Welcome to this five senses meditation.
This practice is a way of dropping into the present moment fully.
So very often we are focusing on the past,
Maybe the future and it's very rare,
Unless you're very conscious of it,
To be fully in the present moment experiencing what is right here,
Right now.
So if you are inclined to have anxiety or worries,
That is an indication that you're very often not in the present moment and indulging the mind.
So just step in away from that for a moment,
Parking your thoughts to one side.
We can pick them back up later or whenever we choose.
For now I just want you to find a comfortable position,
Something nice and upright or if you're laying down,
Very open so you can expand your breathing,
Allowing your lungs to use their full capacity.
So just settling in now and allowing your body to relax any tension to slowly,
Slowly melt with each word that I say.
So constantly releasing,
Constantly relaxing.
So the first sense that I would like you to bring focus to now is sight.
So just take in a moment to see what you can see.
Just note it.
And if you'd like you can gently shut down your eyes now,
Allowing that visual to either stay with you or noticing how that visual changes.
So you may notice the colour now of your eyelids.
What colour do you see?
Or you may have a picture of something completely different come up.
Don't worry about engaging too much with the thought process of this.
Just simply be aware.
What can you see?
Note it and know that is part of the practice.
And it may be that these visuals change.
Maybe the colour of your eyelids change.
So just focus in now on what you can feel.
So the sense of maybe your clothes touching your skin.
Maybe the feeling of your chair,
The ground.
Whatever it is that you can touch.
Just getting curious.
What can I touch?
What can I feel right now?
And if you want you can seek something out to touch.
So maybe you'd like to rub your fingers together or simply place your fingers together.
Maybe you'd like to run your hands along your clothes.
Feel part of your chair.
Maybe run your hands along the floor.
And just think about the textures.
Maybe the temperature of what you're touching.
Just noticing what you can feel.
Now I'd like you to bring your awareness to sound.
And notice that there may be layers to the sounds that you can hear.
So you may be able to hear yourself breathing.
You may hear my voice.
The music.
Maybe aeroplanes up above.
Traffic in the distance.
Birds singing.
Whatever it is that you can hear just focus in and locate in those sounds now.
So very often we can see sounds as a distraction in a meditation practice.
But instead I invite you to see them as tools.
As tools to become more aware of the present moment.
To fully be in the present moment.
So notice how these sounds are in your present moment.
And even if they are continuous like a stream of music or a stream of a conversation.
Each moment has a different part to that sound.
And this is the sound moving through time.
The sound moving through the present moment.
And if your thoughts are really sticky and they're really engaging to you.
You might like to see them also as a sound.
So just getting some distance.
From your thought process.
Noticing that that is not you.
And that there is a part of you that can witness that as a sound.
Can witness the thought.
Watch the thoughts.
There is an awareness of the thoughts.
So moving on now to the sense of smell.
What can you smell?
So it may be that you are smelling something now that you didn't before we started.
And it may be strong.
Or it may be subtle.
And again you may sense more than one smell.
And it might be that you can't quite put your finger on what it is that you smell.
That's okay.
You're still sensing it.
It doesn't need to have a label.
And moving to our final sense.
Which is taste.
What can you taste right now?
Again it may be really obvious.
Something quite strong.
Or it could be really really subtle.
So just take a few moments now to find out,
Get curious.
What is it that you can taste?
Again the act of simply discovering the sensation of taste.
Being with the sensation of taste is enough.
We don't have to work out exactly what it is.
We don't have to name it.
So it could be that you can taste toothpaste.
Or maybe you can taste the cup of tea you had ten minutes ago.
Or it may be something that you can't quite label.
And that's okay.
So we're just going to go through our senses and bring them all together.
If we haven't done that already.
So noticing in the present moment,
Right now,
What can you see?
What colours?
What visuals?
Are there any pictures that pull up from your mind?
Or maybe you're just noticing your eyelids.
Maybe you've opened your eyes to see what's in front of you.
And at the same time,
What can you feel?
Are you touching anything?
Is your body touching anything?
And whilst you're doing that,
We're also allowing all sounds into the experience too.
So this can all be there at the same time.
In addition,
There is smell.
So are you smelling anything differently now?
And what can you taste?
And what can you taste?
So just staying with this for a moment to pull it all together.
And noticing how easy relaxing the present moment can be when the mind is set to one side.
And we're left with an awareness.
So we haven't tried to put a stop to thoughts altogether.
We've just gained some distance from them.
And we've heightened our awareness of what is true for us right now.
And you can do this for yourself whenever you like.
You don't need to go to the doctor.
You don't need to be sitting.
You don't need to be in stillness.
You don't need to be in silence.
So this is the five senses meditation.
And I hope that this will be useful for you.
Whenever you're feeling anxious,
Stressed,
We can use the five senses meditation and anchor into the present moment fully.
