Feeling Overstimulated by the World? Try these methods to quiet the mind & body.

Just Too Much

When I was a kid, I always looked for the next great thing to hijack my 5 senses. Whether it was funny sounds, touching various surfaces, smelling or tasting different foods or seeing places I’ve never been to, it was all amazing to me in some way. Jumping forward into my 20’s and 30’s and stimulating my 5 senses became more distracting with the introductions of the Internet and cell phones. The outside world had developed more direct channels in hording my attention. Pop-Up advertisings, screen time and having stimulation at my fingertips changed something in me. It began to make me more nervous, less focused, more multi-tasked oriented and generally Über-stimulated. I began to miss the earlier days when time felt slower, everything didn’t have to be known and my brain was allowed to daydream. So, what happened?

I began to turn inwards. Not to escape life and become a Sadhu living in a desolate cave somewhere in the Himalayas, but to take time daily to do less, to get into nature and give my overstimulated brain a pause to reset my nervous system. Being in nature was my go-to practice to ‘feel’ more and ‘think’ less. It was shortly after this time, I dove into Yoga and Tantra where I discovered a whole treasure trove of concepts and practices that have guided my body & mind into quieting my 5 senses and being comfortable with the silence and peace of meditation.

This journey has led me to writing this little Blog article about some of the concepts and practices that have worked for me and I now want to share with you. If your feeling bombarded by the external world lately, then experiment with any of these concepts and practices. Take whatever works for you. I’m not going to spend time here force feeding you by saying ‘if it worked for me, then it MUST work for you’ blah-blah-blah. Every-body and mind are beautifully unique and should have its own tools for reducing and quieting the 5 senses. Although hopefully, not to numb the senses, but rather to gain control and withdraw them when needed like a turtle pulling its head and limbs into its silent shell sanctuary.

Turning Inwards – Sensory Fasting Simplified.

Sensory fasting is a useful modern-day tool that helps us reduce the sensory stimulations we experience in our daily world. Its effective in lowering stress and resting an overwhelmed nervous system.  It’s a complimentary practice to the fifth limb of Patanjali’s eight-limbed yoga path known as ‘Pratyahara.’ Pratyahara, an often overlooked practice, basically involves training the mind to 'be' with external sensory stimulations we experience through the 5 senses without reacting to them in practices like meditation. This is not about numbing or destroying our 5 senses, its about producing a state of mental wellness, satisfaction and equinimity. 

Everyday, we consume external experiences through the senses just as we do physical food. Through this we become better aware of what kinds of stimulation are needed at any given moment and if it becomes too much, how to withdraw and rebalance them. From yogic and tantric traditions, this may be balanced by practicing specific Pranayama techniques, focusing on a single object in meditation or through visualization. All of these are designed to assist you in being more aware of and limit those stimulations and distractions that drain your energy, vitality and zeal for life.

The 5 Senses in Action.

Before we dive into some yoga and tantric methods of quieting the mind & body, its useful to understand a little about the lightening fast reactions of our 5 senses that guard us. The following is an example as taught to me by my long-time teacher, Peter Marchand. Maybe this somehow empowers you in taking control of your own overstimulating moments in life.

Let’s say its night time and you are walking through a jungle. This alone would put my 5 senses on high alert. As your walking, you see something hanging and moving from a tree branch in the distance. What is it?

First, your 5 senses that want to protect you kick in by sending the brain a bunch of vague sensory signals like colors, smells, shapes, etc. of this object on the tree branch. These signals then come through the sense organs of the physical body, which include the nose, eyes, ears, tongue and skin. Your sense organs then zip file this info as electrical signals through the nerves to your brain.

Here’s where the processing starts! All your memories and past experiences in the subconscious mind try to match the hanging thing in the tree to something catalogued in the subconscious mind. It tries to fit the pieces together like a puzzle and then googles its findings back to the conscious mind where these findings are further analyzed through reasoning and association.  These findings and thoughts produce vibrations in your energetic body (Pranamaya Kosha) that may feel good or not so good and bubble up certain emotions. If the vibrations feel good or not, your sense organs will then adapt in becoming more alert or more relaxed. These vibrations will then flow into the physical body via hormones and neurotransmitters where it will create pleasant or unpleasant sensations like goosebumps if pleasurable or sweating if unpleasant. Finally, this sensory input may lead you to an action like walking closer to the hanging object in the tree or running away from it.

In the end, the hanging and moving object was luckily just a rope in the wind, so your 5 senses, nervous system, physical body and mind can begin to relax again. Phew!

Chart on how our 5 Senses work.

Overstimulated Senses – We are not built for this.

Our brains simply are not built to process the relentless stream of digital notifications, urban noise, and multi-tasking we are exposed to each day. It has evolved into actually being wired for longer periods of low stimulation environments (quieter, slower, single-tasking), not long fast chronic ones, as is often the case today.

World bombarding the 5 Senses.

If you don’t at least give your two most used senses of ‘sight’ and ‘hearing’ a little break regularly, the brain and nervous system will be stuck in this state of chronic alertness. Over time, this may contribute to conditions like:

• High Anxiety

• Sleep issues

• Chronic pain

• Attention deficits

• Emotional imbalance

Sensory fasting is essentially a recovery practice for a chronically overstimulated nervous system. Like fasting from food gives your digestive system a break, fasting from sensory input allows your brain and nervous system to rest and regenerate.

Why Sensory Fasting is good for you.

Brain Benefits:

• Reduced cortisol levels - Lower stress hormones as your threat-detection system relaxes.
  

• Improved focus and attention - Resetting natural dopamine levels that helps reduce the need for constant stimulation (social media).
  

• Better sleep quality - Melatonin production normalizes when light (sight) and noise (hearing) exposure decreases.
  

Mental & Emotional Benefits:

• Less anxiety - The amygdala (fear center of brain) calms down when there are less 5 sensory triggers.
  

• Improved creativity – Boredom, daydreaming & silence allow parts of the brain to generate creative ideas and solutions to nagging problems.
  

• Better emotional processing - Without external sensory distractions, suppressed feelings can more easily surface from the subconscious mind, can be felt and processed (slower Theta brainwaves happening).

Physical Benefits:

• Reduced muscle tension - Body can release chronic holding patterns more easily that we are consciously unaware of.
  

• Lower blood pressure and heart rate - Parasympathetic nervous system becomes more dominant and heart rate variability improves.
  

• Pain reduction - Chronic pain can be reduced when sensory irritation (examples: touch, sight) is reduced.

• Improved Interoceptive Awareness – In tuning out the outside world and quieting your 5 senses for awhile, your awareness of internal body signals deepens (examples: digestion, muscle tensions, breathing patterns). Being attuned to the subtle signals within your body can act as a ‘preventive medicine’ tool in avoiding certain illnesses. In other words, you may be able to recognize and act upon symptoms sooner.

A Tantra Yoga Perspective.

Its natural for your 5 senses to be externally directed outwards into your environment. Your senses are not obstacles that you want to shutdown permanently. They’re actually instruments and gateways to experiencing higher consciousness.

Take the Chakras for example which are foundational in Tantra Yoga.  Each of the first five chakras is associated with one of the 5 senses and certain characteristics related to it:

Muladhara (Root) Chakra Sense: Smell Desire: Stability & Safety Element: Earth Examples: proper body hygiene, pleasant smells in home, using incense or essential oils.

Svadhisthana (Sacral) Chakra Sense: Taste Desire: Pleasures Element: Water Examples: pleasurable sensations like a cooked Ayurvedic meal with all 6 tastes.

Manipura (Solar Plexus) Chakra Sense: Sight Desire: Status Element: Fire Examples: sitting by a lit candle or fireplace, watching a sunrise or sunset.

Anahata (Heart) Chakra Sense: Touch Desire: Connection/Love Element: Air Examples: hugging, cuddling, massages, savasana.

Vishuddha (Throat) Chakra Sense: Hearing Desire: Knowledge Element: Space Examples: pleasant music, listening to silence, manta japa, poetry, drums, sound bath

The Chakras and matching Sense according to Tantra Yoga

So basically, when you turn down the 5 senses in practice, you can better connect to the desires of your chakras and better direct your senses towards more meaningful desires (raga), while better accepting the things you push away (dvesha) in life. This is a game changer since it produces more equanimity within!

To be clear, our senses are energy channels to be used as tools. If we let them run crazy, being randomly stimulated and distracted by everything in the world, we are overstimulating the body/mind and wasting ‘spiritual’ fuel for our yoga and meditation practices. When we withdraw our senses (Pratyahara) sometimes, this conserved fuel can be used to build internal prana reserves and awaken kundalini. To put it plainly, its like remembering to turn off the lights in rooms of your home when you’re not in the room to conserve energy. For our yoga and meditation practices though, its to further spiritual awakening.

Turning Down your 5 Senses – Simple Practices

If you’ve read this far, thanks! Here is the part your probably most interested in or skipped to. Here are a few practices from beginner to more advanced that you can experiment with and see what helps you calm and withdraw your 5 senses most effectively.

Sensory Fasting Ideas

Silent Meals

• Eat one meal a day without looking at any screens, listening to music, or having a conversation with someone. Focus on the taste, texture, temperature, and chewing of your food.  Notice how different food tastes when you're fully present.

Phone-Free Walks

• Try leaving your phone behind (or in airplane mode in a pocket). Take a walk in a quiet area focusing only on physical sensations like your feet touching the ground, the air on your skin or sounds around you.

  
  

Mindfulness Practices

• Sit comfortably and close your eyes for 10–15 minutes. Don't try to "meditate" — just observe whatever arises when your sense of sight is removed. Simply notice and allow any sounds, body sensations, and mental chatter that arise.

  Digital Shutdowns Before Bedtime

• Try turning off all screens 1 hour before bedtime. Turn off 50% of the lights in your home 1 hour before bed to enhance serotonin and melatonin release for a good night sleep.

If you need to watch TV, then try something soothing for your senses like a nature show instead of an action film.

Silent Mornings

• For 1–2 hours after waking up don’t look at your phone, play calming music or mantras, refrain from talking to anyone and don’t read anything, especially the daily news.

• Focus on simple food preparation for breakfast (non-processed foods).

• Try an activity that doesn’t overstimulate the senses like art, singing or a silent nature walk.

• These are ways to let your brain ease into the day without sensory input bombardment.

Pratyahara Ideas

Trataka (Candle Gazing)

• Sit before a candle at eye level, approximately 2 feet (60cm) away.

• Gaze at the candle without blinking until your eyes water (2–3 minutes).

• Close your eyes and maintain the afterimage visualization of the candle flame at your 3^rd eye between your eyebrows.

• When the inner image fades, remain in darkness with eyes closed for 5–10 minutes.

  
  

How it benefits your senses - It will exhaust your visual sense through concentration, then withdraw it completely. The afterimage phase transitions naturally into internalized vision.

Practicing Trataka with candle flame

  Pratyahara through Pranayama (Alternate Nostril Breathing with Kumbhaka)

• Alternate nostril breathing (Inhale 5 seconds, hold 5 seconds, exhale 5 seconds) or an inhale and exhale pace that is appropriate for you without struggle.

• During Kumbhaka (breath retention), relax into the silence and stillness between inhales & exhales.

• While practicing, maintain your focus on either the 3^rd eye, heart center or navel center (Its a personal choice).

• Practice 8-12 rounds, extending your breath retention gradually without forcing anything. If you start gasping for the next breath, you’re probably pushing to much.

  
  

How it benefits the senses - Breath retention is like an ‘emergency brake’ for withdrawing your 5 senses. Your brain prioritizes CO₂/O₂ balance over external scanning. The extended holding of breath invites pratyahara (withdrawaling of the 5 senses).

Yoga Nidra (Yogic Sleep)

• Lie on your back or side in a comfortable position where you can be still.

• The Rotation of Consciousness stage (Body Scan) acts as an effective tool for turning your attention inwards towards your physical body.

• The Experiencing of opposite sensations (heat/cold, heaviness/lightness) teaches the mind not to react to sensory stimuli and simply observe instead of participate.

• A Sankalpa (intention) planted into the subconscious mind, draws mental external energy inwards and acts as an anchor in keeping your senses withdrawn.

• Practices range from 15-45 minutes and are guided online or in-person (Yoga Nidra with Eric).

  
  

How it benefits the senses - The practice systematically withdraws your attention inwards, creating a state of "conscious deep sleep" where the body and parts of the brain sleep, yet awareness remains awake.

Eric guiding a Yoga Nidra meditation

Mauna (Sacred Silence)

• Choose an hour, half or full day.

• Practice complete silence — no speaking, no writing, no digital communications. (I know this one can be tough).

• Continue normal activities (eating, walking, working if possible).

• When an urge to speak arises, observe the energy behind it without acting.

  
  

How it benefits the senses - Talking uses a lot of energy. Mauna helps conserve this energy and reveals how much of our interaction is compulsive rather than necessary.

Observing the 5 Senses

• Practice with the audio link with Eric or record the text below to your own voice.

• Duration: Approximately 10 minutes.

• Sit in a comfortable cross-legged or lying position and close your eyes.

  
  

  Smell

• Be aware of your nose. Focus on each individual smell around you.

• Classify each smell and label each as unimportant.

• Sense of smell becoming less and less interesting.

• Let it go.

  
  

   Taste

• Be aware of your mouth.

• Sip some water or moon water from a silver cup.

• Notice the neutral and calming taste of the water.

• Focus on the overall sense of taste in your mouth without reacting or determining the source of any tastes remaining.

• Sense of taste becoming less and less interesting.

• Let it go.

    Sight

• Become aware of your closed eyes.

• Notice the light passing through your eyes producing a lightshow on your eyelids.

• Focus on seeing rather than following the lightshow.

• Sense of sight becoming less and less interesting.

• Let it go.

     Touch

• Become aware of your body and its weight being supported by the massive earth.

• Notice your breath. As you inhale, feel or visualize energy flowing from the earth into your body and throughout your spine. Exhale this energy down through the tailbone of your spine and into the earth.

• Feel connected to mother earth and everything on it.

• Let it go.

       Sound

• Be aware of your ears. Focus on each individual sound around you.

• Classify each sound and label each as unimportant.

• Sense of sound becoming less and less interesting, blending together and drifting into the background further and further away.

• Let it go.

• If desired, sit in stillness and silence for awhile as you naturally inhale and exhale into the navel center, heart center or third eye.

From a tantric yoga perspective, the intention is to focus a scattered mind, awaken and balance energy paths & centers (Nadis & Chakras) and ultimately realize that your "inner" and "outer" worlds are not separate.

As the Shiva Sutras state: "The 5 senses are the gates of the body. Close them, and the Lord of the House is revealed." 😊

Ease into It.

• Start Small - Even 10 minutes of sensory fasting has its benefits. Don't be to eager at the start and jump to week long silent yoga retreats without first building some tolerance.
  

• Experiencing Discomfort is Normal - The first few minutes, hours or days often brings restlessness, anxiety, and/or racing thoughts. This is your nervous system recalibrating itself and this will pass eventually.

• Re-integrate Slowly - After a sensory fast, let your 5 senses re-enter sensory stimulation gradually. A sudden return to high stimulation and distraction can render any progress useless. (example: ease back into social media doses).

• Magic of Breathwork – Try slow nasal breathing into your belly (4 seconds in, 6 seconds out) during any sensory fasting. This can accelerate the shift to your parasympathetic nervous system (rest & digest).

Want Guidance?

If any of this sounds confusing or you don’t know where to start, then feel free to connect with me at info@ericbennewitz.de. In my past experiences, I've found sensory fasting and pratyahara to be often neglected steps in daily life and especially meditation practices. In this age of sensory bombardment, its definitely worth taking a few minutes each day to calm your mind and remind it who is in charge – YOU.