EXERCISE:

time required: 5+ minutes 

materials: journal, pen

Find a quiet and comfortable space where you won't be disturbed indoors or outdoors. Sit or lie down in a relaxed position. Close your eyes, focus on your breath, and begin to isolate your attention on each of your five senses and what comes to mind in the process. The steps are listed below - please read through them and scroll down for an audio version if you would like to be guided through the meditation.

• TOUCH - Notice the weight of your body against the surface you are on, the temperature of the room, the texture of your clothes, and the sensations you feel. Pay attention to any points of tension in your body and let them go.

• SOUND - Listen to the sounds around you. Isolate and focus on each sound as it comes and goes. Identify whether it's near or far. What are the qualities of that sound? What might it be? Pay attention to any thoughts or memories that emerge, no matter how random they may seem.

• SMELL - Bring awareness to your sense of smell and notice any scents in the air. Try and isolate and identify each one. Smells have a more direct link to memory and emotion than any of the other senses, so take note of thoughts that come up for this sense in particular.

• TASTE - Pay attention to the taste in your mouth. Imagine your favorite food, and focus on what it would taste like in your mouth and what it would be like to savor it. Again, notice your thoughts.

• SIGHT - Imagine the environment that you are in, sensing what is around you even though your eyes are closed. If you made a sketch of what is around you, what would it look like? Lastly, slowly open your eyes and observe the colors, shapes, and play of light and shadow in your immediate surroundings.

Once you have gone through each of your senses, take a final deep breath in and exhale slowly. Pay attention to the sense of calm and presence you feel following the exercise. Record your thoughts in your journal. No details are insignificant, including any random thoughts, emotions, or "Proustian moments" (see below). You may refer back to these notes later in the PATHWAY. Sensory meditation acts as a bridge between your outer experiences and your inner world, helping you explore and understand the depths of your being. Regular practice can lead to a profound sense of self-awareness, authenticity, and inner peace, so if this exercise resonated for you, it's a good one to consider practicing regularly.

BENEFITS:

• reduces stress & anxiety

• promotes mindfulness

• strengthens the mind-body connection

• heightens awareness and intuition

• self-discovery

Guided sensory meditation with Tiphaine Ravenel Bonetti, certified Depth Hypnosis Practitioner

Bonetti is a certified Depth Hypnosis Practitioner, Registered Nurse, Naturopathic Doctor and DailyCreative consultant. Based on Boulder, Colorado. She uses a skillful blend of Hypnotherapy, energy medicine, Buddhist philosophy and principles of Shamanism, to offer individuals tools to regain their energy and rediscover an integrated sense of self to live a life of wholeness and joy. 

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The "Proustian Moment":

“I carried to my lips a spoonful of the tea in which I had let soften a bit of madeleine. But at the very instant when the mouthful of tea mixed with cake crumbs touched my palate, I quivered, attentive to the extraordinary thing that was happening inside me... as soon as I had recognized the taste of the piece of madeleine which my aunt used to give me… the whole of Combray and its surroundings, taking shape and solidity, sprang into being, town and gardens alike, from my cup of tea”

Marcel Proust, from Remembrance of Things Past: Swann's Way

(manuscript with Proust's doodles shown below)

This passage from Proust's literary masterpiece inspired the term "Proustian moment" — a sensory experience that triggers a sudden rush of memories or emotion.  Contemporary research has helped to explain the physiological, neurological, and psychological reasons behind this phenomenon. When you see, hear, touch, or taste something, that sensory information first heads to the thalamus, which acts as your brain's relay station. The thalamus then sends that information to the the hippocampus, which is responsible for memory, and the amygdala, which does the emotional processing. Scents, however, bypass the thalamus and go straight to the the olfactory bulb, which is directly connected to the amygdala and hippocampus, explaining why the smell can immediately trigger a detailed memory or emotion.