How Can You Use Your Five Senses For Mindfulness?
Mindfulness and nature surly go hand-in-hand. I’ve personally found solace in a variety of landscapes and if you’ve ever spent more than five minutes in a park, a forest, or at the beach, you’ve probably felt the positive and magical effects of our beautiful natural world. Nature makes mindfulness incredibly easy, particularly if you consciously set aside any distractions (i.e. your phone).
Being in the present moment in nature is so easy because we are constantly using our bodies and our bodies can only be in the present moment. Our bodies cannot be in the past. They cannot be in the future. It’s impossible. Using our five senses to remind us to stay in our bodies, in the present moment, can be such an easy way to explore mindfulness!
Let’s use a tree as an example for utilizing our five senses for mindfulness outdoors as everyone has access to a tree and it can be a great introduction to mindfully learn to use your senses outdoors!
SIGHT
What do you see when you really look at a tree? Do you see the light filtering through the leaves? Do you see the bark flaking off from the trunk? Do you see any inhabitants in the canopy or near the roots?
Truly seeing the tree for what it is and what it has to offer can be such a great mindfulness practice in and of itself. You don’t judge the tree for the way it looks and it doesn’t judge you. Taking a few minutes to truly look at a tree or some other natural element, can create a solid base for mindfulness.
SOUND
What can you hear? Are the tree’s leaves rustling? Is it a home to birds that you can hear conversing in it’s branches? Maybe there’s just stillness and you hear far away sounds or even your own breath.
Hearing the rhythms of life that the tree supports and hearing what the tree might hear can be incredibly powerful in helping you stay present and mindful. You may even take it a step further to see if you can hear layers of sounds: sounds near to you and farther away.
SMELL
Does the place you are have any smells? Does the air smell like flowers or plants? Might it just smell fresh and clean?
Whatever you might smell (or might not smell!) take deep breaths. Breathe in the oxygen the tree is providing. Allow your attention to be put on how the air fills your lungs.
TOUCH
Placing your hand on the trunk of the tree and gliding your hand across, what do you feel? Is it rough or smooth or bumpy? What do the leaves feel like?
Really try to feel what the elements of the tree feel like here. Focus all of your attention on you sense of touch.
TASTE
I advise bringing a small orange with you, or some berries from the store, that you can use for this sense as it can be risky to eat something in nature if you don’t know what it is!
As you eat the piece of food you brought with you, use all of your taste buds to taste the food. Is it sour? Sweet? Are there seeds? Is it juicy or dry? Chew your food as much as you possibly can, tasting every bit of it.
Many of your other senses can be utilized in this taste activity as we often see and smell our beautiful food before tasting it. Plus now you get to enjoy a nice snack, under a tree, after all of your hard five sense mindfulness work you did!
CONCLUSION
These five senses mindfulness activities can be done alone or all together. They can be done in your backyard, at a local park, or on a backpacking trip. Even if you’re indoors and use a plant for this activity, you can absolutely still do them. The nice thing about your five senses is that you always have them with you. I invite you to try this a few times and notice any difference you might feel before and after the exercises.
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