Sensuality: the third sense

Taste
    
Ahh yes….taste.  Now what went thru your mind when you read that word, hmm?  Were you having naughty thoughts???  Let’s pull back from that for a minute.

Taste is one of the most widely used, and sometimes, least regarded senses.  Now tell me, have you ever heard anyone say that they couldn’t taste anything?  I don’t mean a particular dish or flavor…I mean ANYTHING!!!  I sure haven’t.  Now think on this a minute….you smell something and you start to salivate….you think about a particular food and your mouth starts to water.  How can this be a sensual experience?

Now it’s hard to indulge this sense without involving the sense of smell, unless the particular item has no scent whatsoever.  But this is another time for using the blindfold, if necessary.  What this encourages your body to do is hone in on the senses that are not hampered.  Your mind won’t be as distracted and will not have as much sensory information to process at one time.  

Time to break out the food!!!  Yes, food.  I’m not going to force you to eat something that as children we were told to NOT put in our mouths.  But I will tell you that you will need to concentrate and also practice restraint.  

One item up for grabs…pizza!!  Yes pizza.  Take a bite…yes, I know your hungry…go ahead and eat that slice first.  Ok, now restrain and concentrate.  What textures does the pizza have?  No, not with your hands, with your tongue.  What textures are rolling around your mouth?  What flavors burst on your tongue?  Oregano…garlic…tomato…???

Let’s try another food…chocolate!!  Ahh, one of my weak points.   Find your favorite chocolate to indulge with.  You’re more likely to go slow with it so that the chocolate will last as long as possible.  Is the chocolate smooth in texture or chalky?  Is it a bitter dark or a creamy white?  Are there hints of other flavors…hazelnut perhaps…or cinnamon?  Savor it, then swallow.

This is all about indulgence and not gorging.  Gorging on food takes away all hints of savorance and basically “fills your gullet.”  Now try this with other foods.  Remember, slowly savor the subtleties.  

Now, how else can you indulge the sense of taste?  Remember those naughty thoughts I asked you about at the beginning….

Sensuality: the second sense

So we’ve talked about one of the first senses involved in sensuality…touch.
Let’s talk about the second.

Scent    

Scent is also highly involved in sensuality.  We wear a cologne or perfume to get a particular response, whether from ourselves or other people.  Scent is what attracts animals to different things or each other.  Scent can entice us or drive us as far away as possible.

Here’s your next assignment in discovery.  This can be done by yourself, but it’s definitely more fun and more enlightening with a friend.  Gather up several items….soap, a flower, some type of fruit, a spice, whatever….and a blindfold.  See, perked up your ears already.  Ok, arrange the items in front of you then make use of that blindfold.  Now, if you’re working with a partner, it would be even better if the blindfolded subject doesn’t know beforehand what the objects are.  Take each item and smell it.  Notice your body’s responses.  Does your mouth water?  Do you relax or tense up?  Does it excite you or trigger a fond memory?  Go through each item and notice what the scent alone triggers.  A better reason for doing this with a partner is that you can guarantee that only the sense of smell is involved and not the sense of touch.

The Next Step.
Now we’re going to integrate the two senses.  After we’ve gone trough and smelled the items, we’re going to experience their textures.  Handled each object (with the blindfold still on).  Feel the texture of each object.  Is it soft and pliable or hard and rubbery?  Does it barely dust your skin or squish between your fingers?  Does the way you feel about a particular item change when touch becomes involved??

Have fun indulge in the next layer and coming up with more ways to explore.
‘Til next time…

Sensuality: the first sense

A very good friend and I were at PNO two nights ago. (that’s Pagan Night Out) We got to talking about sensuality and our own personal definitions of the word. Can’t remember how the conversation even started. So I thought this would be an interesting topic.

Depending on the person, I think everybody has a personal belief on what sensuality is. A lot of people confuse it with sexuality. According to the dictionary at home sensuality pertains to indulging the senses, while sexuality pertains to sex and the carnal. Not very clairfying is it. I feel their more cousins or brothers to each other without being exactly the same thing.

Sexuality is all wrapped up in being male, female, getting it on with someone or something, what turns you on, what makes you horny, and basically sex. It almost always involve insnaring another being into your grasp.

Sensuality can be much more erotic or much more relaxed and not envolve sex at all. It's a touch, a taste, the feel of hair running through your fingers, silk or satin rubbing against the skin, the caress of the wind across your cheek, the first tart burst of the grape in your mouth. It can be indulge in alone or involve others.

Touch

Here's one way to see how a single touch can change things. Grasp your hands together, one hand grabing the other wrist. Grip it. Now, without breaking contact, gradually relax the fingers, the wrist, until your gently touch the skin without latching. How have your feelings changed between the first touch and the last? Now try this with a companion, each taking a turn to grasp the others hand or hands. How does this make each of you feel?? What do you sense? Do you sense the beat of their blood beneath the skin? Do you feel the texture of the skin? What impulse does this trigger???

Enough for now. Find other ways to indulge the sense of touch. We'll talk some more later.