How would you rate your fluency in using all your senses?

I’ve always been endlessly fascinated by the sensing capacity of different creatures and how they shape our lived experience of the world. Did you know we have anywhere between 22-33 senses? (Lots of debate on this one!). I’ve tried to synthesize them for you in this newsletter along with my usual 3 highlights.

Take a 5 minute break….

INSIGHT
(what we need)

Enlivening our ability to sense qualitative differences is what will separate humans from artificial intelligence and augmented interfaces. 

We are such sensory creatures. There is a vast array of information out in the world which we evolved to register and disregard as we moved through it to survive. As we trend towards artificial forms of intelligence and automation, our innate ability to process volumes of data to solve big problems is loosing out. When was the last time you looked for a destination without your trusty Google Map?

It goes beyond cognitive processing too. The body interface is also getting hijacked as we move to an era of screenless tech, brain implants, and strap on armor with tactile feedback. Crude forms of this will favor our exteroception (the 5 senses we all learned in grade school). But eventually we’ll have sensors developed to detect and manipulate our interception (awareness of sensations within our body). Imagine a body/environment thermometer that automatically adjusted perfect indoor climates, or quantified-self true hunger detectors for performance optimizers aiming to under eat, or a notification that bladders are full when diapers are too much of a landfill issue. In our endless chase for leveraging time and convenience, we will likely move to rely on outsourced digital processing of cues in our life to the very experiences that make us human.

With anxiety levels going through the roof, we’re already losing our ability to quickly self-regulate. I attended a very relaxed social gathering of mostly 20-somethings recently and when going around the circle to state name and how we’re feeling, sat aghast to hear that more than 70% of the circle was ‘anxious’ as the sun was setting on the river amidst a cool breeze.

It’s already estimated that 1 in 20 people have some kind of sensory processing issue. And I suspect that number will only rise as we “snooze them and lose them” with our digital crutches. The signs are well documented in children, as sensory fluency is a sign of healthy development of the brain. When stunted, there’s a tendency to be withdrawn, anxious, depressed, and struggle socially with difficulty fitting in with peers. They can become sensory cravers (ie. wanting to touch everything), or avoiders (ie. everything is loud or bright) or challenged in being able to respond to a sense at all (ie. missing cues). Frankly, taking a step back, we could almost group these into the “numbing” category for many adults. Advanced regressive sensory processing issues or a diagnosis of sensory processing disorder (SPD) is no joke. They can severely affect one’s daily life and interaction with the world. Literally, turning down the volume on life.

When our processing is robust (and the volume is ‘high’) our heightened sensory system can pick up on an enormous spectrum of cues. One of the best descriptions I’ve heard of this was from a meditating peer: "Wow…it’s like a flavor enhancer.”

The ones we rely on regularly in daily life (COGNITION / EMOTION / EXTEROCEPTION) take up more brain real estate and are therefore “louder.” So we pay more attention to them. However, there’s a LOT of other stuff happening in tandem that connect our internal processing of cues from external stimuli so we can mostly operate on autopilot (aka. not tell our body it’s time to sweat). Our ability to detect our body in space (PROPRIOCEPTION) and shifts in internal cues (INTEROCEPTION) are what give nuance to our interactions with our surroundings and depth of connection with others.

The reason why there is so much debate on how many senses we have and how to categorize them, is because our senses don’t work individually. Certain receptors may have an individual function, but they combine to crate a multi-sensory perception of our experience. Like intuition isn’t really ‘one sense’ — but a pattern recognition system in our brain calculating familiar bodily cues and neural connections that have been made before.

Similar to the perception of this so-called 6th sense (intuition), there are a host of other sensory capacities that have been documented (ie. telepathy) but not scientifically proven. This doesn’t mean they don’t exist – but we do not have enough solid data to show how one might replicate or train these extrasensory capabilities. Therefore they teeter on the line between experience and belief. Nonetheless, there is enough ‘anecdata’ throughout history that points to talented individuals with these heightened senses, show an even more expanded human capacity may exist.

So come on now, what super power would you train?

INSPIRATION
(what we want)

NS Mastery: rewire your neurobiology with evidence-based protocols

• Explore how to self-regulate emotions + shift into states of calm as well as the underlying mechanisms that impact decision making.¹

• Increase your window of tolerance & stress resilience—as measured by your resting average 'Heart Rate Variability' (HRV) + ventral vagal tone to create more energy, deeper rest & heightened creativity.²

• Discover why the condition of your nervous system augments your experience of reality & how to use 'IF [THIS] THEN [BREATHE]' as a remote control for your state.

• Rewire maladaptive responses using research-backed protocols that also improve blood chemistry & nervous system wellbeing.

• Increase confidence in your ability to calmly respond in the face of stress and reduce the odds of being hijacked by your evolutionary fear-response.

• Break-free from an over-reliance on stimulants, invest in insurance against burnout and feel more fully alive.

(*verbatim from the site)

INNOVATION
(what we wish for)

F.H.I. (Full Human Intelligence) Training:  an immersive camp for all ages that focuses on attuning the full spectrum of our human sensory capability.

An online program with offline immersions in nature to hone your practice of using the full spectrum of your sensory repertoire so that you can respond better to stimuli, process information more quickly, and feel more alive! 

Move through 4 Phases to rewire your ability to hone your senses:

• Phase One | Dopamine Detox retrains your system to recalibrate back to a normal balance of stimulation. Sensitizing you to having healthier dopamine hits at the right time. Working on all inputs (food, nutrition, light, noise, distractions, thoughts, etc)

• Phase Two | Regulatory Mastery begins to distinguish between your emotions and their affect so you can detach meaning from sensation. Equipping you with the ability to manage ‘run away’ emotions and impulses so they can move swiftly through you without getting coded.

• Phase Three | Sensory Dexterity works on identifying what your different senses are picking up at any one time, being able to distinguish between them and shift the sensations with focus.

• Phase Four | Attuned Acuity going out into nature and urban environments to interact with the world (both quiet and busy) with your newfound skills and expand your awareness without getting overwhelmed. 

• Bonus Phase | Under Pressure train your sensory awareness even when in fight or flight mode: relaxing your responses to perceived danger and be able to take in more information under pressure.