…to escape the habitual chatter of our busy minds and give ourselves some ease.
Better in Every Sense
In their new book “Better in Every Sense”, the neuroscientist, Norman Farb, and the clinical psychologist, Zindel Segal, remind us that: “We all know intuitively that a blast of sensation can lift our mood.” When we redirect our attention away from thinking and focus on our body’s ability to sense both itself and the world out there, we can “momentarily ease stress and clear the mind.” 
They have spent over two decades exploring what happens in the brain when we get stuck into unhelpful habitual thought patterns and found that the antidote is to “sense forage”. In other words, pay attention to your senses and the information they bring to mind.
You could try it right now by using the five senses to count off five things you notice: smell, taste, sight, hearing and touch.
Unfortunately, as we get older, and all of our conditioning takes hold, it gets harder to give sensation the space it needs in our lives. “When we’re growing up, nobody tells us that sensation is a capacity that withers in the face of stress” Farb and Segal tell us.
So what can we do?
First, try a little experiment.
Close your eyes and have a good think about your feet. Yes, your feet.
What comes to mind? Do you like the look of them? Are you critical of them in some way? What size are they? Do your toenails need cutting?
I presume a number of thoughts flooded into your head, many of them, perhaps, unbidden.These opinions and bits of information about your feet are already stored in your brain, ready to march out when you think “feet”.
Now, take your socks off and have a good look at your feet. Notice those thoughts again – judgements, memories etc.
But this time…sense into your feet.
Plant them on the floor and feel any sensations in the soles of your feet, in your toes. Thoughts may arise but keep redirecting your attention back into the feet. What can you feel on the surface of the skin? Try moving awareness inside the feet, too. If you want to intensify sensation you could try rolling one of those spikey massage balls (X-Tone Massage Ball | Home Bargains) under one foot and then sense how this foot feels compared to the other one. Or go outside and stand on the grass if you can. Spend some time really exploring sensations. Where are your thoughts now? Have they quietened down?
Farb and Segal point out that: “Sensing can feel less certain in that there’s no fixed outcome, but it can also be less stressful because judging recedes to the background”.
What this simple exercise illustrates is that immersing ourselves in sensation can help to calm the mind. We don’t stop thinking but we can redirect our focus by paying attention to sensation. In doing so we can find a bit of ease in our lives. A bit of mental rest.
If you want more suggestions, the book has lots of helpful exercises that enable us to “sense forage”. It’s very accessible and a fascinating read. Better in Every Sense : Farb, Norman, Segal, Zindel: Amazon.co.uk: Books
Meanwhile you could try the companion blog to this one - "It's Time to Come to Your Senses - which explores more of the neuroscience behind sensation.
