Find Yourself In Nature 5: Taste & Smell

The Find Yourself In Nature audio series is one component of a course taught by facilitator and author, Ben Page. These audios are meant to be enjoyed while outside, preferably in a natural setting. In this fifth audio, Ben guides the listener into connection to the sensory experience of smell and taste.

Transcript

Week 5 smell and taste. Let's begin by closing our eyes and taking a few breaths just normal simple breaths what does it feel like to breathe turning our attention to the nose I wonder what sensations you can notice with your nose perhaps beginning by simply smelling the air does the air have a smell and perhaps taking time to smell our own hands or the clothing we are wearing today what smells are we carrying with us and opening our eyes perhaps wandering about and smelling the beings of the world perhaps each being has its own smell perhaps the soil what about the grass what about the trees perhaps there are some smells that must be awakened by your touch using your fingers to massage the leaves or the bark or the needles of trees might summon forth a hidden aroma and if you find a smell that captivates you slow down enough to really experience it smell it more than once letting the aroma enter your body notice the complexity of this smell how perhaps it changes or deepens how many layers it might have as our sense of smell is connected to our memory I wonder if this smell might take you somewhere perhaps closing your eyes again letting this scent lead you into your imagination and as the sense of smells connected to the sense of taste I wonder if you can taste anything in this moment perhaps it is simply the taste of your mouth at rest or perhaps something that you ate or drank earlier you might try sipping the air as if you were pulling it through a straw allowing it to pass over your palate I wonder if the air has a taste as we come to the end of this exploration take a few moments to simply be here noticing what it feels like to be in your body here in this place and in this moment you simply noticing what it feels like to be here perhaps a story will arise from the body and if a story does arise then perhaps just noting it in your journal for later in closing let's take one more breath