Ayurveda teaches sense care to protect valuable sense organs. Learn what I mean by sense care and why it is a crucial addition to your day here. Oil your nostrils, scrape your tongue daily are two key examples of many ways to take good care. Sensory information provides the raw material in our reality creation process. Accuracy in what we see, hear smell, touch, and taste is crucial to living in joy and truth. Most of our brain interprets sensory inputs.
Do you have active care of your senses as part of your daily or seasonal routine? If you are not investing in the health of your sight, smell, hearing, taste, and touch, maybe you should.
I learned about taking care of my senses after things started to go wrong; a detached retina on my dream cross-country vacation forged a new awareness of how precious our senses are. Travel alone through a busy airport, newly blind in one eye, taught me a big lesson in patience and to value my vision.
Protect Valuable Sense Organs Every day
I have always been a person who liked extremes—reading into the wee hours of the night, boiling or icy cold liquid, really salty and sweet foods. Big no-nos in Ayurveda, now I understand the enormous benefits of balance in eye use, temperature, and tastes. I had to walk myself back to going to sleep before 10 pm, sprinkling less salt, eating way less sweet, and drinking room temperature liquids.
During my healing journey, Lyme disease and co-infections distorted many of my sensory inputs. Loud noise had me blocking my ears and wearing earplugs out into the world. I wore sunglasses all the time because of my bright light sensitivity. My skin was rashy with lots of boils and itched incessantly. I walked very slowly and often touched the wall to not bump into it because my spatial awareness was off, and my balance was elusive. For many years after, I practiced yoga next to the wall so that I could find stability.
Now, I am diligent about enjoying and caring for my sight, hearing, smell, touch, and taste. Sense care habits can help you experience the world with accuracy and enjoyment. I find delight in the colors, perfumes, textures, and tastes of spring. Healthy sensory inputs connect you to the truth. Take care of your sense organs. Add simple daily practices to your routine to nourish & soothe your senses.
The Senses In Ayurveda
| Organ | Sense | Element | Action |
| Ears | Hearing | Ether | Mouth Speaking |
| Skin | Touch | Air | Hands Hold |
| Eyes | Sight | Fire | Feet Legs Walking |
| Tongue | Taste Rasa | Water | Sex Organs Procreating |
| Nose | Smell | Earth | Elimination Organs Excretion |
Factors that stress our senses
Contemporary culture does not automatically support the healthy use of the senses. We take them for granted rather than delight in them. Do we need to add conscious care to our day? I say yes because too many factors can hurt our senses.
- Age As we age, we often lose acuity in our senses, diminishing our lives’ quality.
- Gaze We currently misuse our eyes, squinting at our screens, phones, and too much violence in our entertainment.
- Diet The Standard American diet focuses on three of the six tastes generating imbalance on our tongue from the lack of variety in our food. Many people eat a lot of manufactured foods that disturb our ability to taste living foods.
- Movement- Not enough exercise weakens all our senses.
- Smell: We get to smell Fake chemical scents, and poor indoor air quality dulls our sense of smell.
- Sound Volume Loud music on earbuds and lack of quiet time stress our hearing.
- Touch Isolation Not enough loving touch This is a big issue during the Pandemic Issues
Strategies To Protect Valuable Sense Organs Simple Sense Care
Most people I speak with are stretched to the limit, stressed by the pandemic restrictions and concerns. Keep your self-care simple, so you get the benefit without burden. Here are easy-to-access examples.
Eyes Sight
- Change focal length. Look up from the computer out into the distance.
- Remember to blink.
- Look up down, right, left, diagonal right, diagonal left several times each day.
Nose Smell Upper Wash With Neti Pot
- Oil nostrils morning & night.
- Make sure to get out and breathe clean air
Tongue Taste
- Scrape your tongue each morning
- Eat the six tastes each day. Sweet, Sour, Salty, Pungent Bitter, Astringent.
- Practice lion poses a few times each week.
Ears Hearing & Balance
- Oil your ears each morning.
- Keep the volume low
- Gently Tug Ear Lobes Daily
Touch
- Practice daily self-massage with organic oil.
- Give and receive a 20-second hug every day within your household or bubble.
- Roll out your feet regularly.
Bring Sense Protection Into Your Daily Yoga Practice
How does sense care flow into yoga? In yoga, we often direct the use of the senses to refine our practice. In your teaching, support healthy sense use in your classes.
- Drishti -Direct our gaze to see the earth and sky to support visual health.
- Mantra – Chant and make sacred sounds to elevate our voice and fine-tune our hearing.
- Sacred touch the earth and sky and our bodies
- Essential oils or incense to elevate our energy with fragrance.
- Taste – Find sweetness being present and moving in alignment.
Sense care will serve you through all phases of your life. Indulge in sense care as part of your daily routine and reap the benefits.
Ayurselfcare’s purpose is to educate on the benefits of Ayurveda. This article is not a substitute for professional medical care, treatment, or advice. All the material here is for learning purposes only. Always share strategy and work with your health care team.