Have you tried out your spidey senses lately? Mindfulness (which means paying attention) can help you to notice more in your environment just like spider-man. It can even help you to focus or calm down when you need to. Test out your powers by focusing on your five senses: listen, look, touch, smell and taste.
What sounds can you hear around you right now? Maybe you can notice sounds that you didn’t realise were there before. Spider-man can pick these up all the time with his super listening skills. Try this out wherever you are: in the classroom, on the playground, on the school bus, in your bedroom. How many different sounds can you detect?
Find a special object in your classroom or at home. Maybe you can find a stone, a marble or a crystal. Have you ever looked closely at this object? Turn on your super spider sense of sight by noticing the different colours, patterns and shapes you can see. What did you notice that you didn’t realise was there before? Your spider-man senses are waking up!
Use the same object or choose another one. Close your eyes and turn on your sense of touch. What can you feel as you hold it? Run your hands all over the object. Is it soft or hard? Wet or dry? Smooth or bumpy? Cold or hot? Touch all the different parts of the object and notice what you feel. You are in the zone, just like spider-man!
Next turn on your super sense of smell with a delicious treat. Find a raisin, slice of apple or piece of chocolate. Spider-man turns on his sense of smell to detect any dangers and to hunt for his prey. Before you gobble it down, take a moment to smell what’s in front of you. Have you ever really smelt this before? Does it smell sweet, sour, salty? Something else?
Finally spider-man uses his sense of taste to notice all the flavours and textures of his meal. Take your first bite and chew slowly. What can you taste? How does it feel in your mouth? Take your time and enjoy each bite. Notice how the flavour fills your whole mouth and when you’re ready, swallow and feel you food slide down your throat and into your tummy. Ahhh!
Now you have activated all your spidey-senses, you are totally switched on like spider-man! You can pay attention to what you can hear, see, touch, smell or taste whenever you want. When you’re outside walking, what can you hear and see? Keep your special object in your pocket and turn on your sense of touch at any moment. You could even try our your spider senses of smell and taste at meal times with your friends and family! Come back to your senses to help you relax and concentrate whenever you need to.
By Luna Jutton, mindfulness teacher and founder at Luna Mindfulness
Picture courtesy: Google Images
