The Five Senses Meditation

Our senses blend together to create our world, shaping our participation from moment to moment. When we feel into our senses with present moment awareness, we connect with ourselves and our environment more deeply through the doorway of Prana.

Opening and purifying the senses encourages us to release the layers of our conditioned beliefs cultivating a deeper connection with our true self, beyond striving. Beyond mere acceptance. Tasting mindfulness.

Transcript

Welcome to the Five Senses Meditation.

Our senses blend together to create our world,

Shaping our participation from moment to moment.

When we feel into our senses with present moment awareness,

We connect with ourselves and our environment more deeply through the doorway of prana.

Prana is the vibration of energy,

The brush of the breath,

The sound of our thoughts,

The flavor of our emotions.

Prana is the power of awareness to unite body,

Mind and heart,

Releasing doubt and worry as we drop into a state of feeling and being with what is already here for us to smell,

Taste,

Hear,

See and feel.

Opening and purifying the senses encourages us to release the layers of our conditioned beliefs,

Cultivating a deeper connection with our true self beyond striving,

Beyond mere acceptance,

Tasting mindfulness in every breath.

The Five Senses Meditation The intention in this meditation will be practicing moving out of doing mode and into being mode by reconnecting to the present moment through the body,

The breath and the five senses.

The attention in this meditation will be learning how to receive experience just as it is,

Noticing when we've wandered into thinking and as best we can redirecting our awareness back to our five senses or our internal or external anchor.

The attitude will be opening to a sense of wonder,

Peacefulness and curiosity to ourselves and our surroundings,

Tasting mindfulness.

Beginning this meditation by opening to the feeling of the body sitting here or lying here opening to our sense of touch,

Perhaps noticing the feeling of the air around us,

The air inside of us.

How does the body feel as we begin this meditation?

Tension,

Wiggliness,

Comfort,

Discomfort.

Making any necessary adjustments to feel mindfully open and awake,

Interested and present.

Setting down striving and opening up simply to being with ourselves just as we are.

As we move through this meditation,

Thoughts will arise and fall away,

Emotions will come and go and as best we can we set the intention to return to our senses as our present moment focus.

Taking a moment here to find our refuge,

A safe place to land in the present.

Perhaps a soft gaze on the earth,

Feeling of the breath,

The warmth of a hand on our heart,

The groundedness of the earth beneath our feet.

Arriving in the most welcoming place in the now,

A place that feels safe and available and knowing we can come back to this refuge at any time to rest,

To be and refresh until we are ready to return to the senses meditation.

The practice is noticing where our attention is drawn and choosing as best we can to return to the present moment in the awareness of our senses.

Marcel Proust reminds us,

The true journey of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes,

But in seeing with fresh eyes.

Bringing the sense of curiosity,

Beginner's mind and freshness into our senses meditation.

When we connect with our senses,

We invite relaxation into our nervous system and reconnect with the richness and depth of experience we often miss on autopilot.

Continuing to explore our sense of touch,

Feeling into the body now,

Feet on the earth,

Our mindful position and noticing sensations that are already present.

Pressure,

Temperature,

Tingliness,

Singiness,

Contact with our room,

The earth,

Our close.

Noticing bringing our awareness down from the head and into the body.

What is our actual present moment experience as we explore the sense of touch?

Even if the mind has wandered into thinking,

Planning,

Daydreaming,

Noticing what it's like to choose to redirect awareness back to the body,

Back to sensations that are already present or back to our anchor without giving ourselves a hard time.

Perhaps feeling into the breath now,

Awareness of movement inside and outside of the body.

Noticing how we draw the outside in and then release it.

Not needing to control the breath in any way,

Simply letting the breath breathe itself.

How does the breath feel today?

Stretching,

Softness,

The feeling of filling and emptying.

What sensations do we notice as we gently tune into the feeling of the breath?

Knowing that if the breath isn't feeling comfortable today,

We can always go back to our anchor or the feeling of our feet on the earth or a hand on our heart.

Perhaps feeling deeper into the nooks and crannies of the body now,

Cultivating awareness of the body in the places we cannot see but can feel.

Opening to new sensations,

Deeper sensations that arise when we are patient,

Curious,

And nonjudgmental.

Broadening ourselves from the inside out.

Noticing our inner vision as we feel into sensation,

Tingliness,

Movement,

Heaviness,

Lightness.

Noticing how sensations change,

How they arise and fall away,

Just like our thoughts.

Remembering that our anchor is always waiting for us,

A safe place to land until we choose to return to the senses meditation.

And when we feel ready,

Coming back to the whole sense of the body sitting here,

Cultivating awareness of our senses.

Moving awareness now to our ears and our sense of hearing.

How do the ears feel?

The weight of earrings or glasses?

The softness of hair?

Perhaps feeling into our inner ears?

As best we can,

Listening to the sounds around us and within us without judgment or comment,

Allowing our awareness to rest in the ears and our sense of hearing.

We may notice how hearing happens effortlessly,

How we don't have to do anything but notice it,

Just hearing what is already here to be heard.

Being with hearing in the stillness of open attending.

Hearing with our ears and whole body.

And if the mind has created a story around the sound or has questions about a sound,

Noticing that.

And as best we can,

Simply allowing awareness to rest in the sounds themselves arising and passing away.

Perhaps noticing the different layers of sounds.

And if we find that we have drifted away into thinking or doing,

Planning,

Daydreaming,

Noticing and choosing to return to our refuge or the sense of hearing.

Relaxing our muscle of attention back to the now and coming to our senses.

We may notice how sounds have a beginning,

A middle,

And an end,

Just like our breath,

How they move and ab and flow.

The sounds of the body,

The sounds of the room.

We may find ourselves thinking about sounds,

Noticing that.

And as best we can,

Coming back to hearing as our present moment focus.

And when we feel ready,

Coming back to the whole sense of the body sitting here,

Cultivating awareness of our senses and moving awareness now to our eyes and our sense of sight.

As we rest awareness on the sockets of the eyes,

What do we notice?

Eyelids,

Eyelashes,

The orbits of the eyes,

Heaviness,

Brightness or darkness,

Sharpness,

Itchiness.

What do we notice when our awareness rests softly on the sensations in and around the eyes?

Perhaps experimenting with the eyes softly open,

Gaze cast downward,

Not looking for anything but simply noticing images,

Patterns of lightness and darkness,

Perhaps a groundedness in the gaze that feels available and present or something completely different.

Choosing to close the eyes,

Cultivating inner vision.

Light and feeling merging within the body,

Mind and heart.

Glimpsing the light that shines within with tenderness and equanimity.

Knowing that we can always choose to open the eyes again,

Grounding our gaze on the earth.

Building the interrelatedness of our senses,

Their fullness,

Brightness and darkness,

Allowing it all to be.

And when our mind wanders away back to the past or forward to the future,

Remembering that nothing's gone wrong.

Simply returning and observing,

Being with our sense of sight as best we can or returning to our refuge.

Perhaps choosing to notice the sensations in and around the eyes or in and around the whole body.

Knowing images we notice to simply be,

Observing their changing nature,

How they too come and go arise and fall away.

And when we feel ready coming back to the whole sense of the body sitting here,

Cultivating awareness of our senses.

Moving awareness now to our mouth and our sense of taste.

Gently allowing awareness to rest inside the mouth,

Feeling into the jaw,

The teeth,

The tongue,

Moistness,

Dryness,

Tension,

Awareness resting inside the mouth and remembering that we can always return to our refuge at any time.

The mouth is a very nerve-rich area.

Simply observing what sensations are already present inside the mouth.

Tickliness,

Tingliness,

Perhaps noticing the flavor of the moment,

Bitter or sweet,

Sour or salty,

Tension,

Broadness.

What's present for me here as my awareness rests inside the mouth,

Savoring the nectar of our being,

Tasting mindfulness.

And when we feel ready coming back to the whole sense of the body sitting here,

Cultivating awareness of our senses.

Moving awareness now to our sense of smell,

Allowing awareness to rest on the nostrils perhaps.

The senses of tasting and smelling are closely related anatomically and functionally.

What sensations are already present as we tune into our sense of smell?

Softening the sinus passages inside the skull and opening to the subtle fragrance of our being.

Is arising and falling away neutral,

Pleasant,

Unpleasant?

Perhaps we notice the feeling of the breath entering and exiting the body through the nostrils,

The feeling of the air,

Its scent or lack of scent.

Taking trust in the experience of mindfulness meditation as a way of coming home to ourselves.

And when we feel ready returning again to the feeling of the whole body sitting here,

How do we feel?

Our senses blend together to create our world,

Shaping our participation from moment to moment,

Connecting us with the feeling of our body and the natural world.

Each sense has its own unique composition and quality.

We may feel more connected to some senses than others,

Which may change based on where we are and how we are.

Taking these last few moments to again connect with Proust's wisdom.

The true journey of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes,

But in seeing with fresh eyes.

Perhaps feeling into the breath again and noticing how it's always been there as our awareness has moved through the senses.

Feeling into the fullness of now,

The experience of being in a very alive body,

Thoughts,

Emotions,

Body sensations,

Awareness coming and going.

When we feel into our senses with present moment awareness,

We connect with ourselves and our environment more deeply,

Changing our brain from negativity and worry as we cultivate a state of presence that is beyond judging or doing,

Grounded in noticing being and of course sensing.

Dropping into our anchor refuge now,

Where is it easiest and most welcoming to rest in the now at the end of the practice?

Feeling of the body sitting here,

The sounds around us,

The feeling of our breath,

Our grounded gaze,

Perhaps the warmth of our hand and our heart.

Finding our awareness to include the whole body now sitting or lying here,

Breathing and being.

Perhaps we have noticed some sensations that surprised us,

Things we don't normally notice on autopilot.

Perhaps it wasn't all pleasant,

But some of what we noticed was neutral or somewhat unpleasant.

Can we set down judging and allow it all to be?

Feeling patience and trust in the power of open awareness.

Beginning to release the meditation now,

Perhaps opening our eyes,

Rolling our shoulders,

Wiggling our fingers and toes.

The five senses meditation is now complete.

Reviews

Excellent search into all of my senses. I noticed that a few times when thoughts would pass by, my breath would quicken just slightly. That was a new revelation. Thank you for getting me grounded this morning! 🙏