Understanding using the senses therapeutically

From the book – Chapter 6: The Five Senses and Mental Health

Using the senses therapeutically

• Sight: morning walk in natural light; keep plants at home; limit disturbing visual content.

• Sound: calming music or chanting; quiet time; reduce alarming news.

• Smell: mild incense or flowers during prayer or relaxation; keep spaces clean and fresh.

• Taste: balanced, regular meals; mindful eating; reduce excessive sugar and caffeine.

• Touch: safe hugs, comfortable clothing, yoga, stretching, self-massage.

These practices do not replace professional treatment for serious conditions but can support overall mental wellbeing alongside therapy, medicines, and lifestyle changes.

Read the full chapter – Chapter 6: The Five Senses and Mental Health

Stories from real life

• The Window Seat Experiment – Aarav, fourteen, lived in a Delhi apartment and spent most of his holidays indoors with the curtains drawn, playing games on a screen. By July he…
• The Smell of Her Mother’s Kitchen – Ayesha, thirty-five, lived in Birmingham, far from her mother in Lahore. Her mother had died the previous winter. Weeks later, in a supermarket, Ayesha passed a…
• Sugar Highs and Sunday Lunches – Dev, nineteen, studied in Kolkata and lived in a hostel. During exams he lived on tea, packets of chips and sugary drinks, skipping proper meals. By…
• Too Loud, Too Quiet – At a family wedding in Kochi, eight-year-old Nila covered her ears, hid under a table and then screamed when an aunt tried to hug her. The…

Shloks

• Bhagavad Gita 15.9 – Presiding over ear, eye, touch, taste and smell, and over the mind, the person enjoys the objects.

More on this topic: The five senses, the five elements and the mind

More questions

• The senses and the five elements – explained simply
• Which sense has a direct pathway to the limbic system (emotion and memory centre)?
• Visual information from the eyes is primarily processed in which brain lobe?
• Which statement about senses and mental health is TRUE?
• What is true: auditory (hearing) information is primarily processed in the…?
• The sense of touch sends signals to which brain region?
• What does Bhagavad Gita 15.9 mean for the mind? (Chapter 6)
• The Window Seat Experiment – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
• The Smell of Her Mother's Kitchen – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do
• Sugar Highs and Sunday Lunches – what this story teaches, the signs and what to do