LIVING THROUGH YOUR
SENSES
Samyuktha Sundar
WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT
• Some amazing facts about our brain and the senses
• Few fun activities (Cool titles waiting to be won!)
• Amusing/surprising videos
• A brief glimpse into cultural history
• Short trivia at the end of each sense - winners will leave with great Duke
goodies and of course, bragging rights!
THE SENSE OF SIGHT
• Is seeing believing? Do you think you really see the world for what it is?
• Do you think what you see affects what you hear?
• Let's see for ourselves!
• Optical Illusions
• How do they work?
IMPORTANCE TO POWER OF
SIGHT IN YOGA - TRATAKA
•
Trataka means to gaze steadily at a fixed point
•
Two forms of Trataka:
• External Trataka – Bahiranga: Gaze at an object or symbol
• Internal Trataka – Antaranga: Clear and stable visualization
of an object
•
Benefits:
• Eradicates all eye diseases and fatigue
• Therapeutic to depression, insomnia, allergy, anxiety, poor
concentration, bad posture and memory
• Stronger willpower, improved memory and concentrative
ability
• Ancient science mentions development of capacities such
as telepathy, telekinesis, psychic healing, etc.
TRIVIA TIME!
QUESTION 1
a) Which popular social networking site is working on a visual
technology that lets users scour it’s site for objects similar to
those they highlight in photos?
b) They call it the discovery engine
c) They acquired VisualGraph last year, a startup headed by Kevin
Jung
d) This is a company founded in 2010
e) The site’s organization gives it’s engineers a bird’s eye view of
how people’s tastes are connected from the way images are
saved
THE SENSE OF SOUND
• ACTIVITY! Why do we have 2 ears?
• Use of (2) ears
SHEN WU’S MUSICAL QI GONG
• 5 musical tones correspond to 5 internal organs: Gong - spleen, Shang lung, Jiao - liver, Yu - kidney, and Zhi – heart
• This method enlivens the mind, relaxes the body, and lifts the spirit, while
enhancing one's healing energy
• The goal of the therapy is to remove negative Qi and any Qi blockages
along the meridians as well as to transmit positive Qi; when the natural flow
of energy throughout the meridians is restored, the body will be able to heal
itself once again and the disease process will gradually reverse itself.
• As Qigong reappears again, Ancient Chinese arts are dancing on the stage
of Modern History
• Source: http://www.joltv.us/english/basicofmusicqigong.htm
TRIVIA TIME
QUESTION 2:
a. This is a method of recording sound that
uses 2 microphones in ear-like cavities on
either side of a dummy head
b. This is an old recording technique, much
older than stereo and followed the
phonograph only by 4 years
c. With the rise of virtual reality hardware
like the Oculus Rift, Samsung Gear, etc.
which are dependent on realistic 3D
audio, this technology is on the cusp of a
renaissance
THE SENSE OF SMELL
• Did you ever measure a smell? Can you tell whether one smell is just twice strong as
another? Can you measure the difference between two kinds of smell and another?
It is very obvious that we have very many different kinds of smells, all the way from
the odour of violets and roses up to asafoetida. But until you can measure their
likeness and differences, you can have no science of odour. If you are ambitious to
find a new science, measure a smell.
— Alexander Graham Bell, 1914
• ACTIVITY 1:
1.
2.
What does this smell remind you of?
What is the smell?
• ACTIVITY 2: Smell Detective!
1.
Can you identify the smells mixed here?
KONYUNE ONORANGE-TANKA?
• For the Onge tribe of Andaman, the universe and
everything is defined by smell
• Their calendar is constructed on the basis of the odours of
flowers which come into bloom at different times of the
year: each season is named after a particular odour
• Personal identity is also defined by smell – to refer to oneself,
one touches the tip of one’s nose, a gesture meaning both
‘me’ and ‘my odour’
• When greeting someone, the Ongee do not ask ‘How are
you?’, but ‘Konyune onorange-tanka?’ meaning ‘How is
your nose?’
• Government officials and anthropologists believe that
ancient knowledge of the movement of wind, sea and
birds may have saved the five indigenous tribes on the
Indian archipelago of Andaman and Nicobar islands from
the tsunami that hit the Asian coastline Dec. 26 (They can
smell the wind?!)
TRIVIA TIME
QUESTION 3:
Our noses are capable of detecting countless smells in this world.
But scientists now say there are 10 categories that encapsulate them all.
Would you like to try naming a few?
Write down as many categories as you can think. Give examples for each and
a short description if possible.
Let’s see who comes up with a list closest to the scientists’!
THE SENSE OF TASTE
• ACTIVITY: The Hard Candy Expert!
• Explanation
SALTY, SWEET, SOUR, BITTER
AND…UMAMI
• Japanese loan word: translated as “pleasant savory taste”
• First proposed by Kikune Ikeda in 1908
• People taste umami through receptors for glutamate,
commonly found in its salt form as the food
additive monosodium glutamate(MSG). For that reason,
scientists consider umami to be distinct from saltiness.
• Despite the nasty reputation of MSG, umami came to be
recognized as the fifth flavor in 2002 when scientists found
a special receptor for L-glutamate, the tastant which gives
the flavor
• Eg: Parmesan cheese, Beefsteak tomatoes, seaweed, soy
sauce
TRIVIA TIME
QUESTION 4:
a. This is a photo of a food research scientist at
Washington State University. What’s happening
here?
b. This $90,000 machine is actually a robotic arm
which is proving to be very efficient at doing this
particular human job
c. Manufacturer Alpha MOS said the
pharmaceutical and beverage industries are
other early adopters of this device
d. This device does not gag or tire; but it does not
like solid food!
THE SENSE OF TOUCH
• ACTIVITY 1: What if all you had was your sense of touch?
• Who needs to be touched?
• ACTIVITY 2: Who is our Emoticon? :-D Guessing emotions by touch
• Debrief
NATIVE AMERICAN HANDS-ON
THERAPY
• The Cherokee people of North America were well versed in body
therapies and energy healing
• They developed a comprehensive, sophisticated bodywork
system that encompassed a form of osteopathic massage and
manipulation, breath, and energy work
• The Cherokee were also familiar with acupuncture meridians and
used acupuncture, with needles made of thorns or porcupine
quills, in healing
• The Hopi people and their practices were the source of inspiration
for a type of massage now called Hakomi. Native American
practices, in which hot and cold stones are used to deeply
penetrate muscles and tissues to reduce pain and inflammation
are what we now know as stone massage.
TRIVIA TIME
QUESTION 5:
a. What is this? Who made this?
b. This is designed to work with virtual reality for an
immersive, tactile experience
c. It connects via Wi-Fi and is designed to support
various smartphones, virtual reality headsets
and consoles, including Xbox and Playstation.
d. This suit simulated the world's first "virtual hug"
HEIGHTEN YOUR SENSES
• Now that you know about them, how about using them better?
• Can you think of anything you can do?
THANK YOU!