Being In Your Forest

One's body and mind are like a forest, full of hidden secrets, stored memories, and resilient seeds of life. By passing too quickly, we can miss out on the sights and smells, and even become strangers in our own interior landscape. This is an extended practice of gentle patience, in dwelling with whatever vital sensation, emotions and thoughts may arise, using focused body scanning to explore the somatic roots of stored emotions and our sense of self.

Transcript

Okay,

So just start with a nice even attention to the whole body,

Nothing,

No part in particular,

And just feel the breath.

Just follow the breath as it comes in and goes out.

And just follow it all the way to the top when the lungs are full,

And all the way to the bottom when the lungs are empty.

And notice how the body feels,

If there's tightness,

If there's jittery excitement.

Just notice if there are thoughts that come and go.

Just see what's there,

See how it feels to be you today.

And breathe,

And feel the whole body.

You feel the chest expand and relax.

And now just gently bring your attention with a little bit of focus to your hands.

And we'll start with the right hand.

So just bring your attention to the right hand,

Feel the right hand.

Just be patient,

Let the volume turn down on everything else.

Bring the hand into focus.

The weight,

The pressure,

If it's resting on your leg or however it's positioned.

The coolness or warmth of the air.

Feel each of the fingers,

The little finger.

What sensations are on the little finger?

The top and the bottom,

The tip of the finger.

The space between the little finger and the ring finger,

And the ring finger itself.

Each of the joints,

Each of the knuckles,

How it's resting in space.

And the third finger,

See what's there.

And the index finger,

And the thumb.

The top of the hand,

The skin on the top,

What do we feel there?

The palm.

The inside of the hand.

Maybe if you feel carefully,

You can feel the blood pumping in the hand,

The meat inside,

Muscles.

And the palm.

The meat inside,

Muscles.

And now encompass the whole hand,

That whole right hand.

Just feel it.

Light it up with the spotlight of your attention.

It gets the center stage.

Just feel the right hand.

And now relax the right hand,

And bring your attention to the left.

Just feel the whole left hand.

And then zoom in on the little finger.

Each of the joints,

Each of the segments.

Weight and pressure and temperature.

Movement.

And the second finger,

The ring finger.

Space in between the fingers,

And the third finger.

The index of the left hand.

And the left thumb.

And the back of the hand.

And the palm.

And the inside of the hand,

If you feel anything there.

And just embrace the whole hand,

That whole left hand.

Take it as a whole.

As if it were your whole body.

Just be there in the hand.

And then bring the right hand back into it.

So focus on the two hands.

As if there were these two lights in the darkness.

Two campfires in the dark woods.

And then relax the hands,

And then just come back to the breath again.

And just feel the breath move through your body.

Feel the body as a whole.

Feel the body as a whole,

As it moves with the breath.

Feel the posture,

The muscles in the back.

Feel the quality of the breath.

Is it short?

Is it long?

Is there tightness?

I was walking in the woods this morning.

And I noticed most of the people I pass just walk focused on something they're doing.

Maybe they're talking to their friend.

Maybe they're on the phone or listening to headphones.

And they just look straight ahead.

And they must know that they're in the forest.

But they don't see the forest.

They don't hear the forest.

It's just a background.

They're focused on their walk,

Or their podcast,

Or their conversation.

And the forest just passes without notice.

And it makes me a bit sad.

Because there's so much there to see,

And to hear,

And to feel.

So many secrets in the forest.

If you look up,

There are birds in the branches.

They make their nests.

They live their whole lives up there.

Their whole world is up in the branches.

If you look down in the soil,

There are animals that sleep beneath the leaves that sleep in burrows.

Their whole lives in a little hole in the soil,

Or in the wood of a tree.

They put all their energy into storing food to last the winter.

And they lay their eggs,

Or they go in there to hibernate.

And their whole world is contained there,

All their hopes,

And dreams,

And fears,

In this little pocket.

There are secrets everywhere in the forest.

There are secrets everywhere in the forest.

And our bodies are like that,

Too.

Our minds are like that,

Too.

Sometimes we can just focus on a goal,

A desire.

And we miss so much all these little secrets,

Secret thoughts,

And feelings.

So let's explore.

Let's be curious.

Let's see what's there in our forests,

In our lives,

What's there in your life today.

Listen to your thoughts.

Feel your feelings.

Even when we try to meditate,

Sometimes we can be very focused.

We can want to feel calm.

I want to feel calm,

So I sit to meditate.

So when thoughts arise,

I push them away.

When feelings arise that are not calm,

I push them away.

And that's okay.

There's nothing wrong with cultivating the ability to become calm.

That's very valuable.

But it's also important to be there fully in your life,

In the forest of your mind and your heart,

To not miss the little wonders,

The little secrets.

So when thoughts arise,

Don't get carried away in them.

Don't forget that you are not this thought,

But don't push it away,

Either.

Watch it.

What is its form?

What is its nature?

What is its purpose?

What is its form?

Maybe you hear a little soft mutter of a conversation,

A little voice.

Maybe there's an image.

Just see how it unfolds.

Watch it.

Find the middle ground between getting carried away by the thought and pushing the thought away.

Be an observer.

Be a naturalist and just watch it unfold.

Be a naturalist in your own forest.

So now,

Let's bring our attention to our head,

To the sensations there.

Feel your whole head,

Your face,

The back of your head.

Feel where there's tension,

Tightness,

Pressure.

Maybe in the jaws,

Maybe in the temples.

Don't try to relax it just yet.

If you find tightness,

If you find sensation,

Just dwell there with it and see what unfolds.

See if there's a thought,

A feeling attached to it.

Let it open up.

Let it reveal its secrets.

And stay with the head,

With the face,

The back of the head,

The cheeks.

Just see what's there.

Explore.

And let your attention travel down into your neck and your shoulders.

Feel what's there.

What secrets might be buried in the muscles of the neck that works so hard,

The shoulders.

The shoulders.

Listen with care.

Feel with care.

Don't judge.

Just be curious.

Expand down from the shoulders into the chest.

Feel the breath moving in and out of the chest.

What's the quality of the breath now?

Every breath is not the same as every other breath,

Any more than every tree is the same as every other tree.

We can walk past quickly and say,

There's a tree,

There's a tree.

Or we can be curious and see that every tree is a whole world to the creatures that live there.

Every breath is a whole world.

Just dwell there.

And see what reveals itself.

Sink deeply into the breath,

Into the feelings,

Into the thoughts,

The images,

The voices.

You don't need to chase after them.

You don't need to pull them towards you.

If you see a wolf in the woods,

You don't need to run after it and try to give it a hug.

And you don't need to throw rocks at it to make it go away.

You can just view it,

Just see it.

Just be curious.

Your feelings are like that,

Even the unpleasant ones.

If there's fear,

You don't need to run after it and give it a hug,

But you don't need to throw rocks at it and chase it away.

Just see it,

Let it see you.

If it has a message,

Let it have a message.

If you hear the message,

If there's sadness,

Just see it,

Feel it.

If there's anger,

If there's loneliness,

Maybe a feeling that doesn't have a name,

Just a feeling.

You don't need to label it.

Just feel it.

Sink deeply into it.

And breathe.

The breath goes in and the breath goes out,

Like the seasons.

Like day follows night.

Be there in each moment,

In each breath.

In each part of the breath,

The in-breath,

The space between breaths.

And if there's a feeling,

Just let it run its course,

Feel it.

A feeling can't hurt you.

It might not be pleasant,

But it can't really hurt you.

It can't kill you.

Hiding from a feeling,

Fleeing from a feeling,

That can be dangerous.

If we avoid our feelings at any cost,

We can do great harm.

But the feeling itself isn't dangerous.

It's a feeling.

Feel it.

Just be there.

And know that the feeling is not all of you.

You are not the feeling.

You're not inside the feeling.

The feeling is inside of you.

You're more than the feeling.

You are the possibility of the feeling and the possibility of every feeling,

Every experience.

The memories that arise.

Thoughts about what happened,

What could have happened,

What should have happened.

Don't push them away.

See them.

They're your thoughts and feelings.

But don't be carried away by them,

Either.

Let them come and go,

Like the seasons,

Like day and night.

If it's a cloudy day,

Let it be a cloudy day.

If it's a sunny day,

Let it be a sunny day.

If you're sad,

Be sad.

If you're scared,

Be scared.

Un-breathe.

Come back to the breath.

Relax the attention on the feelings.

Just back to the breath,

A peaceful breath,

In and out.

What is the quality of the breath?

What is the quality of the breath?

What is the quality of the breath?

What is the quality of the breath?

Is it open?

Is it tight?

Feel your chest and your abdomen as the breath moves in and out.

Feel where there might be areas of intensity,

Pressure,

Tightness.

Just allow them to be.

Just allow the attention to move back up into the shoulders and the neck.

How do they feel now?

More tight?

More relaxed?

Maybe both?

Allow the breath to carry them upwards,

To lift the shoulders and the neck and the head upwards as you breathe in and as you breathe out.

Now feel the head,

Back of the head,

Sides.

Temples,

The face.

What are the qualities of your thoughts?

What is the weather like in your mind?

Feel the eyes,

The eye sockets and the eyeballs,

Eyelids.

What do you see inside your closed eyes?

Feel the crown of the head,

The top of the head.

Allow the breath to lift it upwards.

Breathe upwards into the top of the head.

Allow the breath to lift you up.

As if you're almost weightless,

As if the breath could almost carry you upwards into the sky.

What is the view like from up here?

We see our thoughts and feelings,

As if from above.

Our memories,

Our thoughts and feelings.

Our life,

Our loves,

Our fears,

Our pains.

Accept them all.

Smile at them all.

Like the sun smiling down on everything.

Allow the light to penetrate even the darkest corners.

Embrace it all.

See if you can feel a deeper calm,

A deeper peace,

A deeper calm,

A deeper peace.

Knowing that everything that's there in the forest is okay.

Nothing needs to be different.

It is as it is.

It's okay to get carried away sometimes,

It's natural,

It's life.

We don't need to feel ashamed if we've gotten carried away.

It's happened before,

It'll happen again,

That's life.

Smile,

Smile down on it,

Smile at yourself.

An outward smile at everyone else who's in the same boat,

In the same situation.

We all have our fears,

And our hopes,

And our dreams,

And our pains,

And our loves,

And our losses.

Accept it.

And send out that acceptance,

That peace to everyone else who's struggling with their own their own pains,

Their own fears.

That's life.

It's okay.

Just send peace,

Send love to everyone else throughout the world,

Throughout the universe,

Throughout time.

The sense of peace,

Of acceptance.

This is you also.

The space of possibility.

This is there for all of us as well.

Just dwell there.

Just breathe.

And see what arises.

Maybe when we try to touch that peace,

It's difficult,

It's not always easy.

And that's okay too.

Just embrace whatever arises.

Soften.

And allow the breath to carry us up even higher into the sky.

Looking down on the forest,

Looking down on the world.

Looking down on the whole planet.

And rise up,

Allowing our consciousness to encompass all of it.

All the solar system,

All the planets,

The sun.

Many suns,

Many worlds.

The galaxy.

All the life,

All the consciousness that may exist in all parts of it.

All the different beings,

All the different lives.

They all have their pains and their joys,

Their loves and their losses.

Send them all peace.

We're all the same.

We all get carried away sometimes,

But we all can experience peace.

It's possible for all of us.

And now just rest.

Just come back to the body,

Come back to the breath.

Feel the whole body,

The head and the chest,

The hands and the feet.

The softness of the clothes against your skin.

The softness of the skin against your skin.

The softness of the skin against your skin.

The softness of the clothes against your skin.

Pressure as you have your weight against the seat and against the floor.

The sounds in the room around you,

The sounds of my voice.

And allow your eyes to gently open to the light and space around you.

The room.

Embrace it with your gaze,

The space that holds you and that you hold in your consciousness.

Just be at home there,

In your town,

In your world,

With your family,

With your friends,

Even if they're not near you.

Just be at peace,

Be at home.

And just try to take this sense of being at home and being at peace forward with you into the week,

Into your interactions with people,

Or your separation from people.

Just be at home.

Try not to rush the room.

Just be true to your goal.

Remember to be open and curious to what you find in your life.

And every moment.