Sensual awareness and sensual meditation
What is Sensual Awareness?
Sensual awareness is attention to the senses and stimuli obtained from the senses. The terms sensual awareness and sensuality do not distinguish between negative stimuli (pain) or positive stimuli (pleasure). Sensual awareness and sensuality certainly have nothing to do with self-gratification, immorality, or overindulgence. Our senses provide the information on which we base all of our intuitive thoughts, creativity, and desires, as well as our clear problem-solving abilities. They help us determine what is right and what is wrong for us far better than any holy book, psychologist, or pop culture. By being fully present in our sensual perceptions, we become more sensitive to our passions, our inner compass, our personal truth, or what we call our core values. Core values are true and authentic and are not influenced by the values and judgments of others.
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Imagine a scenario where you’re in a job that doesn’t satisfy you and has been for several years. On paper, however, that job is prestigious, and friends and family envy her position. He knows something has to change, but he doesn’t know if he should go back to school, start his own business, or change careers altogether. The years keep passing by, but you get stuck in the situation and still have no idea what to do. Or imagine you’re running erratically, between work, your commute, running kids around, parent meetings, gobbling fast food in the car 3 or more times a week, and never being able to start that new hobby or get something. I needed to exercise, and then lie awake wasting precious sleep time at night worrying about the hectic day ahead. You know something has to change because this isn’t healthy, you’re exhausted and it’s starting to show, but you still don’t make any changes because you don’t know where to cut back to relieve yourself and be a superhero. Your mind is racing at a mile a minute and you just can’t make up your mind how to improve your life. These are two simplified examples of what life can be like when we are disconnected from our core values.
How sensual awareness reconnects us to our core values
In our hectic culture, many of us are not immediately able to sit down and meditate with a clear mind for long periods of time. In this case, sensuality only serves as a different form of meditation that can be a more accessible means of reconnecting with what is authentic within us, allowing us to observe our condition from a neutral and relaxed perspective. Often, we are too busy in our daily lives to fully acknowledge our core values or we are too used to letting outside influences, i.e. religion, business, social values, the opinions of family and friends, etc. guide our desires to easily make decisions that align correctly or actions with them.
Although sensuality doesn’t really refer to stimuli that are positive or negative, the more alluring and pleasurable the experience, the more easily we can stay in that place of presence and allow our core values and passions to shine through. The key to sensuous meditation is to actively observe through our senses just enough to keep us present but not so much that it overwhelms or distracts us, and that is relaxing enough to quiet the mind chatter. We must become aware of our sensations but without thinking about them. We are giving all sensations, both pleasant and unpleasant or stressful, a place to simply BE. Without fighting, ignoring, or manipulating, we can simply observe and release them, where they will no longer cloud our thoughts and judgments. Essentially, here we are paying attention to our body-mind connection. Sensuality is the bridge between the body and the mind, because all thoughts originate in the senses. Make them work together in harmony and see what miracles can happen!
Getting started with sensual meditation
Although sensual awareness as meditation may be a more accessible form of meditation than other forms, it still requires practice. Here is a very simplified practice to get you started:
- Find a quiet place and sit comfortably. If necessary, make the atmosphere more welcoming with candles, incense, dim lights or fresh flowers.
- It is not necessary to close your eyes, but it helps to relax the eyelids halfway. Begin with a slow, deep breath, expanding your rib cage and filling your entire abdomen with nourishing oxygen and releasing used air and clutter with each exhalation.
- Try not to think about anything, and as thoughts come up, just release them and relax. Don’t try too hard. Just let yourself go.
- Notice what you hear.
- Notice what you see.
- Notice how you feel.
- Notice what you smell.
- Pay attention to what you taste.
- Be aware of your sensations and notice a sense of calm connection.
- Continue to experiment with your sensual meditations in various places and activities for a month.
There is so much more to sensual awareness that you would be fooled if you stopped here. Regular practice is needed to experience the full intensity of the benefits, such as an increased ability to think clearly and creatively in all aspects of your life; discovering solutions to problems you may have been struggling with; generating more laughter and fun in your life; experiencing greater self-confidence; and become more relaxed with yourself and less stressed. Learn about the concepts of balancing the masculine and feminine energies within; understanding the chakras and using and playing with universal energy are also necessary to benefit from a rich sensual engagement with the world.
