And now let's switch over to the sense of physical touch,

Physical feeling.

You might feel the clothes against your skin.

Your body as it touches your seat or the floor.

Any sense of pressure,

Temperature,

Tingling.

Maybe pain or discomfort.

And again,

See if you can let go of any label,

Any story about what you're feeling.

And then drop back down into the pure sense of touch.

Just letting it fill you up completely.

Okay,

And now let's turn the flashlight of attention to both the sense of smell and taste.

These are two very related senses.

So let's just take a moment to become aware of smell and taste happening together.

And you might take an inhale through the nostrils.

Or you might swallow.

It's okay if you don't smell or taste anything in particular.

Just feeling,

Smelling,

And tasting.

Okay,

And now let's switch our attention to vision.

And you can keep your eyes closed here.

Experiencing vision with eyes closed.

There might be some sense of light.

Or shadows.

Just allow yourself to see and let go of the need to do anything about it.

Or to describe it or figure it out.

Just keep dropping into pure sense,

The feeling of seeing with your eyes closed.

Okay,

And now let's turn our attention to the sense of smell and taste.

Let's shift now into the experience of thinking.

I believe we can become aware of thinking just like any of these other senses.

It's something that is simply happening,

Constantly arising and passing,

Out of nowhere and into nowhere.

And we can just watch it.

So for a moment here,

Shift all of your attention,

That flashlight of attention,

Onto thinking.

The feeling of thinking.

Just allow it to happen however it does.

It's interesting,

Sometimes when you look for thinking,

And really allow it to be there,

It's like there's nothing there to find.

Just keep allowing thinking to be whatever it is happening now.

Okay and now one final shift.

Throughout each of these senses,

Some part of you has been aware of each of them.

Some part of you has been aware of hearing,

Of touch,

Smell and taste,

Vision and thinking.

So just see if you can,

In whatever way you can,

Become aware of what has been aware this whole time.

So see if you can turn your attention back on that source of the flashlight.

Just noticing however you do,

What it is that notices.

Being the very source of you,

Beneath all story,

Beneath all good and bad,

Just the very basic source of your awareness.

So that's my round about today,

Enjoy!

And you might just take a few more breaths here,

Shifting out of the practice and into the rest of your day.

You can gradually move your body around.

You can gently open your eyes back up.

In each moment,

It is possible to notice the filtering of life into my story,

And by noticing I can then drop beneath story into pure sense.

And in the realm of pure sense,

Nothing is wrong or right.

It just is.

Reviews

Wonderful practice to just be with my senses, thank you! 🙏

Marvelous, I traveled to a distant country; myself ! Thank you 🙏🏽

What an interesting experience. I found when I aimed the spot light at thinking it was like a black hole, which for someone who is an overthinker was very unusual. But when I tried to turn it on to the observer there was nothing! Intriguing! 🙏

That was amazing. To connect with the senses as they are. When getting to thinking, I was just aware of the senses. The mind was quiet. Who was my flashlight? My higher self shows up, a being that is completely at peace, calm. 🙏🏽💚✌🏽☯️

As someone who spends so much time thinking, this was a good experiment. Just as you said, when I was looking for thoughts, I couldn’t find anything there at that moment. I found myself more connected with hearing. Over time my appreciation for body scans is growing. Thank you for this one!

Im very fond of meditative body scans. This one was unique in that it incorporated the senses being used in present moment-a miracle in itself! Thank u

Interesting experience to just focus on one sense at a time. I didn't expect my thoughts to disappear once I focused on thinking. Thank you for this practice 😊🙏🏾.

I loved the focus on the senses, transcending story about what we are sending. Beautiful nugget of teaching there!

Fell into the feeling of the senses and the ease of no mind

An effective meditation which takes you out of your thinking mind and back into touch with your senses as the witness consciousness ✨️ Thank you

Fascinating! When you prompted to focus on thinking my mind went blank. Our inner self and bodies are quite remarkable. Thank you for this meditation. 🤔🙏🏻😊💠

A meditation that provides contemplation on focus. A really useful reminder.

I especially appreciate the last two steps, they really make practical that idea that I am not my thoughts.

Thank you Charles! This was a beautiful grounding practice. Congrats on the family addition! Hope you are well!
🙏🏻💫

So centering and grounding. 🙏😊Thanks Charles, I loved noticing the noticing.

Interesting…peaceful, and that’s what I wanted today. Thank you 🙏🏼🕊😊

Thank you, this was a truly "mind-opening" experience. I will definitely come back to this meditation.

Another inspiring experience- exactly, when for once thoughts are welcome and sought for- none appear 😉 - amazing. Thank you Charles.

Always good. Such a calming voice and helpful guidance.

Amazing meditation 👏👏👏 This a really effective way to drop into the present moment and connect with source. I am using it as a type of introductory track before going into a formal practice.