Theme of the month: The Sky
August 31
A new unit! De-stressing with the Five Senses
Day 0: Welcome to a new month and a new unit on Decompress!
This week, we will be taking you through the five senses and unique ways to be mindful about each of them. Today’s page is an intro page which introduces the topic of five senses and mindfulness to get you familiar with some new terms and reintroduce concepts.
This unit focuses on the basic five senses: sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell. However, scientists have found that there are more than the usual five. Perhaps in the future, we will dive into lesser known ones, too!
We will try our best to include activities for the range of ability. Please let us know if you have suggestions or ideas we should include to help Decompress be accessible for all.
What are the five senses?
Day 1: Sight
Sight is the perception of light through our eyes. Through a complex process, sensors in our eyes translate light into vision and motion and into electrical pulses which our brain interprets.
Day 2: Hearing
Sound is the perception of sound. Sound waves travel through our ears and create vibrations which our cochlea receives and translates into electrical impulses. Our brain reads these impulses via sensory nerves.
Day 3: Touch
Through neurons and receptors in our skin, we perceive the tactile world around us. Touch includes feeling pressure, temperature, pain, and vibration. It is thought to be the first sense we develop.
Day 4: Taste
We taste through our taste buds. They perceive four types of taste: savory, sweet, bitter, and sour.
Day 5: Smell
Through 400 smelling receptors, we can smell different things (although not as much as other organisms). However, we may have the ability to smell over 1 trillion scents according to research!
Mindfulness and the Five Senses
Mindfulness
“the ability to be fully present in the moment” (Headspace)
Grounding Technique
A grounding technique is a mindfulness strategy to help you return to the present moment. It involves acknowledging your physical environment.
5-4-3-2-1 Grounding Technique
Note (mentally or on paper) 5 things you can see
Note 4 things you can hear
Note 3 things you can touch
Note 2 things you can smell
Note 1 thing you can taste