The five senses guide

Sight

We look at the woods all the time and see very little of them. This exercise slows the eye down.

1. Stand still and soften your gaze, as if looking at the whole view at once.
2. Find three greens that are clearly different from each other.
3. Pick one leaf and follow its edge and veins with your eyes for a full minute.
4. Look up. Notice how the branches leave gaps for the light.

Look for movement as well as colour. A flicker at the edge of your sight is often a bird.

Sound

Sound is the sense that most quickly settles a busy mind, because you cannot listen to something and plan your day at once.

1. Close your eyes for one minute and listen without naming things.
2. Count how many separate sounds you can hear, near and far.
3. Find the farthest sound, then the nearest, then the quietest.
4. Open your eyes and notice whether the place looks different.

Silence in a wood is rarely silent. Wind in leaves sounds different in each kind of tree.

Smell

Smell is closely tied to memory, and woods are full of it, especially after rain.

1. Breathe in slowly through the nose, then out through the mouth, three times.
2. Crouch and smell the soil or leaf litter.
3. Crush a leaf of something you can identify and know to be safe, and smell the oils.
4. Notice how the air smells different in the open and under the trees.

Avoid sniffing fungi or plants you cannot identify. Some can irritate the skin or nose.

Touch

Touch brings you into the present because it is always happening now.

1. Rest a palm on the trunk of a tree and feel its temperature and texture.
2. Compare the bark of two different trees.
3. Feel the air on your face and the ground under your feet. Take your shoes off only on clean, safe ground.
4. Hold a stone, a leaf or a twig and notice its weight.

Avoid touching plants you cannot identify, and wash your hands before eating. Check for ticks afterwards.

Taste

Taste is the sense most easily overlooked outdoors. It is also the one where care matters most.

1. Bring a flask of tea or water and drink it slowly, in one place, with nothing else to do.
2. Notice the warmth, the flavour and where you feel it in your body.
3. Eat something simple, such as an apple or a piece of bread, and pay full attention to it.
4. Do not taste wild plants, berries or fungi unless an expert has identified them for you.

Many wild plants and fungi are poisonous, and some look like edible ones. If in doubt, leave it alone.

Putting them together

A simple way to use all five is to give each about three minutes, in the order above. That makes a quarter of an hour, which is a good length for a lunch break in a park. Many guided sessions open this way, because it gives your attention somewhere to go before you try to sit quietly.

If one sense is hard for you, for instance because of poor sight or hearing, lean on the others. Nothing here needs all five to work. The aim is to be present, not to complete a list.

Afterwards, write one line in the journal about what you noticed that you would normally have missed.