This article is written by our Guest Author, Karen Salmansohn
For many years I had recurring issues with stress.
Being worried and overwhelmed regularly kept me feeling distracted, unproductive, and less emotionally connected to the people I loved.
Geez, just thinking about that time makes me want to reach back through a time tunnel and hug my past self!
Thankfully, there was one technique that truly helped me with my anxiety.
Actually, this technique pretty much saved me. And still does.
This technique is called “sensory meditation” – and it works by tapping into any of your five senses: sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.
I love doing “sensory meditations”—not only because they are fun. But also because they’re incredibly effective at calming my busy, chattering- monkey mind.
“Sensory meditations” work in a powerful and quick way – because they direct your attention to one of your specific senses.
“In fact, I’m such a big believer in the calming powers of sensory meditations that I wrote a relaxation book called “Instant Calm” – which shares a range of my favorite ones.”
This mental refocusing then happily distracts your brain from your worries— and retrains your brain to focus instead on the peace of the present moment.
I’m not the only one who loves and recommends “sensory meditations” to relax. So do psychologists, yogis, neuroscientists, and university researchers.
They’re often referred to as grounding tools – and are recommended as a tool to relax – along with popular things like yoga, exercise, bubble baths and CBD tinctures.
“Sensory meditations” have lots of research which consistently reports how they….
- relax the mind.
- encourage the mind to be more open to other choices and think in new ways.
- release the anxiety that might otherwise lead to stress- induced habits, like overeating and smoking.
Right now you’re probably wondering: “So, what the heck is an example of a sensory meditation?”
I’m gonna share with you one of my very favorites – a “Sensory Taste Meditation” – which has to do with …
- tasting chocolate
- using High Falls Hemp NY CBD tincture
Yep, my “relaxation assignment” for you will include chocolate. Lucky you!
I’m specifically assigning you the task of drinking some yummy hot dark chocolate cocoa.
Why This Chocolate Sensory Taste Meditation Works
- Dark chocolate is an attention-hogging yummy taste – so it is powerfully helps to distract you from your worries.
- Dark Chocolate is therapeutically blessed (if 70 percent cacao or more)—shown by research to help reduce stress levels in the brain—true story.
- Plus dark chocolate contains serotonin, endorphin, and dopamine, which are great hormones for lowering stress levels.
- According to an interesting chocolate study in the Journal of Proteome Research, some super lucky study subjects were asked to eat one and a half ounces of dark chocolate a day for two weeks. By the end of this time period, they were shown to have greatly reduced levels of stress hormones!
Here’s how to do this Chocolate Sensory Taste Meditation:
- Create a nice, thick, delicious serving of dark chocolate hot cocoa.
- Add in a dropper-full of High Falls Hemp NY CBD tincture – for an extra self-care boost.
- Sip the dark chocolate hot cocoa – sloooowwwlllly. Really savor the flavor. Stop thinking about all the things wrong with your life. Remain focused only on all the things right about this cup of dark chocolate hot cocoa!
- If your mind starts to wander to a problem or fear, bring your attention back to the taste of this yummy cup of dark chocolate hot cocoa!
Important Reminder:
Doing a “Chocolate Sensory Taste Meditation” is all about savoring the flavor—not gulping and binging — which is the opposite of a Sensory Taste Meditation. So be sure to savor the flavor of the hot chocolate! And be sure to only do this taste meditation once a day, not one hundred times a day!
More About Karen
KAREN SALMANSOHN is a happiness and wellness research geek and the author of numerous best-selling life-improvement books (with more than one million copies sold), including Instant Calm: 2-Minute Meditations to Create a Lifetime of Happy.
