Today’s practice
Sensory Awareness
10 min, guided by Sean Fargo
Today is sensory awareness, a way to ground without overthinking. Sensation is always in the present. The senses are an instant doorway.
In your day
One everyday moment, walking to the car, washing the dishes, as a senses practice: a minute of seeing, a minute of hearing, a minute of feeling.
From Sean
When we talk about chimes and drums and the senses, there can be an implication that it is all supposed to be pleasant. It is not always. Sometimes a sound opens something unpleasant, and that is part of the practice too. Can we open to the pleasant, open to the unpleasant, and simply stay with what is happening, noticing the judgments as they come?
A question to carry
Which sense is easiest for you to rest in? Which one do you tend to ignore?
Saved on this device only, and kept for all 28 days.
A few lines, for whatever they are worth
The kettle, the traffic,
a bird I cannot name.
Each sound arrives
already in the present
and leaves
without asking me to follow.
If you want more today
- Script: Awareness of Each of the Five Senses (PDF), to read aloud for yourself or someone else.
- Workshop: Imee Contreras on touching the earth, the root of mindfulness, about an hour, for when you have it.
- Podcast: Grounding Through Anxiety with the Senses, for the drive or the walk.
Read the practice as text
Integrated Practice:
Practice open awareness today by allowing yourself to notice details around you that you may not normally pay attention to (e.g. the color of other cars on the road, smells in the air, sounds in your office, other people’s body language, etc.). If it helps to pick a specific time to do this, try something like when walking from your vehicle to your office or home, or perhaps while running an errand today.
Reflection Questions:
How does this impact how you engage in your day?
Your progress
Day by day. No streak to protect.
Kept on this device. A missed day is part of the practice: pick up where you are.
Daily by email
This is Day 15 of the 28-Day Mindfulness Challenge.
One short practice a day for four weeks, sent to your inbox each morning with the worksheet and a podcast episode to go with it. Free.