A familiar scent…a luscious taste…a soft feel…a calming sound…are all parts of our senses processing the world around us.
A moment, when fully experienced through each of our senses, can come to life and leave us with a sensation…an exhilarating experience that leaves us feeling awake and alive!
Moments of complete sensual awareness or consciousness of subtle pleasure are often rare in such a fast paced society. We often are not consciously aware of our body’s sensations and reactions to stimuli through our senses. When we isolate our senses and focus on one sense to experience something, it makes that moment more intense.
Every morning, I take the time to indulge in the pleasure of my first sip of hot coffee. I begin my ritual by first smelling the aroma of my freshly brewed cup. Then I wrap my fingers around the cup and feel the warmth flow through my fingers into my hands. Finally, I close my eyes and take a sip and feel the hot coffee flow through my mouth and down my throat. Feeling each sensation allows me to take pleasure in the simple act of taking a sip of hot coffee. The feelings of comfort, warmth, calmness, soothing and serenity that come from this simple morning ritual gives me a boost to start my hectic workday.
When we eliminate sight and sound, taste becomes a more intense, isolated experience. Close your eyes in silence and taste something. Wow! Is it sweet? Sour? Does it leave you with goose bumps? A chill? You just enhanced a sensual feeling within you about that food. You truly experienced the unfiltered interaction between you and the food. The same premise stands for listening to music with headphones with your eyes closed, or taking a warm bath and feeling the sensation of the warm water 
on your skin, or smelling the scent of a burning candle. Being more tuned into, and aware of our senses, while taking a moment to experience our reactions leaves us with a different experience. Sensual awareness and being open to receiving pleasure from our environment is a step toward feeling more alive!
Take a moment to be mindful of every taste, every sight, every sound, and every scent…they invite us to experience the moment!
Excellent point.
I have never wanted a cup of coffee so badly!
For me, scents bring back some of the strongest and most vivid memories. I also take a couple of minutes each day to decide which perfume I want to wear by trying to match it with mood I am feeling that day. I have over 40 perfumes….guess I have lots of different moods! Hehehe
I use these mindfulness techniques with chores I struggle to complete such as washing dishes. It helps me to complete tasks that I put off for so long. I speak to myself and make a conscious effort to put all other thoughts aside and concentrate on the temperature of the water, details of the dishes pots and glasses – smell of the dish soap etc. This mindfulness tool is useful when overwhelmed by life’s daily happenings. Its hard sometimes to focus but I try and do it as much as I can.