The Peace of Wild Things
When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night in fear,
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.
— Wendell Berry
COMING FROM GRATITUDE
Have you ever taken a walk in nature when you were really upset or stressed? Did you find that you could feel lighter and more relaxed and uplifted in the process? I have seen many of the participants of my nature based mindfulness retreats experience renewed joy and expansiveness after being in a natural mountain setting for just a few days. There is always feedback to me that it is easier to learn how to be mindful when nature is supporting and holding us in this way. I also see how deeply nature helps us to open our hearts to love because goodness and beauty is right there pouring out from the trees, rocks, rivers and mountains.
But why does this happen?
There is a deep appreciation or gratitude that is generated when we deeply connect to nature and all living beings in this way. This gratitude is always here for us. Joanna Macy, our elder who taught us so much about nature practice and how it works in her beautiful Spiral. When we take these 4 Stages: Coming to Gratitude, Honoring our Pain for the World, Seeing with New Eyes, Going Forth; we can re-imagine ourselves as part of the cycle of death and rebirth as all living systems. Through this process, Joanna Macy reveals that we can re-awaken our humanity in a way that allows us to find our way out of this climate chaos. She says the way to start is to feel the Gratitude that comes freely from nature to us when are experiencing it. Gratitude lifts us up and engenders a sense of common humanity or connectedness with all beings. From this vantage point, we are no longer separate but a part of everything that is living around us. We are the trees, the plants, the animals — they are a part of us—we are all connected.
Let’s examine what happens when we engage in this way in nature. Nature practice is actually mindfulness practice in nature. Mindfulness is paying attention to this present moment and all of what is here without judgment or criticism. It is being fully engaged with your full sensory experience which occur outside of your thinking: Seeing, hearing, feeling, touching, tasting. The trick is to learn how to disengage from the mind’s constant torrent of thinking so that you can truly experience the full sensory experience of this present moment. That’s what mindfulness teaches you to do. Being in nature jump-starts this ability because you are immediately stimulated by the sights, sounds and feelings of nature and with a clear intention, you can let go of those thoughts and focus on the sensory experiences. This is a perfect opportunity to tune into our bodies first and experience through our heart and body what we are noticing. This opens us to a fuller human experience in each moment.
SAVORING: MINDFULNESS OF POSITIVE EXPERIENCES : CHANGING YOUR NERVOUS SYSTEM
The best advantage of practicing mindfulness outdoors is that there is generally less effort and more enjoyment. That’s how I often find a joyful feeling when I am wanting to expand my mood and let go of any tensions or struggles building up in my body and mind. When I feel the joy of being in this beauty and deeply connect with the trees and rivers, I have learned to stay with those positive feelings as long as possible. This is called “savoring.” When we savor and stay with positive feelings we are re-programming our nervous system that is designed to react to danger and difficulty. We can learn to slow down this reactivity and choose to respond with less intensity to difficult or sad events when we learn this way of balancing our nervous system with positive experiences.
PRACTICES TO TRY:
1) COMPASSIONATE TREE MEDITATION – Use this whenever you need nature’s love and support
Take some time today to go out and be with at tree and use this meditation. You can listen to it from my website here: Compassionate Tree Meditation
2) THREE LEVEL WALKING: Walking silently looking up, at shoulder level and down. From each vantage point as you walk, you can notice different views of what’s around you and let them come into your body, mind and heart.
