The Five Senses Mindfulness Practice

Has your doctor, therapist, nurse, parent, friend or sibling recommended starting a mindfulness practice? Not sure where to start? Today I’m going to offer a short practice that can help you begin or continue your mindfulness journey.

Mindfulness can help improve your life in many ways. It can decrease symptoms of depression, anxiety and OCD, to name a few. It can help to reconnect you to your body and decrease the stress in your life. Overall, mindfulness can help you to reduce the distress in your life and increase your joy. Sound like a plan?

It is important to note that mindfulness is a practice which means that it is not a quick fix. The mindfulness practice that I am going to offer today is a short practice that you can hopefully incorporate into your daily life.

The Five Senses Mindfulness Practice

Notice:

5 things that you can see: describe them without judgement, what colors are they, are they moving or

stationary, are they fluid or solid, are they changing or staying the same?

4 things that you can feel: describe where you feel them on your body, is it the breeze on your arm, the feeling

of your shirt on your skin, the support of the seat or floor underneath you?

3 things that you can hear: describe them without emotional attachments, are they close by or far away, are

they loud or soft, do they make you feel a certain way?

2 things that you can smell: describe them without adding any judgements, are they strong smells or faint

smells, do they elicit a memory?

1 thing that you can taste: describe a taste that you are currently experiencing or a taste of something recent

that you ate, where do you taste it on your tongue, does it make you think of a memory, can you recall

another time that you ate something that tasted like this?

This can be a practice that you write down in a journal or meditate on. You can do it wherever you are to help you increase your mindfulness and decrease distress.