Eat the aroma – The sensory confusion

I went to the theatre with my family to watch a movie. Upon returning, the aroma of caramel popcorn filled the air. My mouth started salivating, and my stomach began to growl.

 I observed these sensory cravings only to understand what was happening to the body.

 My older brother, who had a post-graduate degree in marketing, used to tell me that marketing is the art of selling ice to an Eskimo. We all think we know what hunger is supposed to feel like. We think we know to tell the difference between hunger and craving. Our marketing geniuses have proven to us that they can control the senses of the masses. We have five senses which work separately and together when needed. The sense of sound is to hear, and the sense of vision is to see. However, when we hear the sound of a particular vehicle with our eyes closed, the mind projects the vision of that vehicle. Our senses also have a memory which is replayed. Here, the two senses actively experience the same situation. When we cannot separate one sensory trigger from another, I call it sensory confusion.

 One such example is the caramel popcorn experience. When the air filled with the aroma, my mind wanted to eat it. The aroma triggers the sense of smell, but the memory of tasting the caramel popcorn also triggers the sense of taste. Thus, cravings emerge that are unrelated to hunger.

 Children fall prey to the cunning marketing of popcorn vendors, and the desire disrupts your gut health. When it is an open-air vendor, such as a street vendor, the senses are attracted to the clanking sounds of metal, which the vendor makes to attract his customers.

 Certain situations also involve the opposite. Certain medicines have a pleasant aroma but an awful taste, which shocks our senses. Children quickly develop an aversion to such medication.

 Sensory confusion is a contraption which only strengthens like a noose with every worldly experience.

 Antaranga Yoga has fantastic practices that recognise and separate these sensory confusions. One can learn from those who know how to identify sensory confusion and what practices he or she can deliver to extricate from this trap.

 What are your experiences with sensory confusion?