Mindfulness Practice – Awareness of the Senses
The senses are the link between the inner and the outer world. In moments of heightened awareness the senses make us feel alive. Through the senses we perceive the world around us, and, typically, in our un-heightened everyday state, much of what we gather goes unnoticed.
Often we have switched off the world around us, because we have more important things to think about. We have switched off the beauty and noise of experiences in our journey through the world. When we are always somewhere else we become absent from the moment.
By drawing attention to the input from our senses we are bringing into conscious awareness the process by which we experience the world. By noticing more clearly what we see, hear, touch, taste and smell, we are brought into the moment; we uncover a layer of direct experience.
By enhancing this opening we are enhancing our capacity to observe and reflect. When we create such a space, in which these experiences can occur consciously, we have created an essential meditative space.
Finding this platform of observation in relation to the senses helps us train ourselves to be open to the waterfall of experience. If we can access this uninhibited flow and observe it openly and without judgement we become more open to discovering more about ourselves and the world we live within.
With practice, from this simple seed of observing the senses we are able to deepen and expand our skills. Eventually we are able to observe, without entanglement, any thought or experience and nothing needs to be hidden any longer.
Today there are three things to observe :
- 1. Observe the sense experiences, the sights, sounds, touches, tastes and smells.
- 2. Become aware of the process of receiving and processing these impressions – watch how your mind interprets, understands and labels what it absorbs from the senses.
- 3. Look to recognise who is watching these processes taking place, who it is who is observing these experiences. Take it one step at a time.
There is no need to go out your way to saturate yourself in the sensory world, but by all means take time to smell the flowers. Aim to take this heightened awareness into the ordinary tasks of the day, the smells of the washing up, the different colours of cars in the car park, the sound of water dripping from a tap.
It is uncommon to be focussed on these ordinary experiences. As you rediscover them you may find yourself surrounded with sources of unexpected pleasure.
This text is taken from Yoga With Attitude by Swami Vimalratna.
The book is available from the Yoga Association of Victoria and Satyananda Yoga Academy Australia.
