Five Senses Running Meditation

Danny Dreyer will guide runners through a meditation exercise where they perceive the world, as they run, through the lens of each of the five senses.

Transcript

I'm Danny Dreyer,

Founder of Qi Running,

And I'm going to take you through a running meditation.

This particular meditation is going to be based on your use of your senses,

The five senses,

Sight,

Sound,

Taste,

Touch,

And smell.

Now just as a reminder,

One of the goals that I see of running is to always have your running as a meditation.

It's how I treat mine.

And what I mean by that is that I use running simply as a vehicle to experience a deeper sense of myself.

And that's what I would like to turn you on to,

Is really using your running as an internal practice,

Really as a way to feel yourself in a deeper way,

To feel yourself moving,

To feel the silence underneath everything.

And one of the goals of almost any meditation is to free your mind from its constant chatter,

Or to free yourself from being distracted by that constant chatter.

Your mind will always be going from now until the day you check out of here.

So how do you deal with this constant working of this mind that just kind of has a mind of its own?

It will chatter whether you like it or not.

So what you need to do is find a way to pull your attention away from that chatter and how to focus on something.

So when you're out running,

You want to be able to feel what's going on underneath that.

One of the best ways is to work through your five senses.

So I'm going to take you through the five senses and what to pay attention to with each of the senses.

Now when you're running,

You can do just one of these.

You can do all five,

Cycle through them.

But I'm going to take them one at a time and you can use your favorites or you can combine them all.

So I'm going to start with sight.

So as you're running along,

I want you just to observe the world you're running through.

You're using your sight now.

And I want you to just see the world in three dimensions.

Most people see the world pretty flatly,

So I want you to see the world in three dimensions.

Look for things that are far away and then look at things that are closer to you and very close to you.

And if you're running through a forest or out in nature,

You want to be able to see beyond what's in your immediate environment.

So even though there's trees passing near you,

The trees are passing in front of a view that is beyond the trees.

It really gives depth to what you're looking at and it gives depth to how you see the world.

So I look at the mountains that are in the distance.

I see the flowers that are running by close to me.

I see all the colors and really appreciate what you're moving through and using your sense of sight.

And then what I want you to do is think about or just feel so you can get a sense of there's always a part of you that is watching through your eyes.

It's not just looking at what you see,

It's really observing you in the process of looking at what's around you.

So there's a part of you that is always aware,

Always aware that you're looking around,

Always aware of what you see,

Always aware of the fact that you even have your eyes open.

There's a part of you that's aware underneath all of that.

So I want you,

As you're looking out and seeing all the depth in your world,

I want you to really feel that there's a part of you that's aware of watching yourself see things.

So that's how you involve your sight and it really allows you to get a felt sense of what you are moving through and that there's a part of you that is nice and quiet and calm and is moving through all of what's going on around you.

There could be traffic and it could be a rain storm,

It could be anything.

There is always a part of you watching it,

Watching what you're seeing.

So enjoy your watching what you're seeing from a place of just observing what you're seeing.

Okay,

Now I want you to switch to sound and I want you to really try to listen carefully.

You can probably hear the sound of your feet tapping on the ground.

You might be able to hear birds or traffic sounds and just really try to notice any sounds,

Whether it's the wind across your ears,

Whether the wind's blowing through trees,

Whether people are talking in the background.

Just really magnify that sense.

Feel your ears listening and just like with your eyes,

I want you to watch yourself listening.

Notice that there is something prior to listening.

There is somebody listening,

Somebody doing the listening,

Some part of you underneath that.

Not just hearing sounds,

There is something in you aware that you are hearing sounds.

That part is not influenced by the sounds you hear,

It's just watching you hear.

So listen carefully for everything going on around you.

There's insect sounds.

It's really amazing how much you hear when you really pay attention to how much is going on.

A lot of us are really kind of deaf to what is happening around us unless it's really loud.

Okay?

So get into the subtle sounds and the subtlety of what's going on around you and really feel yourself listening.

There's a part of you that is the observer watching and feeling yourself listen.

So with every one of your senses,

I'm going to bring you back to just watching yourself using one of your senses.

That's how you experience the world.

So we experience the world through sound.

It's how you can tell depth.

It's how you can tell when you're getting close to something,

Whether it's far away,

Close,

A lot of proprioception.

The way to locate yourself in space is actually done through sound.

So really pay attention to all the subtle sounds and it helps you feel where you are.

You're in front of something,

You're behind something else,

You're next to something else because you can hear all of those sounds.

So who's listening to all those sounds?

There's some part of you always aware that there are sounds going on.

And that part always stays the same.

That part has been with you since the first day you opened your eyes.

There is always that sense of being inside yourself watching the world.

So there you are with the sound,

So really pay attention to sounds a lot.

It will also make you a very good listener when you're next to a person.

Just listen to the sound they make.

Now taste is the next one.

Now this is something you wouldn't normally think of working on while you're running,

Unless you're eating something while you run,

Which probably doesn't happen that often,

Or shouldn't happen that often really.

But when I talk about taste,

You want to really get a flavor of the environment you're running through.

Sometimes it's really green and lush and just nurturing and there's something about that that just tastes really good.

Is it a sweet environment,

You know?

Is it bitter?

Do you run through an industrial district?

Is it kind of dry?

What is the flavor of your environment?

What's the flavor of your run?

How do you relate to what's going on in your world in terms of flavor and not just the taste on your tongue?

Taste on your tongue is just a way for your nerve endings to hook up to your brain and tell you what something tastes like,

Whether it's good for you or not good for you.

But if you really get into taste in a larger scale,

You can really taste a room when you walk into it.

You can taste the sense of a building as you're in it.

Like a church tastes really different than a Kmart.

Okay?

That's a flavor.

Just as when you're running,

You want to feel the flavor of your run.

Now sometimes the run is a little spicy.

Sometimes I'm running trails and I'm up and down and all over the place and changing every minute.

It's like a spicy taste.

There's a lot going on.

A lot of life to be experienced when things change quickly.

And sometimes you're just out on a nice long,

Mellow run,

Taking your time and just taking in nature.

And you want to just feel the flavor of that run.

It's nurturing.

It's soft.

It's nice.

It feels great.

The taste is something that nourishes you.

You know,

Everybody likes food that tastes good.

Well,

You know what?

There are situations that taste good.

There are runs that taste good.

There are types of runs that taste better than other types of runs or they taste different than other runs.

I want you to really just take a minute to taste what's going on around you.

Taste your run.

Now the next one is good.

It's touch.

Your sense of touch.

So you're feeling yourself touch the ground with every foot strike.

Right?

So I want you to just spend a little time feeling your feet.

Feel your feet touch the ground.

Feel your feet inside of your shoes.

How's it feel?

Feel your running clothing that you have on.

Feel the temperature of the air.

Feel the wind on your face.

Feel what it feels like to move across the ground.

To be moving forward across the ground.

Just feel.

Get into that sense,

Tactile sense of being in the world.

Being on the earth.

And all the elements that you experience through the sense of touch.

It's all about feeling.

So there's all the elements that I was just mentioned.

You want to feel the earth solid underneath you.

There's your support.

You want to feel yourself being supported by the earth.

That's a touch.

Another feel is you want to feel your body moving.

That's a sense of water.

Water is a fluid.

It's always flowing.

So you want to feel a fluidity in your movement.

Feel it in your hips.

Feel it in your knees and your elbows and shoulders.

All the moving parts of your body.

It's a sense of touch.

It's a sense of feeling your own body is a sense of touch.

And then how does that body interact with the environment?

That's a sense of touch.

So you have water and earth.

And then there's fire is the next element.

Where do you feel heat?

Are your clothes worn?

Are you feeling your body heat because you're running?

Do you feel the sun on your face?

Do you feel heat in your lungs as you breathe harder?

Where do you feel heat?

And where do you feel cold?

So that's another sense of touch.

You know,

The earth,

The water,

The fire.

Your heart is pumping that has everything to do with fire.

Rhythm.

So a sense of rhythm.

That's a touch.

It's almost like a touch.

And then of course you always want to go back to sensing who's watching all of this?

Who's observing?

Who's aware of your feet touching the ground?

Who's aware of you breathing?

Who's aware of your heart pumping?

Good.

And then the next element is air.

That's breathing.

You can feel yourself breathing.

You feel the air moving across your face.

So this sense of touch is very much a really wonderful kind of body awareness.

It's more than any other of the impressions you get through all of your senses.

The sense of touch is really a solid connection with the earth around you,

The world around you and your body.

So really feel all the sense of touch that goes on in all the different levels.

And then really feel who's aware of all that touch.

Who's aware?

Now the last one of your senses is the sense of smell.

I find this all the time.

When I run through a forest I can smell the green,

You know.

I can smell it when I run past a stream.

I can smell the moisture.

I can smell humidity in the air.

I can smell the leaves in the fall,

You know.

You can smell somebody who just mowed their lawn.

You can smell when somebody drives past you in a car that's smoking a cigarette.

Those smells stand out.

They're just a smell.

The smell of the exhaust of a car.

The smell of somebody's clothes dryer working as you run down through the neighborhood.

So many wonderful smells out there.

Some are wonderful,

Some are not.

But really heighten that sense of smell.

I want you to really see what do you smell right now.

Because it will change as you move along through your run.

That sense of smell.

It's an interesting one because it has a lot to do with the sense of taste as well.

You can only smell when you're breathing deeply.

And air passes your palate and kind of gives you a sense of smell.

It's like tasting the air.

And what you want to do is drop into your sense of smell and then what's the next thing you think of?

Who's aware of you smelling?

What's underneath?

What's prior to smelling?

Who's doing the smelling?

So in all of your five senses I've always asked you to like come back to who is aware of these five senses going on.

Who's watching?

Who's aware?

And it's just awareness.

Now you can take all of your five senses and every time you smell something,

You can put a label on it with your mind.

Your mind will want to label that,

Wow that smells sweet,

That smells sour,

That smells like peppermint candy,

That smells like green or grass or whatever.

Your mind will want to label all of the things you experience through your senses.

And a better way to experience your senses is to just allow them to sense.

Don't label everything.

That triggers your mind.

As we're going against your meditation you really want your mind to just relax a little,

Not have to work so hard.

And when you can drop into that observer and that part of you that's always just aware of watching,

Observing and being aware without labeling,

Without having a reaction to what you're sensing,

It is this nice neutral observant watchful space.

That is a wonderful way to calm your mind,

To center yourself,

To feel yourself running through space.

Very different way to run.

And when you can get into feeling that nice quiet awareness in the midst of your run,

Then it really feels like you are still on the inside,

Stillness in the midst of movement,

Stillness in the midst of movement.

You are still and everything else is just moving past you.

You're not pushing yourself around the earth all the time.

When you really get into that sense of awareness and sense of stillness,

It's like you're just this entity kind of watching this movie go past and you're experiencing it through your senses.

But there's a point inside you that really isn't moving.

Very still,

Very quiet,

Just aware.

Use this meditation to really help you feel yourself,

Help you center yourself and really help you neutralize your experience with your environment and your world as you go through it by just allowing yourself to drift between the various senses,

Sight,

Smell and sound and taste and touch.

Just allow each of those senses to be there and then bring yourself into just ask,

Who's watching,

Who's aware.

Gradually,

This process of practicing this during your run will begin to operate in the rest of your life,

Which is ideal,

Because you're using your running as an internal practice to practice these things so that when you're in the world,

You're out in everyday life,

You can drop into any one of those senses and then you can feel who's watching that sense.

Who's watching this conversation with this person?

Who's watching me drive?

Who's watching me carry the groceries in from the car?

Who's watching me run?

And it always creates a little bit of that separation from being caught up in the world.

Being in the world,

But not of it,

You've heard that before.

So really give yourself the time and space while you're running to practice,

Have a different take on the world through your five senses.

Namaste.

Reviews

I liked this a lot. Thanks for helping me appreciate my local park and for a gentle reintroduction to running. It works during the walk breaks too

Amazing. It really changed my rubbing experience but also has really made me reflect on how I navigate every day life! I am the observer, 10/10

I try to be present when jogging but this meditation added another layer of awareness. Depth in seeing, the taste of the run, the feel of the earth supporting me, and my true self observing my character running were wonderful insights. Thank you!

This was awesome! I’m going to save it! I especially was impressed by his sense of taste in the atmosphere. This made me aware of so many things perhaps I don’t notice during my walk, jog’s!

Felling great! It's so good to run and and still aware of tour senses!

Thank you so much! I enjoyed my run better than anytime before. 🙏🏼

Excellent. Two suggestions if you ever decide to edit this:
1) It would be nice to have a minute of silence after you explain how to be aware of each sense. That way we can try it out ourselves in the middle of this lecture.
2) If you do give us a moment of silence, be sure and silence the stream sound so that we can actually hear the sounds around us at the moment.

Loved this! Will definitely be looking up the rest of the chi series. Really brought me back to my senses and boosted my endorphins.

This is one of my favorite guided meditations!

It was unbelievably amazing!!! Thank you for this experience. Will use it every day

I will be using this today and coming back to it regularly.

Pretty Good!! I had never tried running with this type of approach.... usually I run to music.. This Was Really Good. Helped me to be more focused, centered, control my breathing. Thank You 🙏🏾 will use again

Wonderful! Thank you so much for making my run meaningful! Namaste.

Thank you for this running meditation. It is very helpful. “Stillness in the midst of movement “, thanks for bringing that to my awareness.

I’ll use this again when I run! So effective, thank you!

Awesome experience! I’m in FL so today we had lots of rain earlier, & now cloudy & feeling cool at 80 deg. Winds were at 16 w constant gusting. A great time to run “with the senses”. Passed a magnolia tree but not close enough to smell, but the beauty of it stirred my smell sense memory. We have a frangipani (?sp) in our yard so when I got home that was a treat... visual, smell & flavor!
Thx for reminding what surrounds me every day. It made my run easier & more enjoyable.
Well done.
Bowing to you.

Great to use while running. Like the setup and especially the creative way to sense the 'taste' or flavour of the run.

This changed the way I run.

Great way to take my mind off the run!

Excellent. Never knew there was a running meditation. Now I do.