People use their five senses everyday without giving much thought to their sense experiences. While these senses are relied upon for every waking moment, in many cases, they are not explored fully so many people miss out on a large portion of life's sense experiences. Meditating on the five senses helps to bring more focus and awareness of sense experience.
How to Perform Sight Meditation
To perform sight meditation, get in a meditative position either outside or beside a window. Take a look at the scenery, then close your eyes and try to recall it in your mind.
Look at the scenery again, only this time try to find all of the details missed the first time. After closing the eyes again, once more, recall as much of it as possible. Most likely, a lot more details will be recalled after the second time of looking at the scenery.
Sound Meditation Exercise
Sound meditation is best practiced outdoors. Simply sit down outside with the eyes closed and listen to the sounds of the world. Try to extend your hearing as far as possible. What sounds are coming from the ground area? What can be heard from up in the sky?
Concentrate on hearing even the faintest of sounds. Now, try to envision what is causing each of the sounds that you are hearing. For example, if the sound of a bird chirping is heard, try to imagine what the bird looks like and what is causing it to chirp. Do this with each of the sounds heard.
An Exercise in Smell Meditation
Choose a handful of items that have different scents. If outdoors, this could include dirt, a blade of grass, a flower petal, a piece of a bush, and a twig. If indoors, some suggested items are different spices, lotion, fresh fruit, coffee beans, and chocolate. Once the items are chosen, close the eyes and begin to smell them, one item at a time.
Think of nothing else except the smell of the item. If the mind wanders, simply bring it back to the scent you are experiencing. What kind of a response does the scent bring? How does this scent make you feel? Do any of that scents remind you of anything special? After smelling each scent, take a few freshening breaths of air before moving on to the next aroma.
Taste Meditation Exercise
So often people are in such a hurry while eating, although they may think the food tastes good, they are missing out on the full experience of food, thus losing out on much of the pleasure of eating. Look in the refrigerator and the cupboard and pick out a small amount of five different foods. Be sure the food items are different from one another.
Take the first piece of food and put it in your mouth. With eyes closed, try to really experience it. What is its texture like? How do your taste buds react to it? How easy or difficult is it to chew? Does it crumble or does it burst open in your mouth? After swallowing, take a few sips of water to cleanse the palate before moving on to the next piece of food.
How to Perform Touch Meditation
To perform a touch meditation exercise, find five objects that have different textures. These items could be a feather, a rock, a piece of material, a coin, some sand, or a potato. It doesn't really matter what the items are, as long as they have different surfaces. Pick up an object, close the eyes, and begin rubbing the object in the palm of your hand. Take your fingers and stroke the object, paying careful attention to what it feels like. Notice the texture of the object.
Does the object give you a warm feeling inside or would you rather distance yourself from it? Take the object and gently rub it on your face. What kind of a sensation does this bring? After experiencing each of the items, think about which ones brought the most pleasure and why.
Meditating on the five senses can help bring more awareness in people's day-to-day lives. It can also improve concentration, thereby improving memory. It can also add a bit of fun and variety to meditation. In addition, meditating on the different sense experiences can be a great activity for kids.
Readers may also enjoy learning about Incense Fragrance as it relates to meditation, along with What is Nature Meditation?, and Using Candles For Meditation.
Source:
- Get Fit Meditation, Susannah Marriott, (MQ Publications Limited,) 2005.
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