Sensory Bathing and Sensory Deprivation
I tried to meditate but it turned into worship. I say “but” when I should say “and.” I am shifting all of my buts and no’s into yes, and(s), because this is where the magic happens.
“I tried to meditate and it turned into worship.”
I realize now that meditation will become whatever it needs to be: breathing, listening, dancing, prayer, channeling — what ever it needs to be.
Right now, I am balancing practices of going inward for guidance and then immersing myself in the environment around me. Here is a practice of sensory immersion I pulled from Angel Tech: A Modern Shamans Guide to Reality Selection:
Close your eyes. Listen, moment-to-moment, to the sounds of your immediate environment. Listen to how your mind may make sense of the sounds: naming, categorizing and figuring them out. Now, give yourself permission to simply listen to the sounds as different energies. You can do this by not associating meaning to any of these sounds and just let the sounds come sweeping through you as currents of sonic energy. Let these sonic forces have their way and go where they may within, around, under and over you. If they like, let them merge forces with other sounds to produce new levels and overtones of sonic resonance. Your sensory task is this: How much can you give yourself over to this experience and let it envelop and encompass you…until you are at one with the sounds?
Grounding yourself with Sensory Bathing
I sit outside in a sunny spot and close my eyes. I listen to each sound and name it. I hear the wind rustling through trees. I hear various birds chirping — different tones. I hear wind chimes, some high, some low. A car’s motor. Loud, nondescript words. A plane flying overhead. Machinery turned on. My dog panting, then lapping water. A horn honking.
Life expanding and contracting.
My perceptive world is all at once multi-dimensional, and I am a part of it. Small and important at the same time.
I am that child crying out. I am the car speeding toward something. I am the rooster crowing. The urgent horn honking. The wind blowing — just passing through.
Going inward with Sensory Deprivation
I don’t deprive myself of all sounds. I use noise-cancelling earbuds to listen to Solfeggio frequencies and soundscapes that connect me with source energy. I put on my eye mask and I go inward. With every breath in I take in energy from the universe and then I breathe out longer than I take in. Every exhale feels like a gift from within. This is how I connect with the consciousness beyond my identity, my physical body and this reality.
Not here. Not the sounds on Earth. No light from this planet leaks through my eye mask.
I go inward — but outside of space and time. It’s dark, and sometimes there are visions, or hallucinations, or imagination — whatever you want to call it.
The things that I see are for me to interpret. And words are spoken — sometimes they make no sound, sometimes I repeat them aloud — messages about me or loved ones or whoever pops into my circle from time to time. In these short moments, I become privy to some arcane knowledge about how the universe works.
I understand how going inward can become addictive. The chasing of enlightenment.
Which is why sensory bathing is needed for grounding yourself. Use whatever methods you need for balance.
Cute and short explainer video about empathy
Imagine yourself as a mountain
An audio meditation for stress resilience
“Stress is a reaction to our perceived to our wellbeing. Therefore we have individual experiences of what stresses us out. It throws us off our base into a fear or panic reaction. When we are in this state we are no longer clear minded and often act in ways that are not helpful. The practice of Mountain Meditation is a powerful way to return to balance and equanimity.”
Transcript of meditation audio:
Imagine yourself as a mountain, one you have seen and experienced, or can just imagine. Is it snowy? Or green? Tall with one peak or several? Fully embrace this vision of your mountain, either up close or from afar. Recall that mountains experience all the different seasons. Summer, autumn, winter and spring unfolding. Summer brings wildflowers and green. Autumn often covers the mountain with a splendored coat of many colors. Winter brings more brown or the white of snow. Springs bring new growth and renewal. Has the mountain actually changed? The mountain remains the same, solid, stable and grounded. It just sits here being mountain. The mountain is much like our own lives. Circumstances come and go. When people visit the mountain, they often make judgements, like it’s too cloudy, I can’t see the mountain, it’s so hot. I love climbing mountains, etc. In the midst of all these comments. The mountain just sits, being truly itself. And we learn so much from the image of this mountain as we move throughout our life. Letting go of the opinion of others, of harsh judgements, challenging moments. Remember that we can move through the season eventually. If you remember to stay true to your authentic nature. Just being in the world. Just as you are. This magnificent being.
How to Love (Mindful Essentials) by Thich Nhat Hanh
Learn how to practice mindfulness in such a way that you can create moments of happiness and joy for your own nourishment.
Hugging meditation is a practice of mindfulness. “Breathing in, I know my dear one is in my arms, alive. Breathing out, she is so precious to me.” If you breathe deeply like that, holding the person you love, the energy of your care and appreciation will penetrate into that person and she will be nourished and bloom like a flower.
The roots of a lasting relationship are mindfulness, deep listening and loving speech, and a strong community to support you.
Hugging meditation is a practice of mindfulness. “Breathing in, I know my dear one is in my arms, alive. Breathing out, she is so precious to me.” If you breathe deeply like that, holding the person you love, the energy of your care and appreciation will penetrate into that person and she will be nourished and bloom like a flower.
The roots of a lasting relationship are mindfulness, deep listening and loving speech, and a strong community to support you.
When your loved one is talking, practice listening deeply. Sometimes the other person will say something that surprises us, that is the opposite of the way we see things. Allow the other person to speak freely. Don’t cut your loved one off or criticize their words. When we listen deeply with all our heart—for ten minutes, half an hour, or even an hour—we will begin to see the other person more deeply and understand them better. If they say something that’s incorrect, that’s based on a wrong perception, we can give them a little information later on to help them correct their thinking. But right now, we just listen.
Recognizing our habits and smiling to them is the practice of appropriate mental attention, which helps us create new and more beneficial neural pathways.
If you’re too upset to speak calmly, you can write a note and put it where the other person will see it. Here are three sentences that may help. First: “My dear, I am suffering, I am angry, and I want you to know it.” The second is: “I am doing my best.” This means you are practicing mindful breathing and walking, and you are refraining from doing or saying anything out of anger. The third is: “Please help me.”
When our bodies are very close, we feel it will relieve this loneliness. But if we don’t share our aspirations and what’s in our hearts, then even if we live together or have children together, we can still feel very alone.
To love is not to possess the other person or to consume all their attention and love. To love is to offer the other person joy and a balm for their suffering. This capacity is what we have to learn to cultivate.
We cling to objects and to people like a drowning person clings to a floating log. Everything is impermanent. This moment passes. That person walks away. Happiness is still possible.
The sixth mantra is, “You are partly right.” When someone congratulates you or criticizes you, you can use this mantra.
We are aware that blaming and arguing can never help us and only create a wider gap between us; that only understanding, trust, and love can help us change and grow.