I remember my no nonsense, Northern dad saying to me as a kid that I was over sensitive, when I'd tear up at the most ridiculous things on TV.
I am a very visual person and love my daily walks with the dogs and am so inspired by nature and the smallest things of beauty. I'm also an advocate for 'less is more' and get great pleasure from using simple, well designed, every day objects. Most recently a lovely hand thrown butter dish from Toast.
We looked at Equanimity last week on our mini Retreat and in my last blog 'Letting go'.
Equanimity means feeling all the feels. In other words being alive and tuned in to our senses.
Letting go, or withdrawing from our senses is an important step towards calming the mind and meditation. Pratyahara as it's called in sanskrit is step 5 of the 8 fold path in the yoga tradition. But in order to let go of our senses - we need to experience them.
For me the pleasure using beautiful everyday items. A favourite view. The sensations of 'an edge' in a yoga pose. The tingling of the skin after a dip in the North Sea! Mesmerising Sound Bath waves or piece of music that stirs you. (My first gig since before Covid last night - Bonobo - moved my soul!) The unmistakable smell of bread baking, freshly picked mint and taste sensations of salted, sweet, spice and crunch combined, or an ice cold beer after a hot day on the beach. I'm sure you all have your own favourites.
Outside the main five senses there have been identified many more. Here's an interesting article if you want a further read. https://www.naturalmentalhealth.com/blog/go-deeper-with-your-19-senses
I love the fact that animals (especially my dogs), instinctively know who likes them or not. And what about 'mums intuition' when you know your daughter is just about to open the front door at 4am!
It's no accident pratyahara is limb number 5 in the 8 stages. It comes after ethical principles (yamas), personal discipline (niyamas), physical poses (asana) and breath control (pranayama). We have to feel, see, smell, taste before we can withdraw (pratyahara), to be able to concentrate (dharana) and then meditate (dhyana). The last stage being enlightenment (samadhi).
A yoga practice does help us tune into the senses more. Things like a cooling breath, or relaxation methods that guide you round the body. But there's lots of things we can do to stir our senses off the mat too. That's when yoga integrates the way we live our life.
Whether it's trying a out new dish or experimenting with a fragrance. Following up a new artist on spotify. Or maybe even turning the shower to cold. Also perhaps it's good to check too that one isn't out of balance and dominates the others?
In the Bhagavad Gita the 5 white horses of the charioteer are representations of our senses. It's interesting to note that they are depicted as white. This is to represent sattva which translates as being pure, in harmony and balanced.
I do have to hold myself back a bit sometimes not to be too obsessive about how things around look around me!
Maybe that's what my guru of a dad meant all those years back.
Have a lovely weekend. Namaste.
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