Monday, March 31

night sit with the dog.

light, misty rain. cool weather, rain dripping off branches onto melting snow, darkness, the perfect playground for the senses.

i've found that i am able to awaken my senses much more effectively when i do the body scan first (tuning in to feet, calves, knees, etc. - up to the head). i don't wake up as much if i try to just jump into my senses without tuning in to my whole body first. also, i've been experimenting to determine if there is a certain order of my senses that works best for me - whether starting with my sense that is most alert at the time and progressing on toward the sense that is the most asleep (or vice versa) works better than following a set order.

i've also discovered that when i tune in to my hearing, i have a particular way of "cheating" that really diminishes how much i am able to hear. i've been working at awakening my hearing by first listening to what is to my left, then in front, to my right, behind, above, and below. my shortcut that i catch myself doing sometimes is that i do a very quick scan beforehand and determine a select few of the loudest sounds; then, when i actually start to go through the different directions, i am initially ONLY able to hear those sounds that i heard quickly on my cheat scan. it takes a suprising amount of effort to open up my hearing and discard those expectations so that i can then actually hear ALL of the sounds in each direction. when i make this effort, i always catch three or four noises around me that are quite obvious, but which i hadn't been able to hear because they hadn't made it into my initial scan.