Welcome to The Art of The Senses
The first time I did deep senses work, I found myself in a 6-hour sound meditation, blindfolded, alone on my mat.
I had no idea what to expect from the experience and I was a little apprehensive of what would happen.
During the journey, the facilitator played various instruments and recorded tracks and I was instructed to simply listen with full attention.
What ended up unfolding was the most profound education I had ever received about myself.
There were many realizations; and things I had struggled with for years finally unlocked. I felt every emotion possible in the most visceral way. I woke up to myself.
All I had to do was listen.
This experience fascinated me. I saw that in eliminating all other stimuli and bringing my full awareness to one sense - my sense of hearing in this case - I was finally able to connect deeply with myself; my emotions, my memories and my internal experience.
There were no expectations from others, nowhere to be, just me and my truth.
Since then, I've explored each sense in isolation. I was curious what would happen if I brought my full awareness to my hands and my sense of touch; or my eyes by intently gazing at something inspiring.
What I've learned is that the senses can be a doorway into the self. They can be our most valuable and accessible tools for gaining greater presence, self-awareness and pleasure.
It's a practice and a study and requires some work; but I promise that working with your senses will be a most illuminating and beautiful discovery. You are the most fascinating thing on earth; what will you learn about yourself?
Aren't you curious to find out?
Hi, I'm Arielle.
I've dedicated my life to a study of the senses. This work helped me heal my deepest pain.
When I was 24, my mother died from a very rare type of cancer. It was aggressive and she suffered a lot in the nine months from when she was diagnosed until she passed away.
Up until that point, I had experienced a lot of loss and devastation in my life and I had battled with depression; but this loss was so significant, it completely changed the course of my life.
After my mom died, I was a complete mess. I quit my job and couldn't get out of beds for days on end. I cried so much I thought for certain I would die. In fact, there were days I prayed for death. Mostly, I was numb to any sort of pleasure or joy. I simply couldn't feel... anything really.
I longed to not be this way, but I didn't know how to motivate myself to do anything. So I decided to create a simple challenge for myself. Each day, I had to do one thing that brought me pleasure or joy. The only rules were that it had to be something I actively participated in; so watching a movie didn't count but playing in my closet and dressing up in my most creative outfit did. It also had to be something that was experienced deeply through one or more of my senses.
I would make elaborate meals slowly and deliberately; taking in every delicious scent coming from the kitchen. I made art projects, danced in my apartment or sat down for an hour to do my makeup in a way that inspired and delighted me. These activities were very simple, but at a time when I could barely order food delivery, they were huge. And slowly by slowly, I started to be able to feel the smallest ounce of pleasure again.
Most importantly, I saw that I alone was the reason for this pleasure. I had created it for myself and this honestly saved my life. I carried on with these simple activities for many years and they evolved to become more elaborate and deeper explorations of the senses (see above). But the basic premise always remained: take part in a pleasurable exercise of tuning into the senses.
So what about sensuality?
When I was finally able to start dating again, the ability to create my own sensual pleasure completely changed how I related to partners and lovers. I saw that in the past, I had expected my partner to "give me" pleasure, but now I knew that only I could actually give myself pleasure.
I also learned that my senses were my greatest tools for understanding what I wanted, liked and didn't like. If I was in my head, I wasn't able to feel much pleasure, and I certainly didn't even know if I enjoyed what was happening. Our bodies are the wise ones who are telling us all the time whether we feel safe or not; all we need to do is pay attention to the signs.
As we take in the world through our senses, our bodies react with relaxation or contraction. But often it's so subtle, we don't notice so we just keep carrying on with what we are doing, not realizing that it might not be jiving with our internal world. For me, that's how I would end up with feelings of remorse, guilt or shame the next day after spending the night with a man, and it would take a lot of unpacking to understand why.
In 2018, during a deep sound meditation, I had a vision of what The Sensualist® would later become. I envisioned a destination where people could explore their senses as a tool for pleasure and a deeper study of the self. I saw people coming together in freedom; finally able to speak openly about pleasure and healing. The Sensualist® is a culmination of all the work I've done with the senses thus far; and it is always evolving.
From loss, heartbreak, pain and suffering I have learned all the clichés: that life is too precious to waste on not fully feeling all of it. I have learned that experiencing pleasure and joy is within your own power. I learned that standing in your grace comes from listening to the messages from your body. And I learned that there is always more to discover if you can just tune in.
The mystery continues to unfold...
Training & Experience
I have trained with Alexandre Tannous and David Shemesh as a sound facilitator, completing over 200 hours of Sound Meditation study. I continue to be mentored by my teachers and facilitate sound meditations for groups, individuals and couples around the world. I am also a certified Reiki Master. My teacher is Dr. Nadia Ramo.
As the founder of The Sensualist®, I have worked with women and couples seeking to explore their sensuality and address deep-rooted shame, through coaching and one-on-one experiences. I have provided personal shopping services for many years, helping women and couples explore their sensuality with their own sensual toolkit. In the process I have worked with manufacturers of pleasure tools and have product-tested over 100 of these with my team.
I have led many workshops and in-person events which explore the five senses in a safe container, through The Sensualist® Experience.
The Sensualist® services are influenced by many modalities including tantra, energy and intuitive work, plant medicine, psychedelic therapy, witchcraft, dreamwork, somatic and psychotherapeutic therapy. As a facilitator of others, one must continually facilitate themselves so I have committed myself to an ongoing self-healing journey; working with therapists, spiritual mentors and deep plant medicine work. My goal is to constantly evolve The Sensualist® as a healing and joyful experience for all.
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