In the coming week, see if you can bring awareness to your senses. Pick one sense and allow yourself to feel what truly is present in the sense in THIS moment. Observe the sense gate as it experiences the unfolding, changing sensations. You can focus your awareness to notice what arises internally OR choose to focus your awareness on external experiences to notice what arises.
Here are a few suggestions to support your focus of awareness to deepen this type of awakening and sensory meditation:
Sight- become aware of the eye taking in: colors (brightnesses, dullness, darkness), textures/shadows, movements of things in your environment…
Smell- become aware of the aromas of the environment around you: the earth, the air, the qualities of freshness, thickness, sour or sweetness….
Touch- become aware of the sense gate of feeling: the way the body experiences contact with others, with nature, within your everyday environment (noticing qualities of groundedness, softness, hardness)…
Taste- become aware of the experience of taste: that may arise when eating (sour, bitter, sweet, flavors) and when not eating (the taste of air, moisture), noticing the transient changes of sensations of the taste buds
Hearing – become aware of the constancy of sound: arising as vibrations, pitch, tone, moving in and passing through the ear