Lesson 04 : Identifying Reactions

Understanding and identifying reactions conscious, subconscious or unconscious ;

• a person's ability to respond physically and mentally to external stimuli. Stay present without ( default mode ; lashing out aggressively , shutting down, disassociating and more… )

• an adverse physiological response to a substance or emotional wound that has been heard, breathed in, ingested, felt or touched.

This practice begins with ‘ Noticing ‘ your response to a situation or event. and the feeling experienced within that situation.

Definition of human Senses and the reactions to these senses ;

Eco-psychologist Michael J Cohen puts the number of senses at our disposal at 53. His definition of a sense goes beyond the physiological phenomenon/nerve sensor definition. He breaks the senses down into four categories:

• The radiation senses: sense of colour, sense of moods associated with colour, sense of temperature.

• The feeling senses: sensitivity to gravity, air and wind pressure, and motion.

• The chemical senses: hormonal sense, such as pheromones, hunger for food, water or air.

• The mental senses: pain, external and internal, mental or spiritual distress, sense of self, including friendship, companionship and power, psychic capacity. 

Cohen’s point is that we are all sensory creatures and that our human senses are a large part of who we are. Our senses are given to us not to be indulged, to be playthings or for decoration, but are mechanisms originally designed to help us survive and thrive in the natural world. Because life in the “developed” world is now so confined (Americans for instance spend an average of 95% of their lives indoors) our senses have little to do and consequently become either atrophied or over-sensitive, which in turn leads to many of the common ailments of today’s existence, such as stress, anxiety and depression