Hello,
My name is Cindy Finley and I invite you to lace up your shoes and join me for a walk along the woodland trail,
Reconnecting to the earth for greater harmony and holy happiness.
And close your eyes or if you're able,
You want to go outside and take this walk in nature,
You can do that too.
But journey with me now as I take you back along the woodland trail,
As you open your door and step out,
The sun is shining,
The air is fresh and crisp.
As you breathe,
Expanding your lungs,
Remembering what it is to be alive,
To have the breath that moves in you and through you.
Just breathe as you walk down the sidewalk towards the arboretum,
Friend by your side,
Reconnecting,
Reconnecting with one another,
Reconnecting with nature.
You walk along as each foot goes in front of the other,
You reconnect with the earth,
The earth energy rising up within you,
Each step that you take,
Back down again,
As the sun from above,
The energy from the sky,
The air that you breathe flows through you,
Back to the earth through every step that you take.
There's a symbiotic relationship,
A yin and a yang,
An in and an out flowing energy,
Up and down,
In you and through you,
Comes in on the breath,
Goes out on the breath,
Courses through your veins,
As your blood moves throughout your body,
As your heart beats and pumps with each step that you take,
You're drawn in closer and closer to that rhythm and pulse of the universal heart,
The heart that holds you,
That holds all that is,
That holds the earth,
The sun,
The moon,
The stars,
All of divinity,
All of humanity,
All the creatures,
The seen and the unseen,
As you breathe in and out,
Crossing through the gates to the arboretum,
Your senses become alive,
You notice the people walking about the trail,
Enjoying nature and each other's company,
You breathe and notice the heavenly scent of the daffodils that are poking up through the ground,
Blessing you with their beautiful scent,
The rich colors of yellow and white and gold and green surround you,
And breathe deeply and slowly,
The bulbs that were planted beneath the earth last fall,
Or perhaps several falls ago,
Have pushed their way up through the soil and are starting fresh and new in the spring time,
Along the woodland trail.
Breathe,
Continue walking,
The stones crunching beneath your feet,
Pause at the lookout spot,
From a higher vantage point,
And just breathe,
Breathe,
Taking in the vastness of the trails below,
Continuing on down the path,
There's a magnificent tree,
Massive in height and circumference,
There are many trees,
But this tree is bigger than you can imagine a normal tree being.
The trunk of the tree is so thick,
So sturdy,
That you would struggle to put your arms around it,
As you marvel at the enormity of this tree and the immense root system below the earth that must exist to hold this tree up,
To allow this tree to stretch high into the sky,
To support the branches that are overhead.
It's magnificent,
And you breathe,
Smiling at the tree,
Thanking the tree for its many years of service,
And helping to clean the air that you breathe.
Continuing along the woodland trail,
Breathing in the scents,
Taking in the colors,
Noticing the green of the buds on the trees,
Buds on the trees that just a few weeks ago were barren,
Beautiful shades of green and yellow bursting forth,
Soon to be full-fledged leaves,
All supported by that magnificent root system beneath the earth,
And you breathe,
Breathe and fill in your lungs,
Filling your lungs with the fresh chi,
The air,
The life force energy,
Exhaling anything that no longer serves you,
Along the breath,
And with each footstep,
You connecting in with the earth,
Receiving the love from the earth,
Giving to the earth your love,
Your energy,
Knowing that the earth graciously receives that which no longer serves you and transmutes it to the life force energy that sustains you.
It's such a beautiful symbiotic relationship as you walk along the woodland trail,
As you're giving and receiving,
In communication,
In community,
In oneness with nature,
With the earth,
With the inhabitants of the earth.
Pausing,
You decide to look at a map and notice that there's a river that's hopefully not too far away,
Looking like you've perhaps got halfway distance more to go down the hill you go.
Excited to see what this river looks like,
To feel its energy,
To see what this river has to offer you,
What you can give to the river.
Not really knowing how far it is,
You walk with anticipation past the marshy area,
Hearing sounds of frogs coming up out of the earth and the mud after hibernating for the winter.
You breathe,
Listening to their dulcet tones.
And then you hear what sounds like the whistling and the rustling of wind in the trees.
You pause,
Listening a little more closely and realize,
Why no,
That's the river.
We must be close.
Continuing to walk,
Placing one foot in front of the other.
Breathe and come around the bend and you see it.
You see the magnificent river as it's flowing downstream.
It's full and it's swollen with the spring runoff.
It's moving quickly,
Magnificently.
The water glistens as the sunshine sparkles down upon it,
Reflecting back lights of silver and grey and blue and white.
The magnificent,
Clear but bright white dances along the top of the river as it flows.
And you just stand in stillness,
Within the activity,
Calmness,
Within the chaos,
With their own unique beauty.
They exist together in harmony,
The calmness and the chaos.
The calm,
Still waters and the depths of the river.
The rushing movement of the water on top.
The ducks that come around the corner,
Down the river,
Moving quickly,
Barely needing to paddle their feet beneath the surface.
Just doing what ducks do,
Swimming along,
Moving from one place to another,
Looking like they're being carried by the river.
You know ducks are ducks.
They know what they're doing,
Where they're going and they're just enjoying their time there in the water.
You smile,
Watching the ducks go by.
Breathe.
Breathe in the stillness.
Breathe in the activity.
Be in harmony with it all.
Decide to turn.
Now to make your way back up the hill.
Climbing the hill,
Stones crushing beneath your feet,
The blood pumping within your body,
A little extra exertion to get up the hill as you breathe deeply and slowly.
Placing one foot in front of the other.
You come to the bench,
The bench that is in the sunshine.
And you sit to rest.
Rest your feet,
Rest your legs,
Rest your breath and your heartbeat.
Closing your eyes,
You turn your face toward the sun and receive the rays down upon you.
Breathe.
Breathe in the sunshine,
Sending the energy down through your body,
Out your feet and into the earth.
Giving and receiving.
You notice the sounds of the birds,
The cacophony,
So many songs,
So many sounds.
The birds as they sing song back and forth,
Calling to mates,
Finding one another with their voices and their songs.
You breathe and you take this all in,
All these sounds.
Perhaps you're able to hear a certain one that you recognize.
Knowing that even though there are so many sounds,
The birds find one another,
They find who their intended mate is.
Through the calm and the chaos,
They find one another.
In the rhythm and the harmony of the life around.
Breathe.
As you sit,
You notice the sound is closer,
There's a rustling at your feet.
As you open your eyes,
You see the small woodland creatures flitting about,
Playing in last year's fallen leaves.
Leaves that have fallen to the earth.
The old is just becoming new.
Nutrients for the soil,
New nesting material for these small woodland creatures.
There's beauty.
Beauty in the giving.
Beauty in the receiving.
A harmony and a symbiotic relationship.
As the old brings blessings.
Again.
Breathe and receive.
Breathe and exhale that which no longer serves you.
You breathe and receive.
Rising,
You feel replete.
Like you are full.
That you are in harmony.
In unity.
A smile breaks upon your face.
An ease flows within your heart.
A knowingness of unity and connectedness.
Of harmony.
Of the yin and the yang.
The energy flowing up,
Flowing down,
Flowing in,
Flowing out.
Restored within your soul.
With gratitude at this restored sense of harmony within you,
You rise,
Rise from the bench,
Making your way back to the entrance of the Arboretum.
You make your way back to the house.
Back inside.
Fully alive in the happiness that flows in you and through you.
And so it is.
