Ninja Sensory Enhancement:

Many people have heard that when “one sense is taken away the others compensate”. Well, this is somewhat true, especially with hearing. Too many people arbitrarily injure the hearing(ear buds cranked to the top!!) when they are young(or old) without thinking of the future consequence.  Alright enough of my soap box, let’s give you a training exercise that I use to help enhance my sense of smell and hearing.

I often go out after dark, or early in the morning when there is no or little light. The first thing that starts to happen is that my visual acuity drops, but my sense of hearing and smell tend to begin to compensate. What I do is purposefully attempt to utilize these senses to help me navigate the woodland trails or through my home(see the lesson on navigating your home in the dark). So what do you do?? Well here is the first step, stop and relax, take several deep breaths and let the air in and out through your nose and mouth. Now, breathe in and consciously think about what smells you are bringing in. Is there smoke, dampness (are you close to water), can you smell the type of forest or environment you are in, what about the plants or flowers around you? Maybe, you are not in a rural or suburban area, well how about t but not he smells surrounding you in the city, cars, trash, people, perfume, aftershave, dogs, water, etc. Take in these smells and register them in your brain. Walk around your home and determine what it smells like, what is normal and what isn’t . We have all walked into a home that had an unusual “smell”, that seems off, not wrong it may have been unsettling for you. The sense of smell is incredibly powerful, think about some powerful memories that are brought on by certain smells, turkey roasting, cookies baking, you spouse, a nice wine!

Well now I have given you a very interesting lesson, take it, modify it and use it in many fashions to improve your training. As I sit here on my deck smelling the aroma’s of the grill, and the late summer smells of the plants surrounding me, all is well, and good here.

 

Bufu Ikkan

Ps: Now go out there and practice…more to come!

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