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Chapter 7

YOUR SENSES ARE CALLING

MAC Your Senses

Traditionally we have been taught that we have five senses, and some scientists even think that we have many more, yet we are often not consciously engaged in experiencing them. Hearing, sight, taste, touch, and smell are the windows to providing information to the brain from the outside world, whereas pain, balance, thirst, and hunger are the windows for the brain to respond to what is going on internally. Our five traditional senses are located in the cerebral cortex of the brain and each sense stimulates a different part of that area. Some of us use one or two senses more frequently than we do the others. Even then, we often do not pay attention to the variety of information being communicated through those senses.

Our senses protect us from danger. For example, if you hear a police siren, the sound will alert you. In today’s world, we use our sight most often, particularly since the invention of television, social media, and computers. Our other senses were more finely tuned decades ago when humans lived in the open air, and protection and awareness from the elements of nature and predators were essential to survival. The ability to hear and feel the wind and to see and smell animal trails was not uncommon. Today, we are disconnected. We buy our clothes and food from a store, allowing us less time for touching and smelling. We probably would experience increased sensory stimulation if we were more involved in the making of our clothes and gathering of our food. In addition, we are surrounded by social media that continually bombards our cognitive awareness as well as concrete that limits our ability to walk on and feel the earth and grass, hear the ocean, or smell the wind.

Our senses are vital communicators that enhance and give deeper meaning to our lives. From gazing at a kaleidoscope sky to touching the soft skin of a baby, our senses are awakened and our connection to life deepened. Animals developed their senses for the same reasons. Vision, hearing, and smell evolved to help animals solve survival problems, such as knowing where to hide in time of danger.

Animals have different sense acuity than humans. Those of us who have animals often notice how they know before us that something is going on. Sometimes we are amazed at their accurateness! We may also notice their intense focus on smell. Although we have known that animals sense things more acutely than humans do, we did not know exactly how keen these senses are until recently. For example, one study found that dogs were able to detect chemicals from urine in patients diagnosed with prostate cancer.1 Another study found that dogs were able to identify patients diagnosed with lung cancer simply by smelling their breath.2 Other research has found that dogs are able to know when their owners decide to return home even though they are miles away.3

Needless to say, service dogs and other animals are able to save the lives of those afflicted with blindness, diabetes, cardiac conditions, post-traumatic stress disorders and various other medical issues due to their acute use of their senses. Animals are truly man’s best friends!

Incredible Instinct: A Felt Sense

Along with the traditional senses, we also can identify what is sometimes called our sixth sense. (It is also known as intuition. All animals, including humans, are born with instinctual behavior.) First responders such as police, fireman, and physicians frequently pay attention to intuition in spite of the learned knowledge of their professional skills. (Learned knowledge is what gives people solid intuition. It is experiences and expertise that fuel intuition so this might seem contradictory.) Nurses use intuition daily and often move through their days seamlessly, perhaps not even noticing how often they depend upon this “felt sense” when treating patients. When training nursing in intuition, it has been said that information involves training of the senses, development of the neural synapses and expanding memory so that the nurse can make assessments.4

The particular nuances of each situation offer information that may be learned from experience and the body makes that information available quickly. The key is mindfully acknowledging those cues. Research has found that humans respond to situations before they occur. This may come as no surprise since most of us have at one time or another may have said, “I just felt it coming. I knew before it happened.” Listening to our “gut” occurs often and greatly benefits us when we pay attention to its messages. In the past, we have not been able to explain these experiences but now we have proof not only that our instinctual perception exists, but also what happens during this process.

Our bodies are mean machines and work fearlessly to create harmony. There is ongoing communication between the heart and brain, stomach and brain, and messages are communicated through neuro-pathways all the time. A study found that our heart appears to receive and respond to intuitive information. There is greater heart deceleration five seconds before the presentation of an emotional stimulus when compared to a calm stimulus. The way the heart decodes this intuitive information is the same process as sensory input, indicating that the body’s perceptual gear is constantly checking out the future. The same study also found that women were more attuned to pre-stimulus intuitive information than men were.5 When we practice mindfulness, we are more aware of our senses and can more fully enjoy what they have to offer. Paying close attention to daily experiences will help fine tune your senses. Are you paying attention?

Your Nose Knows

It is interesting that some of us have a more finely tuned sense of smell than others. Have you been in a situation with other people and said, “Do you smell something?” and you are the only person aware of the smell? The opposite may be true as well when someone else smells something and you are not aware. There are many factors that impact our sense of smell that are not related to genetics or illness. For example, living in an environment that is loaded with volatile organic chemicals, eating foods that are full of preservatives, using chemicals for washing, makeup and cleaning also impact our sense of smell. We often do not think about how our environment impacts our overall sensory system and we miss out on the many scents we can enjoy when they are camouflaged by impurities.

Smell is an important sense for maintaining quality of life and unfortunately many of us experience a decrease in smell as we age. Research has found that African Americans and Hispanics experience more olfactory loss than Caucasians. What is the reason for this loss? Toxic environments and poor nutrition may account for this loss since known factors that typically affect olfaction such as mental and physical health were identical with white subjects who did not experience an olfactory decrease. Another interesting finding was that compared to men, women maintained olfactory function as they aged regardless of socioeconomic status and physical and mental health.6 Did you know that 75% of what we recognize as taste comes from our sense of smell? Taste and smell use the same types of receptors. Imagine this: when you chew your food, you are forcing air through your nose, which carries the smell of the food. Unless taste and smell are working together, you cannot enjoy the various flavors your food has to offer.7

As you age if you want to continue to smell the roses it may serve you well to breathe in clean air, eat organic foods, and use cleaning products without chemicals to prevent injection of toxic chemicals. After all is said and done, when you want to eat something yummy, if you cannot smell it you cannot taste it.

Smell—Did You Know That…?

• The part of the brain that processes smell is connected to our memory systems. Have you ever smelled something familiar and immediately recalled a past experience related to that scent? Can you think of one now?

• What makes us experience smell are tiny odor particles that can only be seen with a microscope. Millions of them are floating around waiting to be sniffed by your nose!

• Our nose can distinguish one trillion different odors.8

Analysis by researchers Jason Castro, Arvind Ramanathan, and Chakra Chennubhotla analyzed 144 different odors to see if they could identify consistent odor profiles. They found 10 dimensions of odors to be exact.9 They are as follows:

Odors	Examples
Fragrant	Florals and perfumes
Fruity	Non-citrus fruits
Citrus	Lemon, lime, orange
Woody and resinous	Pine or fresh cut grass
Chemical	Ammonia, bleach
Sweet	Chocolate, vanilla, caramel
Minty and peppermint	Eucalyptus and camphor
Toasted and nutty	Popcorn, peanut butter, almonds
Pungent	Blue cheese, cigar smoke
Decayed	Rotting meat, sour milk

As we mentioned, taste and smell are intimately related. Think about when you have a stuffy nose. You may have said, “I cannot taste anything.” Most of us love to eat, so to enhance that everyday experience we may want to consider finetuning our taste buds. On the other hand, taste is one of our senses that can serve us well or get us into big trouble by overeating. Humans eat for many reasons and unfortunately we often eat for reasons other than hunger. Mindless eating can be caused from being stressed, depressed, or bored, or from unhealthy behaviors learned from childhood, temptation by clever advertising and the plethora of choices available to us. Sometimes family and friends pressure us to eat when we are not hungry. On the other hand, millions of people worldwide suffer from hunger because access to food is limited. The senses may play a significant role is savoring the little bit of food one eats when there is only enough to survive.

Animals do not have the same issues that humans have in choosing foods, as they are not subject to advertising, nor do they have the convenience of refrigeration and supermarkets. One might say that animals keep it simple as they focus on what they need to survive versus their desire, a characteristic that often steers humans down the path of obesity and poor health. Animals can sense through taste if their food is nutritions or contains toxins. The gustatory systems (taste) are able to discriminate between what is palatable and unpalatable. These gustatory sensory cells are able to recognize different tastes such as bitter versus sweet resulting from activating bitter versus sugar cells on the tongue.10 For the most part, humans know if foods contain chemicals by reading labels, but unfortunately humans do not often read labels and frequently ignore them. Can animals be more intelligent than humans? Based on the research and the many health-related problems human have regarding poor eating habits, we can certainly learn from our four-legged friends.

Taste—Did You Know That…?

• Taste buds detect sweet, sour, salty, and bitter. A single taste bud contains 50 to 100 taste cells that represent all five taste sensations.

• There are five primary taste sensations: salty, sour, sweet, bitter, umami. (Umami is the response to salts of glutamic acid.)

• You are born with about 10,000 taste buds, but this drops over time to about 5000 by the time we reach older adultlhood.

• Taste is about 80% smell. Your sense of smell increases when you are hungry. If you pinch your nose, you cannot tell one jellybean from another because taste and smell are intricately linked.11

The Tender Touch

Touch is as important to good health as are food and water. In our modern technological world, we are less dependent upon our senses for survival, often resulting in tactile deprivation.

As long as six decades ago, theorists were writing volumes of books indicating the great importance of touch for healthy human development. Touch is our first language. Long before we can see an image, smell an odor, taste a flavor, or hear a sound, we experience others and ourselves through touch, our only reciprocal sense. We cannot touch another without being touched ourselves.12 Early child theorists discussed at length the significance of touch on the healthy attachment of children.

The significance of touch for healthy childhood development is well known. Primary caretakers’ attunement and appropriate response to their child’s communication of needs during the first few years of life are essential to adequate neurological and emotional development.13 Touch is often referred to as the “mother of all senses” as it is the first sense to develop in the embryo and all other senses—sight, sound, taste, and smell are derived from it. Montagu notes that the skin is the most important organ system of the body, because unlike other senses, a human being cannot survive without the physical and behavioral functions performed by the skin.14

Studies observing the contact between humans and their animals have shown that humans experience a decrease in fear and anxiety as a result of their relationship with their animal. We know that oxytocin, the touch hormone, is released from the endocrine system when we touch or hug one another. In addition, this hormone is activated during the human/animal interaction.15

Research has also found that touch creates a strong physical and emotional bond between infants and their caregivers, which continues throughout the child’s development.16

In studies on passive movement of the limbs, preterm infants also gained significantly more weight, and their bone density also increased because of touch.17

The benefit of a tender touch is universal and has benefits beyond words. Some examples include putting your hand on a friend’s shoulder when they are anxious, hugging a child when he or she is hurt, letting a person know you acknowledge their accomplishment, spontaneously pulling your partner close when they are afraid, Notice parents and children who are continually touching, or couples who maintain some physical contacts most of the time. Simple gestures such as taking a strand of hair and placing it behind a child’s or partner’s ear, stroking their face and sitting close together are all gestures of loving touch. Regardless of who you are or where you come from, as a human being you need loving touch. It is a universal commonality. Reach out and touch someone and see how it feels!

Touch—Did You Know That…?

• The most sensitive areas of our bodies are our hands, lips, face, neck, tongue, fingertips, and feet. There are about 100 touch receptors in each of your fingertips.

• We experience touch everywhere on our bodies. The amount of tactile sensitivity is related to the type and concentration of nerves in that part of our body. For example, our fingertips can sense the wing of a butterfly, but cannot distinguish if the weather is bitterly cold or unbearably hot.

The Happiness of Hearing

Perhaps one of the most important things to consider with regard to hearing is how we listen. Too often we rush around and even when we take the time to have a conversation with someone, we often do not hear them. We can fine-tune our hearing by developing the skill of active listening. Active listeners let the speaker know they understand what is being communicated without judgment18 It may be a good idea to tune in your hearing when you are speaking and turn on your active listening skills! You might be surprised at how much more you learn and improve the connection between you and those with whom you connect both in relationship and casual interactions.

Hearing—Did You Know That…?

• Fish do not have ears, but they can hear pressure changes through ridges on their body.

• The ear continues to hear sounds, even while you sleep.

• Sound travels at the speed of 1,130 feet per second, or 770 miles per hour.

• Dogs can hear much higher frequencies than humans.

• Ears not only help you hear, but also aid in balance.

• Sitting in front of the speakers at a rock concert can expose you to 120 decibels, which will begin to damage hearing in only 7½ minutes.

Seeing Is Believing

Seeing is undoubtedly the sense we use the most. How often do we actually think about taking care of our eyes? Many nutrients like cod liver oil, leafy greens, broccoli, peas and avocado have lutein and zeaxanthin that support eye health. Eggs also contain vitamin A, which can protect against night blindness and dry eyes. Whole grains contain vitamin E, zinc, and niacin, which also improve overall eye health. Citrus fruits and berries contain vitamin C, which can reduce cataract risk. Nuts such as pistachios, walnuts and almonds and fish such as salmon, tuna, sardines and mackerel contain high omega 3 fatty acids that boost eye health. Kidney beans, black-eyed peas, and lentils contain bioflavonoids and zinc that protect the retina. Sunflower seeds contain vitamin E and zinc. If you eat beef—preferable grass fed—it contains zinc and helps your body absorb vitamin A. It can also reduce the risk of advanced age related macular degeneration.19

Have you ever thought about why we blink? Although blinking lubricates our eyeballs and protects them from blowing debris, research has found that the very brief moments we close our eyes assist us in organizing our thoughts and attention. It may seem that we blink randomly, but research has found that we blink at predictable times. For example, when reading we blink after each sentence. If you are in a group that is watching a video, everyone tends to blink at the same time. Some researchers postulate that we blink to have a mini resting point that shuts off visual stimuli, which allows us to focus our attention. When we blink, we may be taking a minute vacation of relaxation!20

Sight—Did You Know That…?

• The eye muscle is the fastest reacting muscle of the whole body. It contracts in less than 1/100th of a second.

• Each time you blink, you shut your eyes for 0.3 second. This means your eyes are closed at least 30 minutes a day just from blinking.21

• Prolonged exposure to UV radiation damages the surface tissues of the eye as well as the retina and the lens. The best defense is to look for sunglasses that block all UV radiation up to 400 nanometers, which is equivalent to blocking 100 percent of UV rays.22

MAC Your Senses

As we discussed earlier, your senses are the windows to the outside world and the thermostat to your internal needs, such as hunger and thirst. Imagine how different your life would be if you tuned into all of your senses with every experience. Each situation would be intensified and experienced more fully.

Empathically Acknowledge

Instead of focusing on one sense at a time, broaden your observation. For example, when eating, notice the taste as well the smell, sounds, and vision of what you eat even before you take a bite. Acknowledge every situation you encounter with all of your senses.

Intentional Attention

Pay attention to emotions that arise, change in body temperature, texture of your skin, and thoughts as you acknowledge the various experience of each sense in each situation.

Nonjudgmental Acceptance

Allow yourself to take the time without judgment to simply become immersed in your sensory experience. Let go of your and others’ judgment and negative talk, and give yourself an optimal opportunity to satisfy each sense with each situation.

Willingly Choose

If there is any holding back, judgment, avoidance, and negative self-talk in tuning into your senses, give yourself permission to move forward out of old patterns of limitation and into new avenues of sensory exhilaration!

Child Baking Cookies

You might relate to the following story. Todd lost his grandmother several years ago. He was very close to her and spent many of his younger years sitting in her kitchen helping her bake. The loss of her companionship and love was so great that he could not cry or mourn. One day he was passing a bakery and was drawn to a familiar smell. He followed his nose into the bakery and saw his favorite cookies that he spent years baking and eating with his grandmother. His mouth began to water and his body temperature rose. Memories of his experiences flooded his emotions and he began to cry. When he went home, he called his parents and for the first time was able to talk about his memories and feelings about his grandmother.

This is an example of how paying attention to our senses can offer information critical to our transformation as well as adding a deeper dimension to our everyday lives. Can you think of an experience where a sound, smell, taste, or vision brought new awareness?

Sensory Explosion!

Taste, Smell, Touch, and See What You Are Eating

A century ago, providing a meal for the family required a full day’s work. Hunting, farming, churning butter, fishing, and general food preparation involved the hands of many family members. In general, the average family ate three freshly-cooked meals a day. Most people worked physically and needed the relaxation time that came with sitting down with the family for a meal. Families gathered together to prepare meals, facilitating the familial connection and offering intimacy, communication, guidance, and support. One can imagine that eating was very much a mindful experience versus the hectic experience common in Western society. Sitting down for a meal is too often a notion of the past. In many ways fast food has replaced the human connection once enjoyed by sitting down for meals prepared and eaten together. The togetherness of eating with friends and family becomes closely related to love, comfort, and stress as well as supplying nutrients for the demands of metabolism and growth.24 You might ask yourself what you can do to provide a meal for yourself and/or others that brings joy and nourishment.

Bringing awareness to your eating patterns can enhance the quality of your experience and offer information to make changes in habits that are not healthy. Take the story of Jeremy. He developed a mindless pattern of snacking on his favorite treats throughout the day and evening. He spent a great deal of energy berating himself for not having control over his “Nagging Nibbler.” The more he berated himself, the more power his “Nagging Nibbler” acquired. Following the 4 Step MAC Guide, Jeremy acknowledged his desire for snacks, paid attention to feeling bored and to his negative self-talk, and accepted his experience without judgment. He made a list of more nutritious foods that he enjoyed and praised himself when eating healthy. Jeremy was able to make a choice toward changing his snacking pattern from “Nagging Nibbler” to “Nutritious Nurturer.”

Your Sensory Brain

“Everything we know about the world comes to us through our senses. Traditionally, we were thought to have just five of them—vision, hearing, touch, smell, and taste. Scientists now recognize that we have several additional kinds of sensations, such as pain, pressure, temperature, joint position, muscle sense, and movement, but these are generally included under “touch.” Researchers know that nearly all sensory signals go first to a relay station in the thalamus, a central structure in the brain. The messages then travel to primary sensory areas in the cortex (a different area for each sense), where they are modified and sent on to “higher” regions of the brain. Somewhere along the way, the brain figures out what the messages mean.25

The Familiar Can Become a New Adventure

• Begin with the three-part breath.

• Try a few standing and sitting stretches.

• Breathe and hold the stretch.

• Think about your favorite place and the activity that you do every day in that place (a sport, personal care, being with a friend, parent, partner, etc.).

• Now imagine you are in that place, either alone or with someone, and use all your senses to notice what’s going on around you.

• Can you experience the same thing that you see every day in a new way? Notice the little things, nuances, and the differences. Describe your experience. Breathe and simply notice.

Mindful Sensory Journey

Before you begin, put some dried fruit or pieces of fresh fruit and/or your favorite snacks in a basket or bowl, along with a beverage in a bottle with a secured top and a few small articles of clothing as well as a scarf or some sort of eye coverage. Find a comfortable place to sit, placing your basket of goodies within your reach.

During Your Journey, Notice Each of Your Senses. Breathe Deeply.

• Spend a minute or two noticing your breath. Pay attention to your personal body rhythm, listen to the sounds, and inhale the smells. Notice any communication your body is sharing.

• Place a blindfold over your eyes. Focus on your breath. Randomly choose something to eat from your basket. Notice the texture, smell the food, place it in your mouth. Begin to chew ever so slowly until the food is liquefied. Notice the process of the food moving from your mouth through your body.

• Take a sip of your drink and swirl it around in your mouth. Slowly swallow it and notice the taste.

• Take one article of clothing. Hold the article in your hands and notice the thoughts that arise when touching the fabric. Pay attention to your experience.

• Take off the blindfold and your shoes and socks. Focus on your breath. Draw your attention to your feet. Wiggle your toes, fan out your toes, point and flex your feet, make small circles with your feet, one at a time and then together. Do this several times. Notice any sensations that arise in your body, notice any sounds and smells. Notice your breath.