How do you experience the world in each moment, this second, now?
How do we go about reawakening our sensuality? To reclaim what has been perhaps dulled or set aside in a busy life?
Our homework assignment as I mentioned for the week was to explore each of the five ( six actually)
senses. When I got home, I burned incense on my window sill. I love to have it when I meditate and the earthy smoldering makes me feel very calm and centered. I am so drawn by the scent, which is funny because normally I have very little sense of smell. A godsent in my job! The only time that wasn't true was when I was pregnant with the boys. At that moment I could tell by how you smelled how many cavities you had and whether or not you had active gum disease! It was really wild! Normally however I can't smell much of anything. Knowing that the other is possible for me, how much of that is a concious choice then?
I am hugely affected by cologne and scents ( very primal in my pheremone detection) and I love flowers.
Am I blocking my ability to smell in certain areas of my life? Quite probably. What does that bring up?
I had a funny discussion today with a friend also doing this homework and she confided that she realized in listening to her environment how many sounds in her day layered upon each other. People talking, radio, compressors, drills, etc. And all of the sudden she wasn't interested in hearing a conversation but she realized all the other sounds disappeared too. She was daydreaming about something else and suddenly realized she couldn't hear the radio until she thought about it. How much of our environment do we block on a daily basis? Is it possible to only separate out certain conversations and sounds and not lose them all?
How often do we actually taste the food we eat? Rushing to get to practice or yoga or just starving to death after work. Have you ever eaten an entire meal and still felt unsatisfied? It is like driving home and having no recollection of how you got there. Life on autopilot. Maybe you forgot to savour and taste what you were eating ! During my silent meditation weekend, I actually thought a lot about my meals ( granted there wasn't much else to pay attention to) but I found I enjoyed the food more and actually ate less. I felt more satisfied that my appetite had been fullfilled. And each bite had so much flavor it was hard to explain. It wasn't really gourmet food but it was so good. Today someone brought us cupcakes. I found one that was lemon and the flavour was so intense on my tongue. Like fresh, sweet and citrus all exploding in every bite.
One sweet cupcake man. Better than....... Wait, now let's not get carried away!
What about touch? So many of us go through entire days without human touch. Healing human touch.
We are inches away from each other and it takes only a gesture to reach out and touch, touching far deeper than skin. Touch connects us, soothes us, stimulates us and tickles our senses.
We have been asked to be aware of different textures against our skin, different fabrics and their effect on our feelings and emotions. When Leah and I went hiking in the fall up to Lake Ohara I sewed a quillow for both of us ( quilt/ pillow) that was small enough to carry with us. I had it on my pillow last night. It is purple which is my favorite colour and it is made of the softest fleece. Even thinking about it right now makes me want to crawl back in and have a nap like a cat. It is incredibly comforting. So there you go, now you know I still have a blankie! LOL! But that scrap of fabric is for me a small piece of heaven. Soothing. The cat actually likes it too and I often wake up with both of us trying to share it ( her mostly sleeping on my head).
Not the only aspect of our characters that are alike.
This is the first day but I can tell it is going to be like being immersed in a whole new world paying attention to these sensations that normally blow by me totally unnoticed.
In love and light,
Kathryn
How do we go about reawakening our sensuality? To reclaim what has been perhaps dulled or set aside in a busy life?
Our homework assignment as I mentioned for the week was to explore each of the five ( six actually)
senses. When I got home, I burned incense on my window sill. I love to have it when I meditate and the earthy smoldering makes me feel very calm and centered. I am so drawn by the scent, which is funny because normally I have very little sense of smell. A godsent in my job! The only time that wasn't true was when I was pregnant with the boys. At that moment I could tell by how you smelled how many cavities you had and whether or not you had active gum disease! It was really wild! Normally however I can't smell much of anything. Knowing that the other is possible for me, how much of that is a concious choice then?
I am hugely affected by cologne and scents ( very primal in my pheremone detection) and I love flowers.
Am I blocking my ability to smell in certain areas of my life? Quite probably. What does that bring up?
I had a funny discussion today with a friend also doing this homework and she confided that she realized in listening to her environment how many sounds in her day layered upon each other. People talking, radio, compressors, drills, etc. And all of the sudden she wasn't interested in hearing a conversation but she realized all the other sounds disappeared too. She was daydreaming about something else and suddenly realized she couldn't hear the radio until she thought about it. How much of our environment do we block on a daily basis? Is it possible to only separate out certain conversations and sounds and not lose them all?
How often do we actually taste the food we eat? Rushing to get to practice or yoga or just starving to death after work. Have you ever eaten an entire meal and still felt unsatisfied? It is like driving home and having no recollection of how you got there. Life on autopilot. Maybe you forgot to savour and taste what you were eating ! During my silent meditation weekend, I actually thought a lot about my meals ( granted there wasn't much else to pay attention to) but I found I enjoyed the food more and actually ate less. I felt more satisfied that my appetite had been fullfilled. And each bite had so much flavor it was hard to explain. It wasn't really gourmet food but it was so good. Today someone brought us cupcakes. I found one that was lemon and the flavour was so intense on my tongue. Like fresh, sweet and citrus all exploding in every bite.
One sweet cupcake man. Better than....... Wait, now let's not get carried away!
What about touch? So many of us go through entire days without human touch. Healing human touch.
We are inches away from each other and it takes only a gesture to reach out and touch, touching far deeper than skin. Touch connects us, soothes us, stimulates us and tickles our senses.
We have been asked to be aware of different textures against our skin, different fabrics and their effect on our feelings and emotions. When Leah and I went hiking in the fall up to Lake Ohara I sewed a quillow for both of us ( quilt/ pillow) that was small enough to carry with us. I had it on my pillow last night. It is purple which is my favorite colour and it is made of the softest fleece. Even thinking about it right now makes me want to crawl back in and have a nap like a cat. It is incredibly comforting. So there you go, now you know I still have a blankie! LOL! But that scrap of fabric is for me a small piece of heaven. Soothing. The cat actually likes it too and I often wake up with both of us trying to share it ( her mostly sleeping on my head).
Not the only aspect of our characters that are alike.
This is the first day but I can tell it is going to be like being immersed in a whole new world paying attention to these sensations that normally blow by me totally unnoticed.
In love and light,
Kathryn
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