It is time to come to our senses

When feeling “off”, yucky, out of balance or simply at a loss of what to do to improve your health, reach your goals or eliminate discomfort in your body, coming back to your senses and practicing self-care is exactly what you need to do to get yourself back on the right track.

From an Ayurvedic perspective, our body and our mind has the ability to heal and balance itself through the power of our 5 senses.

Our five sense organs – our ears, eyes, nose, tongue and skin, are the portals or gateways through which whatever is happening in our outer world enters into our inner world.

Through our senses, we experience the world around us   

Ayurveda teaches that our sense of sound, sight and smell are the gateways to our mind and can have a powerful effect on our emotional state. Our sense of taste and touch are the gateways to our body and can have a powerful effect on our physical and gut health.

Let’s explore our senses and the gateways that take our outer experience inward into our body.

We have 5 main senses

1. Sense of Sound through our ears
2. Sense of Sight through our eyes
3. Sense of Smell through our nose
4. Sense of Taste through our tongue
5. Sense of Touch through our skin

And I am going to add 2 more

6. Sense of humour through our laughter
7. Sense of knowing through our intuition & inner wisdom

We have 7 senses to explore and 7 days of the week

Perfect for our daily intention setting practice this week

The last few weeks we have been bringing some awareness to our gut health and our emotional wellness.

When we dove into our emotional wellness last week, we learned that we all have 4 fundamental needs. We all need attention, affection, appreciation and acceptance. When we look to the outer world to fulfill these needs we are setting ourselves up for suffering, however when we look inward and look to ourselves to fulfill these needs, we are setting ourselves up for happiness.

Look back on the last two weeks of blog post for more information

This week we are going to take two of these A’s “attention” and “affection” and go inward to shine some light on our senses and nourishment for the gateways.

 Aging is defined by how healthy our senses are

When we bring awareness to our senses and favor experiences that lead to balance and well-being, we have the ability to slow down the aging process.

It is never too late to start

Let’s all start today!

This week we are experimenting with what feels good (or not so good) in our body when we tune into our 5 senses. There is no right or wrong answers here – this is experiential and what feels good for one person’s body and mind may not feel good for another’s.

Let’s take music for example; you may find rock and roll energizes your mind and your body and someone else might experience the opposite effect when they listen to the same music.

This is a completely intuitive, experiential process and your preferences can change daily depending on what is out of balance in your mind or body.

Have some fun with this!

Be open-minded, aware and willing to try a few new things

 Here we go…

First decide which sense you are going to bring attention to then let’s begin to inquire inward with some questions below (use your intuition, awareness, feelings and sensations – get the thinking mind and old memories & judgement out of the way)

1. When I tune into this sense what (ex. what sounds or what sights…) creates energy in my body?

For example – look at color, is there a color that feels energizing to you? Is there a color that doesn’t? OR Pick up some essential oils or smell some fruit, is there a smell that energizes you or repels you? Is there one that feels calming to you? FEEL into the answer – stop thinking!

2. When I tune into this sense what creates calm in my body?
3. When I tune into this sense what brings a smile to my face or laughter into my belly?
4. When I tune into this sense what brings a frown to my face?
5. When I tune into this sense what opens my heart?
6. When I tune into this sense what closes my heart or causes me to withdraw?
7. When I tune into this sense what feels good in my body?
8. When I tune into this sense what doesn’t feels good in my body?
9. When I tune into this sense, does it trigger a good memory or a bad memory? Just be the observer of this answer – don’t allow yourself to get swept up into the memory (whether good or bad)

These nine questions will help you slow down and tune into your senses. This awareness and inquiry is an important practice to bring you back to balance. Take the time to do this

 Now, let’s find some ways to nourish and give affection to the gateways of our senses.

1. Rub your ears lobes continuously from top to bottom. There are many acupressure and meridian points located on your ear lobes and taking the time to rub them is very beneficial.
2. Soothe your eyes by rubbing your hands together to create some energy and then place them gently over your closed eyes. This is so important to do if you work a lot at a computer.
3. Buy a neti-pot and cleanse your nasal passage with this daily (or 3x a week) practice – great for allergies and nasal congestion (make sure you use clean filtered water and not tap water). Alternate nostril breathing is another great practice for nourishing the nostrils.
4. Tongue scraping is the simples, quickest and most effective daily morning practice that everyone can benefit from incorporating into their day. Using a tongue scraper every morning, removes harmful bacteria from your tongue that left un-scraped can inflame your gums and lead to other issues and disease.
5. Daily self-massage with gentle oils is the best practice of self-care for both your skin and your body. Receiving a massage is also good – but taking the time to nourish your skin everyday with your own touch and some oil can calm your mind, improve circulation and enhance immune function – not to mention it is a great example of fulfilling your need of affection. A full body massage (approx. 5-10 mins) is most effective however, if you only have time to do the feet – that is a great place to begin.
6. Find ways to bring more laughter and joy into your day. What makes you laugh? Who makes you laugh? Make time to laugh and enjoy the experience of life.
7. Meditation is the best way to tune into your intuition, your inner-wisdom and your sense of knowing. Sitting quietly and in stillness for 20 minutes a day will over-time connect you into that deep sense of inner-knowing that is available to all of us!

This Week’s Intention Setting

Every day this week set the intention to tune fully into one of your senses and explore ways to nourish the gateway.

This is a great week of attention, affection, self-care and nourishment

7 days – 7 senses

1. “Today, I tune into my sense of sound and nourish my ears”
2. “Today, I tune into my sense of smell and nourish my nose”
3. “Today, I tune into my sense of sight and nourish my eyes”
4. “Today, I tune into my sense of taste and nourish my tongue”
5. “Today, I tune into my sense of touch and nourish my skin”
6. “Today, I tune into my sense of humour and enjoy the experience of life”
7. “Today, I tune into my sense of knowing and sit in silence and stillness”

And then next week – do it all over again – because I am on vacation and there will be no Tap In or blog post until the following week!

Perfect opportunity to practice and get used to all of these new ways of fulfilling your needs!!

You are worth it!

If you are interested in any private coaching sessions; Contact Leslie at 780 722-3442 or email at leslie@wellnessdefined.ca

Private Ayurveda sessions also available.

Let’s tap this in…