Using Your Senses to Become More Mindful
Our sensory systems are complex and powerful. All day, every day, we are being bombarded by sensory stimuli and our brains are being asked to process these incoming sensations. Over time most of us desensitize to a large percentage of this sensory information— imagine if we were unable to tune out the feeling of our clothing on our skin, or the background noises that are all around us, or focus our eyes on one thing due to our colorful surroundings. In order to survive and thrive every day, we need a healthy balance of sensory recognition…enough to stay safe in our environment, but not so much stimulation that we can’t stay focused.
Mindfulness is considered the nonjudgmental awareness of the present moment. It’s purposefully reigning in our awareness in order to focus on all of our senses and our surroundings. In our busy culture and world that we live in, we sometimes forget to “stop and smell the roses”. As Sharon Salzberg (mindfulness & meditation expert) says, “Mindfulness is not difficult, we just need to remember to do it". In this blog post, I want to share with you a way to take time out of your day and (literally) smell the roses!
When I was in grad school for Occupational Therapy (shout out to Tufts!), my first summer internship was at a VA Dementia Special Care Unit. Every day we would lead sensory groups for the residents. Each session was organized around a theme that we determined ahead of time. We then got creative with coming up with objects and items that could represent all of the senses and involved the theme for the day. The goals were to make each session meaningful, person-focused, and to awaken attendees memories with this vibrant sensory experience.
The acronym we used was OKTVAG. Olfactory (Smell); Kinesthetic (includes movement, position of the body, internal sensations of muscles & joints); Tactile (touch); Visual (Vision); Auditory (Hearing); Gustatory (Taste). The items were purposely presented to the participants in this order. Smell first, since smell is largely connected to memories and would arouse the participants. Movement next, as movement would awaken anyone that was sleepy.
Let me give you an example…let’s say the theme was baseball. We began by presenting the theme to the residents and setting the scene to simulate this experience as best as we could. For olfactory, we used the smell of freshly popped popcorn which permeated the room. We talked about the smell of freshly cut grass and hot dogs (and beer!). For kinesthetic, we would have the veterans hold a foam bat and hit a balloon. We would throw a soft ball around the group to get everyone involved. For tactile, we would bring in baseball gloves to feel the leather, put the glove on their hand, and fresh grass to feel the softness on their hands. For visual, we had the prior items mentioned (glove, grass), as well as pictures of famous baseball players, baseball cards, and pennants. For auditory, we played and sang “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”. And for gustatory, we shared popcorn with the participants (maybe you guessed that one!). This was truly a wonderful experience for me as an OT student and a sensory experience for these veterans that transported them back to a time in their lives that was meaningful and memorable.
So now, to bring this back full circle…mindfulness in nature using our senses. Being out in nature is the perfect environment to focus on our senses and to bring us into the present moment. When I’m out walking, hiking, checking out my garden, sitting on my porch, or even just looking out a window, I will do OKTVAG for myself. I will aim for 3-5 items for each sense. It’s amazing how much is going on in nature that we are completely unaware of until we stop our mind from wandering and tune-in to our surroundings. It doesn’t have to be hard or complex, “we just need to remember to do it” and practice, practice, practice!
Is this something that you do? If not, I encourage you to give it a try and let me know how it goes and what you think.
