- Veterans Programs
- Early Education
- Writing & Audio
Our sensations guide us to the wild, fresh terrain of each moment.
It is only here that we can meet fully whatever life offers.
Sensory Awareness is a mindfulness practice brought to the United States by Charlotte Selver in 1938. As a catalyst in the Human Potential Movement, Charlotte drew leading visionaries to study and work with her, including Erich Fromm, Alan Watts, Paul Reps, Fritz Perls, Ruth Denison, Richard Baker, Shunryu Suzuki Roshi, and Zoketsu Norman Fischer. She died at the age of 102 years old on August 22, 2003.
Lee Klinger Lesser met Charlotte Selver in 1970, when she was 19 years old, after her mother handed her a brochure and said, “You should meet this woman. She can change your life.” Charlotte did change her life:
“She opened doors for me that I didn’t know were closed and gave me the gift of this practice that helps me keep opening doors for myself and for others.”
Lee has been leading workshops in Sensory Awareness for over 30 years, both in English and in Spanish, with artists, business people, early childhood educators, health professionals, people who are quadriplegic and paraplegic, teenagers in juvenile detention, therapists, Zen students and many others. In 2008, she co-founded a program, Honoring the Path of the Warrior, to share Sensory Awareness, mindfulness and meditation with returning veterans. This has opened some of the most meaningful and moving work that she has ever done.
Returning to our senses can help all of us appreciate and live well the gifts of our lives, honoring what connects us, and meeting the challenges that surround us with energy and care.