Sensing - July Morning

I am increasingly aware of how my attention can constrict or expand my sensory awareness. For example, this morning I was out in my garden, digging away at weeks. Most of my attention was on what was directly in front of my nose. I was aware of the soil, its need for moisture. I was aware of the scent of the tomato plant leaves when I brushed against them, but didn't really feel when I brushed against them. I was aware of the warmth and humidity of the day, even at 6:30 a.m. Soon, I was aware of the deerfly buzzing around my head. Oh, and the itching of yesterday's deerfly bites. Shaking the dirt off the weeds meant that my arms, legs and socks became dirt-colored, not to mention gritty. Sometimes I was kissed by a few drops of dew falling from the weeds I was pulling. There was also the tug of weeds and satisfaction when I felt the roots pull free.

As I expanded my awareness, I heard our dogs panting in the shade and felt the ruffle of an occasional breeze through nearby trees and enjoyed the cooler air on my cheeks and arms. At one point, the sun, which had been hidden in blessed clouds, came out and the air temperature immediately warmed. Sometimes there was the song of the cardinal, probably celebrating a breakfast of raspberries! At another time, the distant roar of an airplane overhead.


Then, I heard big Gus barking for his own breakfast at the back door. Other family members were still asleep and I didn't want his barking to wake them up. It was clearly time to go in to feed Gus and Honey.

Amazing what paying attention brings! What if I widened attention even more?

Inner Awareness of the Physical

When I first engaged with psychosynthesis many years ago, I was a bit puzzled by why Roberto Assagioli would emphasize the physical. I was relatively young then and reasonably healthy and energetic. My only physical issues were that I sometimes had anxiety attacks. These would come at random times and scared me until I learned that they would not kill me and were not harmful.

When I first encountered relaxation and relaxation imagery as a college freshman in required physical education, I had been quite surprised by my sensations. We were stretched out on exercise mats listening to the instructor guide us through a relaxation exercise. When I first relaxed deeply, I felt as if my body would fall through the floor. What an alarming feeling it was at the time!

These days mindful awareness is promoted in counseling, healthcare settings, business offices and the mass media as a way of managing stress. Mindfulness practices can involve paying attention to the breath, being aware of internal sensations, deliberating relaxing body and mind, and observing one's sensations, emotions and thoughts. Disciplines such as yoga and chi gong cultivate fine-grained awareness, ability to discriminate among sensations and to detect energy shifts within and outside the body.

We become aware first through our senses. The physical senses are: sight, hearing, taste, smell, touch, kinesthetic sense, awareness of temperature, pain, balance and acceleration. Each of these senses can be developed. For example, a woman I know is a personal chef. She has an acute sense of smell and taste far surpassing mine. My husband grew up in a rural wooded area and can perceive a deer in hiding that I never see. A musician can hear tones that I never will, while a visual artist can distinguish among fine color gradations and lines that are just a little "off".

Classically, cultivation of the senses was part of the education of the young, and a way of life for those who were able to afford the leisure to continue the practices. Part of such education involved being able to represent the sensory realm in the imagination. So, for example, Beethoven could 'hear' his symphonies in his mind, even when he became deaf.

What might a sensory education be for those of us who are adults? How might we develop greater physical capacities even after a lifetime of forgetting that we are embodied?