During this practice you will train how to distinguish your experience from the six sense categories while also training to let go of unnecessary resistance towards your current experience.
To begin with settle into your practice posture attentive while being comfortable,
Releasing any unnecessary effort present,
Tensions in your jaw,
Neck or shoulders,
And tuning into the restfulness that comes with the relief,
The release.
With every exhale allowing to release even more and become more relaxed,
More settled.
Good.
We will train to distinguish and explore all six sense categories.
Seeing,
Hearing,
Feeling,
Smelling,
Tasting and thinking.
And we will be using a noting process of six steps.
Recognizing,
Labeling,
Relaxing,
Observing,
Releasing and repeat.
Beginning with the sense of seeing,
Looking at the external world with your open eyes,
Allowing your eyes to pick up an object around you,
Such as a wall,
A furniture piece,
Anything is fine.
Once picked up,
Acknowledge that I am having a visual experience right now.
Commenting mentally,
There is seeing.
Relaxing any bodily tensions that may be present,
Continuing to observe the visual experience for a few seconds.
Then letting your eyes look at the next visual and repeating that process.
Recognize the experience of seeing,
Labeling there is seeing.
Relax if there is anything to relax.
Stay for a while with the visual object.
Release.
Repeat.
Good.
Now closing your eyes and looking at the internal visual world.
If no mental image is present,
Feel free to imagine anything,
Such as a forest.
Again recognizing that you're having a visual mental experience,
Labeling it there is seeing.
Relaxing any unnecessary effort present within you.
Staying with the mental image for a few seconds and releasing,
Allowing your attention to move freely to the next mental image.
Also,
Notice if you can see the absence of mental imagery,
Such as a blank space.
In this case,
Label there is stillness.
Good.
Continuing with the sense of hearing,
Becoming aware of any external sounds,
Such as traffic,
People moving or talking,
White noise or stillness,
The absence of any sounds.
Acknowledging that right now,
I'm having a hearing experience.
Labeling there is hearing,
Or there is stillness.
Relaxing if there's something to relax.
Being with the sound for a few seconds.
Then letting go of our intention to observe that particular sound.
Letting our mind freely choose the next sound.
And we repeat.
Recognize,
Label,
Relax,
Be with,
Release.
Good.
Now becoming aware of internal hearing,
Such as self talk,
A stuck tune,
Or silence.
Feel free to actively talk to yourself mentally.
Or remember a song mentally.
In any case,
Recognizing,
Label there is hearing,
Or there is stillness.
Relax if required.
Be with for a while.
Release.
Repeat.
Good.
Letting go of that.
And continuing with the sense of feeling.
These are any bodily sensations,
Such as warmth,
Coolness,
Hardness,
Softness,
Movement,
Itching,
Tingling,
Pain,
Or emotions manifesting within the body,
Usually around stomach,
Chest,
And the throat area,
As heat,
Lightness,
Tightness,
As well as the absence of any physical activity.
Stillness.
Recognize,
Label,
There is feeling,
There is stillness,
Relax,
Be with,
Release,
Repeat.
Good.
Now briefly exploring the sense of smelling and tasting.
First,
The sense of tasting.
Become aware of the area around your tongue.
And check if there's any taste available right now.
If so,
Recognize it.
Label,
Relax,
Be with,
Release.
Good.
Now the sense of smelling.
Notice if there's any smell available right now.
If so,
Recognize,
Label,
Relax,
Be with,
Release.
Good.
Lastly,
The sense of mind or thinking.
Becoming aware of any mental activity,
Such as planning,
Worrying,
Remembering,
Fantasizing,
Or opinions,
Beliefs,
Or state of mind,
Such as boredom,
Excitement.
Note that these often come as a team,
Combined with mental images and or sounds.
You may also notice stillness of mind,
The absence of any mental activity.
In that case,
Label,
There is stillness.
Recognize,
Label,
There is thinking,
Or there is stillness,
Relax,
Be with,
Release,
Repeat.
Good.
Now to review this tour of the senses.
See if you can distinguish between all six senses.
Moving your awareness from sense to sense and recognizing the fundamental difference.
A feeling is fundamentally different to hearing,
While a feeling to another feeling have something fundamentally in common.
Play around with exploring this fundamental difference and commonality.
For this,
Let go of the six step process,
Only using the first step,
Recognizing.
As we slowly transition out of this practice,
Notice that all you are,
All you will be,
Is an experience within the six senses.
Thank you for practicing with me.
