NATURE MEDITATION

Today I thought I'd share my favorite form of meditation. It's very simple. To do it, all you have to do is go into a natural spot outdoors and be quiet. That's it. It doesn't matter if your're standing or sitting or what your posture is. You can have your eyes open or closed. When you get quiet, you'll most likely notice sounds in the environment. You'll probably also notice thoughts. Don't panic! Thoughts are only nature too! My friend Jen Peer Rich says that the psyche is wild - that's why no one can control their thoughts and, on deeper inspection, is the self who would do such a thing separate from thought? What most of us call "me" is the self-image, the idea of who we are. Are we really just an idea? Is there more to us than just a collection of thoughts? Does breathing stop when thinking does? Do we become unconscious without thinking or does consciousness carry on? Without the thought story, does nature disappear? No, it is still present.

I find being quiet in nature very therapeutic. When we become receptive in such a way we hear many voices speaking, not just our human chatter. I love the voices of creeks. The voice of wind through the trees. The symphony of bird song. When I open up to these things, it changes my life. It breaks the bounds of my mind-created sphere and initiates me into a deeper way of living. It transforms my very idea of self into something more fluid. I might even realize that I don't need to define anything or anyone. The real things remain present, whether thought chatters about them or not.

As I open myself to the environment around me it becomes obvious that I'm not apart from it in any way. The lifeforce that flows through trees and rocks and water and animals is the same lifeforce that flows through me. When I don't believe myself to be anything in particular, I live as everything.