Practicing sensory connection is a wonderful way to, well, come to your senses! Not only does regularly taking a moment or two (or five or six) strengthen your ability to regulate stress and promote overall wellbeing, but taking intentional time to notice your body’s natural response to our immediate environment can help you keep track of your mind’s basic tendencies, and thus allows you to deepen your relationship with your unique drive, personally and interpersonally.
There are many amazing books on the how and why of movement therapy, I particularly love the writing of Linda Hartley (Somatic Psychology), Bill Plotkin (Nature and the Human Soul), and Tara Brach (Radical Acceptance), and yet the overarching theme is as simple as your embracing your five humanly senses.
The following is a brief summary of the sounds, sights, smells, textures, and tastes that I experienced during a recent walk by the ocean and is intended to be interpreted as a basic template for a sensory exercise.
SIGHT | 180° of blue water, virtually flat aside from tubes of white foam from breaking waves. Light sand turning darker as it absorbs water. High sand and low vegetation angling onto the shore, speckled with grey singled houses. Blue sky. People. Pebbles. Metallic fish dried along a faint rackline.
SOUND | Water gently rolling out across softened sand and retreating back softly. A sort of crash and fizz followed by a faded ending.
TOUCH | Pulverized pebbles and sand, warm turning cool when the cold water takes it over. Ocean water, refreshingly cool and airyated from the consistent movement. Dry sun on my bare face, shoulders, and feet. A light breeze from the water moves my hair over my face.
TASTE | My mouth waters from the dry breeze. The ocean’s flavor is salt and refreshing.
SMELL | Light salt wafts from the oceanside, the warm sand baking smells of mild, simple earth, with occasional bursts of pungent seaweed and other organic matter, dried and presenting a nostalgic essence.
Concepts to consider when exercising your own sensory practice | How do you feel when you see, feel, taste, smell, and hear certain things? Do certain senses trigger emotions more than others? Do specific memories come to mind? Hopes? Fears? And why do you think that is?
Glamping Queen 