Reset Day 3 What are you Feeling?

Today you’re invited to engage with the sense of touch

Here are some suggestions for how you might structure your day of feeling…

Setting the tone

As soon as you wake up, aim to become aware of what you can feel against your skin. Night clothes? Sheets/duvet? Perhaps someone next to you! Can you feel the air on your skin? Sensations inside the body? Are you hungry? If so, ask yourself how does your body know you’re hungry?

By now, you may be familiar with this new approach to sense experiences. Rather than labelling, we have the intention to be open to the raw material of our sensations and appreciate the ability to feel.

5 minute practice

Settle yourself somewhere quiet on your own and either lie, sit or kneel.

Set your timer for 5 minutes and drop your attention into your feet. If you’re lying down it might help to bend your knees so that your feet are flat on the floor.

Notice any and all sensations in your feet…

Then move up to the buttocks, noticing…

Then the back and head if you’re lying down…

And your arms and hands.

So, you’re becoming aware of your body supported by the floor or chair. There’s no need to try to relax. Think of it more as a softening, allowing yourself to be supported.

Then place a hand on your heart and explore physical sensations in more detail. See if you can observe 5 different sensations here. (movement, texture, temperature?) Notice how they change and flux.

When the 5 minutes is up, rest both of your hands on your lap or by your sides and observe how sensations may be different in each hand before moving on to your next activity.

Suggestions for the rest of your day. You choose how many and how often. Be curious.

Carry a small object with you throughout the day (eg a pebble, a key or it could be a pen.) and when you notice yourself becoming lost in thought, come back to the present by touching the object, noting its physical qualities.

If you’re at home, go to your wardrobe, close your eyes and feel your clothes! Can you identify them with touch alone?

Walk bare foot on grass for a few minutes.

At your desk or just sitting, gently hunch your shoulders up to your ears as you breathe in, hold for the count of 4 and breathe out to the count of 6 as you slowly lower them. Try this 3 times.

Place your hands palm down on your desk, table or lap and explore sensations in fingers, palms and tops of the hands. Close your eyes as you do this if possible.

If you’re driving somewhere, before you set off, observe the sensations associated with gripping the steering wheel. What can you feel? Now become aware of the rest of the body and the points of contact with the car seat and floor. Drop your shoulders and sit back…

Press your palms together in front of your chest. Apply some pressure. Where do you feel this in your body? Release and notice what you feel.

At the end of the day, reflect on the following prompts in your notebook.

Bring to mind 10 really memorable moments of touch today. They might be pleasant or unpleasant.
What have you discovered by focusing on the sense of touch?