Week 3 - Lesson 8
Week 3 - Lesson 8
Five Senses Therapy
Five senses therapies are simple therapeutic practices designed to enhance your relationship with each of your five senses. As you practice you’ll become more aware of the depth that your senses play in all aspects of your life. The practices presented here and in the corresponding video are a foundation from which you can experience life in a deeper way.
Choose one to start, or more if you like. Schedule them into your day and review the list weekly, adding more as you feel ready. This is not about intellect and thinking. They are exercises to expand your awareness and deepen how you sense the world around you. Take a few relaxing breaths and experience what happens.
Navigating the Course
Sound Therapy
Practice #1: Give yourself some quiet time
3 times each day for 5 minutes sit down without interruption and be with the silence and the sound around you and inside of you. Set a timer, relax, and be present for this time. Journal about your experience.
Practice #2: Chant Mantra
Designate certain times to chant mantra internally or externally. As you consistently work with mantras at specified times, you’ll find that they will come to you at other times. In this case, let your mind focus on them as they present themselves to you. Journal about your experience.
You can also play healing mantras softly in the background during your dinacharya practices, when cooking or driving in the car.
Touch Therapy
Sight therapy
Practice #1: Feel your Prana
Rub your hands together once or twice and feel the Prana between your hands.
Practice #2: Feel Prana around you
Touch at least one plant, one food item, and an animal if possible, paying attention to texture, temperature, vibration, and anything else that you notice. Feel the life force present.
Practice #1: Pranic healing with your hands
Rub your hands together and place them over your eyes for 3 relaxed breaths. Repeat 3 times. Hum with the hands over the eyes to enhance the healing for the eyes and strengthen the eyesight. Journal about your experience.
Practice #2: Balancing the eyes
Pat cool water on your eyelids after eating to calm heat in the eyes. Journal about your experience.
Smell Therapy
Practice #1: Commune with the intelligence of plants
Burn a stick of natural no chemical incense daily or high-quality essential oil in a diffuser. Notice the effect on your mind and body. Go outside and hug a tree. Smell the bark, the soil underfoot, or the blossoms. Journal about your experience.
Practice #2: Savour the smells of your food
When you’re cooking, enjoy the aroma of each spice before putting it into the pot and then as it cooks. Notice the change in the fragrance of how it feels.
When you sit to eat, take several conscious slow breaths, smelling the food before eating it. See if you can discern the aroma and taste of the separate ingredients and note the combined effect when no one ingredient stands out.
For both, notice the effect on your mind and body. Journal about your experience.
Taste Therapy
Practice #1: Acquainting with the six tastes
Take a few minutes one day to acquaint yourself with the six tastes by tasting a small amount of food that prominently exemplifies each taste. This practice only needs to be done once and is just for your clarification. Journal about your experience.
■ Sweet - a drop of honey
■ Salty - a grain of salt
■ Sour - drop of lemon or lime
■ Pungent - a speck of black pepper
■ Bitter - one fenugreek seed (chewed)
■ Astringent - the pith of the lemon or lime
Practice #2: Cultivate a relationship with the six tastes
Practice identifying each of the six tastes in your meals. Ideally, no one taste will stand out, they all become friends when cooked together and create a satisfying experience that connects you to the five elements. Journal about your experience.
Awaken your Chakras
Awaken your Chakras during meals
Muladhara - Say hello to the first Chakra, by smelling your food. This chakra is related to our sense of security, grounding, and belonging.
Swadisthana - Say hello to the second Chakra, by tasting your food and chewing it well. This Chakra is related to our feelings, sexuality, and sensuality.
Manipura - Say hello to the third Chakra, by looking at and appreciating your food. This Chakra is related to our sense of sight and personal power.
Anahata - Say hello to the fourth Chakra, by touching the food. Practice taking at least one bite from each meal with your hand. It connects your Prana with the Prana in the food you eat - eat with loving energy. This Chakra is related to our affinity for ourselves and others, and our ability to give and receive freely.
Vishuddha - Say hello to the fifth Chakra, by listening to the food as you chew it. This Chakra is related to our communication, both verbal and telepathic. It is about our connection with others on many levels.
Ajna and Sahasrara- Say hello to the sixth and seventh Chakras, by being aware of the energy of the food as you consume it. These Chakras are related to our clairvoyance, clarity, intuition, and knowingness. Journal about your experience.