Five Senses Prayer Practice

 

As we continue to explore and experience our bodies this week, today we will take a tour of our five senses.  This practice comes from the website, calminggrace.com.  This is another powerful way to check in with how you are doing and paying attention to what is going on around you and within you.  Bonus, this is a prayer practice especially for people who like numbers! 

Begin by slowing steadying your breathing, paying attention to your exhale and inhale.  You can even be grateful for this breath and next breath too.  Now with prayerful intention I invite you to name and notice what is around you.  We do this with a soft gaze, that is, non-judgmental.  You are not being graded on this exercise, there are no right answers.  How you enter this, is how you enter into this. 

You are invited first to:

• 5 things you can see: For example, your computer, your dog/cat, a window, a glass of water, etc. ~ we are searching for the tactile and tangible.
• 4 things you can feel: Consider the texture of your clothes, the chair you’re sitting on, the temperature, etc. ~ again, the invitation is for things around you that are also made of atoms and have energy like you.
• 3 things you can hear: Listen for sounds far away as well as in the same room.
• 2 things you can smell: Notice the scent in the air, or maybe the smell of your hands or a nearby object.
• 1 thing you can taste: Maybe your coffee or tea, or simply the taste in your mouth.

Part of what I love in this practice is it gives us a way to encounter/experience the truth of Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s beautiful line of poetry, ““Earth's crammed with heaven, And every common bush afire with God, But only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit round and pluck blackberries.”  When we pay attention to God all around us and within us, we sense the Divine.  But if we believe there is nothing sacred to see here, then we may miss the burning bushes ablaze in our life. 

I pray this prayer practice today will open you to the Holy hovering and humming in your life.  Amen.