Jose ATID LENA STEVENS 25real indeed. Visions of flowers come to life when you add
their fragrance, and fruit becomes mentally edible with
added aroma. Likewise, visualizing the perfect place to live
should include warm and comforting smells. A real estate
agent we know always bakes chocolate chip cookies and
lights a fire in the fireplace of a home she opens up for view-
ing. People walk in and immediately feel "at home." Need-
less to say she is very successful and has little trouble selling
the homes she represents.
Infusing your visions with the sense of smell requires that
you identify those smells that mean something to you. For
example, one person may feel comforted by the smell of
warm damp earth while for another it might be the smell
of sea air. Whatever your favorite smells are, using them in
your visioning adds a powerful dimension to the process of
creating an image. Just remember to keep this sense oriented
to nature as much as possible.
The sense of taste goes hand in hand with the sense of
smell. Obviously it can only be used when you are working
with edible objects and then the sense of smell is usually also
included. But because taste enriches your image just that
much more, you should use it whenever possible.
Here are a couple of simple sensing exercises to acquaint
you with using the senses of feeling, hearing, smelling, and
tasting. Because for most people the sense of sight is more
developed, exercising the four other senses is important for
developing balance and strength in shamanic work.
Sensing Exercise #1: A Synopsis
For this exercise you need to find a place to sit down for a
moment without being disturbed, preferably outside. Close
your eyes, relax, and explore your surroundings using your
sense of touch; that is, if it is sunny or breezy notice how that
feels on your face. If you are sitting on the ground or against
a tree, feel with your hands the area around you. Notice its
hardness, softness, temperature, etc.
Move to your sense of hearing. Listen to all the sounds
around you. Focus on one sound at a time, really hearing it.
If you are in an urban area, try to focus on just the natural
sounds. Let the artificial ones fade into the distance.
Move to your sense of smell. Notice the different smells
around you. Again, this may be more difficult for you if you
are in a highly congested urban area. But in any park you
may find smells of trees, grass, earth, etc. Focus on one smell
at a time and try to follow the natural ones.
Now combine the senses. Notice all three at the same