The main purpose of this chapter is: to illustrate that when we practice mindfulness, we are more aware of our senses and can more fully enjoy what they have to offer. Living in an overindulgent, demanding society, individuals lose sight of the simplicities. The five basic senses – sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch – appear for many individuals at birth, resting unnoticed throughout life. With continuous stimulation from the external environment and internal factors, our senses do not turn on and off. Due to this continuous stimulation, individuals lose appreciation for their senses. By participating in mindfulness, an individual pulls himself or herself from reality, reflecting on their present experience.
The most important information in this chapter is: Touch is as important to good health as are food and water. While an individual can commendably live without sight, smell, taste, or hearing, life requires the sense of touch.
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Each of the five senses operates as a communicator between the external environment and the internal receptors. This communication reflects a cause and effect approach; the information an individual perceives from their senses, causes a distinctive bodily response. Without the persistence of recognizing the external changes, in the environment, life would not prosper. Imagine waking up incapable of sight, smell, taste, hear, or touch. While missing one sense, produced a heightened sensation in the other four, missing more than one sense diminished life quality. As the book clarified, senses reflect a window to the environment and a thermostat to internal needs. It remains imperative to understand how the senses not only communicate with external changes, but also with internal needs. Without the capability to physically observe internal needs, a mechanism is needed to communicate its
Senses are any of the abilities in which stimuli external of the body are acknowledged and experienced, this includes the abilities of sight, hearing, smell, touch and taste. Our senses are an imperative foundation of information regarding the world around us, which rather passively reflect reality actively structured around it. Perception includes two main components, sensation and interpretation; one’s understanding of something stems from the information provided by their senses. As humans, we rely on our sense perception to differentiate between what is real and what isn’t, we accept the reality that has been offered to us. Our life is as real as we believe it to be,
Introduction Sensory biology is the study of the observations of how an organism gains information from its environment. Being able to respond to one’s environment is key in order for an organism to survive and strive. Stimuli from
Over twenty-five hundred years ago, Buddha Guatama practiced meditation and came to what is known as “The Four Noble Truth,” an important principle in Buddhism (Elder, 2010). This principle informs the reader of what suffering is and how affect is. This is a great example of how valuable meditation is- on the very first session ever recorded, the awareness that came from it would later be the foundation of a new religion. This proves how powerful meditation can be. Furthermore, some form of meditation can be found in various religions. Although the styles, techniques, and ideology behind the meditation can vary per religion, personal transformation is the key goal (Modi, Singh, 2012). Today, in Western society, mindful meditation (a form of meditation) has grown in popularity, used for relaxation and to help treat those who suffer from mental illness’ and mood disorders. Viewed as alternative medicine for the mind and soul, it is beneficial for our emotional and mental
Meditation is an age-old practice that has renewed itself in many different cultures and times. Despite its age, however, there remains a mystery and some ambiguity as to what it is, or even how one performs it. The practice and tradition of meditation dates back thousands of years having appeared in many eastern traditions. Meditation’s ancient roots cloud its origins from being attributed to a sole inventor or religion, though Bon, Hindu, Shinto, Dao, and later, Buddhism are responsible for its development. Its practice has permeated almost all major world religions, but under different names. It has become a practice without borders, influencing millions with its tranquil and healing effects.
To begin with, mindfulness is when someone can pay attention to the present moment “without being devoted to different points of view” (Martin, 1997). Along with staying focused on the present moment, mindfulness is when the particular person does not judge the current experience as the person tries to comprehend the present situation. Mindfulness makes a person reflect on one’s self by not only figuring out one’s thoughts, but also the feelings that go along with it. The complex nature of mindfulness demonstrates that it has multiple purposes that cultivates a person into realizing the potential of the brain (Davis & Hayes,
In conclusion, our sensory perception is our only input to external worlds which we must attempt to thrive in successfully. Understanding that our five senses are critical to this, we must acknowledge misconceptions and untruths are frequently made. In a world of Photoshop and Reality TV which in essence is not real, it is our duty to ourselves to seek out the “truth” as best we can.
Practicing mindfulness is something that most people probably have on their daily to-do list, but never getting around to it because they either don’t believe it’ll work or feel too busy with their lives to stop for literally just a minute to breathe. When going into this activity, my to-do is exactly what was in mind. It’s the list that is never completed. So, having this as an actual assignment was exactly what I needed to get a jumpstart on my mindfulness techniques in my daily life.
Perception, at most times, is a credible way to assess the world around us. Without perception, we would not know what to do with all the incoming information from our environment. Perception is constructed of our senses and the unconscious interpretations of those sensations. Our senses bring in information from our environment, and our brain interprets what those sensations mean. The five most commonly accepted senses -- taste, smell, hearing, sight, and touch -- all help create the world around us as we know it.
I would think every part of our senses is vital for our species survival but if I had to pick one that would have the least impact, that would be the sense of smell. I feel like it's not as important as seeing the environment, or hearing a growl of a panther nearby, or tasting rotten food. It really just gives us the pleasure of smelling things. It's not really that important in the act of surviving something. If I didn't have the sense of smell I wouldnt be able to sniff the scent of fubreeze in the air, or smell dirty laundry or rotten food in the garbage. So basically I wouldn't know when food is cooking in the kitchen, or when it's time to take out the trash and when I'm really smelly, I wouldn't know when to take a shower. Perception influences
When discussing the relationship of brain and behavior, the materialist view of human experience runs into conflict with the historically dominant religious accounts. Recent studies, however, suggests that there may be a "middle view" between the two world-views. Religions, especially Buddhism, stress the role of meditation in one's spiritual growth. Meditation has tangible psychological and physiological benefits, though, which can be explained strictly in neurobiological terms. Understanding of how meditation affects the brain, and, by extension, human behavior, also gives insight into consciousness, the role of feedback loops, and the nature of the I-function.
When I saw Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring about five years ago at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C., I felt something about the painting that I had never felt before when looking at artwork. I felt as if this girl, this young woman in the painting was real, hiding in the museum behind this canvas. She was in the flesh. Her skin was still dewy from three hundred-something years ago, the light across her face still glowing. She was in the round, her eyes followed mine, she was real. She was about to speak, she was in a moment of thought, she was in reflection. This girl was not crimson red or titanium white, she was flesh. Vermeer caught her, a butterfly in his hand. She was not just recorded on canvas, she was created on canvas. She was caught in a moment of stillness. Vermeer creates moments in his paintings. When viewing them, we step into a private, intimate setting, a story. Always, everything is quiet and calm. I realize now it is no wonder I had such a strong reaction to Vermeer the first time I saw him: he is a stillness seeker.
Sensation refers to the process of sensing what is around us in our environment by using our five senses, which are touching, smell, taste, sound and sight. Sensation occurs when one or more of the various sense organs received a stimulus. By receiving the stimulus, it will cause a mental or physical response. It starts in the sensory receptor, which are specialized cells that convert the stimulus to an electric impulse which makes it ready for the brain to use this information and this is the passive process. After this process, the perception comes into play of the active process. Perception is the process that selects the information, organize it and interpret that information.
First, one must have the five senses; taste, smell, hear, see, and feel. Yes, these are physical aspects, however, these senses are what any human needs to be, human. For example, the human body needs to be able to taste. It must ingest food, and the food must appeal to a decent taste. A human must also be able to smell, so one may smell a poisonous gas, delicious food, or any other stench that may linger in the air. To be able to hear, enables the human to hear danger or a noise that appeals to them. When seeing, danger is also noted as well as the care of others. When one feels, the object that is being felt may make the person feel comfortable. Not only the sense of touching, but feelings.
The five senses of sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell are all sensations throughout the human body. Sensation is the involvement of sensory receptors as well as the central nervous system in order to allow us to experience outside stimuli. The system that allows us to experience sensation is the sensory system.
Prior to practicing mindfulness, I would run from place to place and moment to moment. I never took a moment to stop and take in all that surrounds me, because I was always too busy running towards the next big thing and looking for future happiness. Mindfulness was frustrating at the beginning, because for so long I was used to tuning things out and living in the present seemed like a waste of time. Once I began to live in the present it seemed as if I had a “senses awakening.” I was able to live in the present and experience all that life had to offer in the present and it exploded my mind with the beauty surrounding me that I missed. I was able to take in my surroundings through my senses and still my mind, which brought me back to the center. Through this sense of centering and living in the present, a walk from class to class became a time to touch base within my self and come back to the present before the next thing. I learned that stilling my self in the present creates a better me for the future and a happiness in the