Beyond the 5 Senses- Human Abilities You Were Never Told You Have.

My entire life I've been fascinated by the powers and capabilities of the human mind, human awareness. To be honest, it baffles me why every human isn't as interested in what has to be, one of the, if not THE most important aspect of being a human.

As a young boy in grade school, I vividly remember the many times where I sat inside of a classroom, surrounded by children of all shapes, sizes and backgrounds. Countless pictures on the walls, window giving me a glimpse beyond, people moving, fidgeting, talking, the teacher's mouth moving....wait what was she talking about?

My life was one that was so chalked full of sensory information, that I struggled to find myself amidst all of the noise. One moment, I'm sitting in the classroom, trying to pay attention to what they were teaching- and then I was gone, enamoured by some sensory impression that captured my attention like a fish in a net. It took me years to finally understand what it meant to pay attention, and when I did, that's when the complexity of human attention became my passion.

I'm sure you remember the lessons you too were taught when you were young. You are a human, you have a body that should (under normal circumstances) be capable of an endless variety of movements. You were taught that you have 5 senses in which to experience the world around you. Looking, listening, touching/ feeling, tasting, hearing.

But the classic definition of those 5 'simple' senses never seemed to satisfy my need to understand why, in my lived experience, there was so much more happening. When I finally began to understand what I was doing in my meditation/ awareness practice, that's when I came face to face with a myriad of sensations, pressures and processes that didn't seem to fit into the normal definition of those 5 senses.

At this point in my studies, I am fully convinced that human beings are sleepwalking superheroes, possessing abilities and faculties that if focused on, cultivated and intended, open them up to a much deeper and fulfilling sense of life.

My studies have shown me that human beings actually possess many of the same abilities that animals and insects have, only our knowledge of these abilities has been lost, forgotten, ignored, or simply written off as being imaginary. Here are some examples:

Body State Senses

Beyond the basic 5 senses you already know about, there are a number of senses that are widely accepted, but sparely acknowledged- much less practised.

Proprioception- One of my favourite senses to engage. It's how you are able to sense your entire body, your joint's positions, as they exist in space. If you are sitting still in any position, you can tell which way your feet are facing, the tension in your muscles, all without having to look. Can you sense your entire body from head to toe right now?

Vestibular Sense- Have you ever watched an olympic level athlete perform a mind-boggling array of spins, twirls and flips, only to land with exact precision the second their feet touch the ground? That's a fine understanding and mastery of this sense- which detects gravitational orientitation, acceleration, via channels in your inner ear.

Interoception- When you feel hungry, thirsty, notice your heartbeat, feel your bladder and bowels filling (and emptying), or notice your breathing; that's this sense at play. Perception of your internal states.

Thermoception- Like the name implies, this sense is what allows you to feel the warmth of your lover, or the kiss of sunlight, or the frigid cold of a Canadian winter on your skin. It is also responsible for the heat you feel inside when you get nervous or scared, or the warm sensation that fills your belly and insides after a warm cup of soup or coffee.

Nociception- Due to these dedicated and specific receptors in and on your body, you have the ability to distinguish pain from pleasure. My mom once knew a woman who didn't possess these receptors, and would constantly end up with in-explainable bruises and cuts, from bumping into things and not realizing it.

Chronoception- Have you ever noticed how 'time flies when you're having fun', and creeps to a snail's pace when you are bored or anticipating a future event? Without looking, can you sense or tell what time it is? Have you ever had a traumatic event happen so quickly that time itself seemed to move at a Matrix-style Bullet-Time crawl? I have during a motorcycle accident back in my 20's. That's this sense at play.

The Senses No One Talks About

Chemoreception- This sense allows you to detect CO2 and O2 levels in your bloodstream. Apparently you have these things called carotid body receptors which are responsible for this. If you've ever worked out, gone for a jog, or even taken a flight of stairs at a quicker pace than usual and felt that 'out of breath' feeling in your lungs, that's this sense you are noticing.

Osmoreception- When you feel thirsty, or your skin feels dry, that's this sense at work. Essentially, humans can detect the amount of water in their body through sense alone. Fascinating.

Baroreception- baroreceptors in the aortic arch and carotid sinus are what allow you to feel your own blood pressure. Ever gotten into an argument and felt a swelling of pressure in your body? Have you ever undergone a strenuous activity, only to feel your heart beating in every part of your body? That's this sense.

15. Kinaesthesia- distinct from proprioception which is static position, this sense allows you to detect acceleration and deceleration of your body parts in space. If you've thrown a ball, or a punch, or just moved in any way and been aware of how those body parts felt as they were moving, you were engaging this sense.

The ones NOBODY talks about

Let's Get Weird

Magnetoreception- cryptochrome proteins in your eyes respond to magnetic fields. Matter fact, there was a 2019 Caltech study that showed measurable alpha wave suppression in response

to rotating magnetic fields. You have this hardware. It's just not in the curriculum. Have you ever wondered just how birds are able to just zip up into the sky and figure out which direction they have to head for the winter? They figured it out way before we did (and we thought humans were smart).

Electroreception (passive) — voltage-sensitive ion channels in your skin detect electric fields. Have you ever walked into a busy room and felt that the room itself was charged? Have you ever been near something and felt the hairs on your skin stand up and prickle? Have you ever just sat quietly, and allowed your skin to listen to the atmosphere? Those who do will notice that their skin tingles endlessly. Yes my friends, you can be aware of electricity, even in subtle forms.

Vomeronasal/pheromone detection- Every emotion you experience, leads to a change in the pheromones your body excretes (sounds kinda gross when I say it that way). Women who take birth control, experience a shutdown of this mechanism which allows them to select the most genetically compatible partner. If you've ever been near someone, taken a whiff of them and instantly liked or disliked them, you may have been reading this sense without even being aware of it.

Enteroception- distinct from general interoception, this is where the term gut feeling comes from. The enteric nervous system has over 400 million neurons and extends from your throat to your butt. It generates signals that reach the brain, not just receive them. Gut "feelings" are literal, and this area is classically known as the second brain. Have you ever eaten something and felt the resonance of your stomach change instantly? Have you ever had a 'bad feeling' in your gut about a person, place, or future event? Yep, that's it working here.

Auditory near-field detection- bone conduction and tissue vibration sensing, typically in the ear or jawbone distinct from air-conducted hearing. This sense explains how you can feel the bass from a speaker as much as hear them.

But Wait, There's More!

What I realized over time was; that this 5 sense model framework has a fundamental architectural flaw. It treats our senses as if they strictly input channels; passive receivers of exeternal data that we simply receive when it hits us. But that approach is wildy simplistic.

What seems to be missing from this information, is the fact that there is something that moves within the senses you already have. This something is the something that allows you to be aware of that sensory information in the first place! Your attention.

You see, ALL of that sensory information that I spoke of above, is already present in your awareness, but you may or may not have the ability to perceive it....until you know it's there. Like stations on a radio, your body is the receiver and the transmitter- but your attention is the dial that selects the channel.

• Your heart, it's beating right now, sending blood and nutrients through every single vein and artery in your body. Can you feel it?

• Your stomach is either resting or digesting. Can you sense it's status?

• Your breathing is either shallow or deep, big or small. Can you feel it?

• Inside your body is either a sense of pressure, or a sense of relaxation and calmness, or some combination of the two; which one can you detect?

• You are carrying tension somewhere in your body right now as you read these words, can you sense them and relax them?

Humans swim in a sea of sensory information at all times or every day: even those who get themselves into 'sensory deprivation tanks'. What you become aware of however, is entirely up to you, and what you know is possible to be aware of.

Today we barely scratched the surface. If you want to go deeper, meet me in the next blog. Thanks for reading.