Seeing, Listening, Smelling and Tasting
Going Broadband
– extract from Chapter ThreeGenerally speaking – go outside – then:
Seeing
– extract from Welcome to the Panorama, and Chapter Three.Then, and this is far easier to do outside where things are moving: Find a blank wall, or a monotonous area of sky, and focus on it – but look at all the interesting things happening all around it.
Listening
– extract from The Simple Sense of Now, and Chapter Three.Listening out is full of surprises. Listen in all directions, near and far, high and low. Imagine how early man might listen out for distant wild boar, or herds of oxen or buffalo, and nearby tigers or snakes. I often listen out for dogs and children; at night, for hedgehogs and owls. I don't often hear them, that's irrelevant, listening out for them is the vital part.
Smelling
– extract from Chapter Four.Modern day humans are so unfamiliar with their senses of smell and taste, that we need time to relearn them and recognise their potential. Mindfulness exercises often encourage an awareness of the taste of food. In the same way, over the next few days and weeks, whenever you notice a good smell, take a moment to let it fill you.
With tasting, i'm referring to the taste of our own body, we are so familiar with it that we don't notice it anymore. Start to discover it by noticing the contrasts, all the different taste areas on the lips, under the tongue and above it, behind the teeth, the roof of mouth and throat.
The first smelling exercise is to notice that there is a difference in smell, between your 'in-breath' and your 'out-breath'. And at first it's important to develop the sense of smell by noticing this fine difference and contrast between the 'in-smell' and and 'out-smell'. This is also important for a very practical reason: If you only concentrate on the in-smell you will soon get dizzy, noticing the contrasting out-smell, regulates the speed of breathing.
This sensation is enhanced if you open your lips slightly, and then 'smell-in' and 'taste-out'.
Please continue with Chapter Two