Good morning.
This practice is meant to help you connect with nature and find appreciation with your natural environment around you.
So go ahead and find a place in nature where you can either sit comfortably or take a walk.
And if you're in a city then just go to wherever you can experience the most nature or get the furthest away from cars and people.
And if you are able to,
If it's safe,
Go ahead and take off your shoes.
I highly recommend if you're able to take off your shoes as you walk mindfully or sit directly in the grass.
This practice is called earthing or grounding and there's emerging evidence and research to show that it is extremely beneficial for the body when we come into direct contact with the huge supply of electrons from the Earth's surface.
This can have many benefits from better sleep to reduced pain.
And just start off by taking a few slow deep breaths.
If you're walking then go ahead and just make sure that you're very present with every single step you take.
Just moving very slowly and feeling the weight of your foot as it touches the earth,
Walking as mindfully as possible.
And we start by just beginning to notice the colors and shapes around us,
Just taking in our general environment,
Observing the trees and flowers,
The grass and the sky,
The clouds,
The Sun,
If there are any animals or insects nearby.
Just start to notice the qualities,
Shapes and colors of what you see.
And then start to notice what you feel.
Do you feel a soft breeze,
Maybe a cool chill of air or the warmth of the Sun kissing your skin?
How does this nature make you feel emotionally?
Do you feel your feet on the earth?
What is the texture of the earth?
Then start to take your awareness to what you hear,
Whether it's birds,
Wind,
Flowing water,
Just allow any talking or cars or anything that is not necessarily a part of the natural environment to just kind of float away into the background.
And try to focus in on one of these natural sounds.
Go more deeply into the sound,
Whether it be the quality of the birdsong or the lightness or fullness of the flowing water.
Maybe you imagine a shape or texture to go along with it.
And maybe you simply hear silence.
And if you're walking,
Allow yourself to touch and feel the plants and trees around you if you like.
Feel free to go up to any animals or insects or beautiful flowers that you see and notice the details of that natural object.
Appreciate it and just watch it.
Watch the clouds go by.
Notice the quality and the colors of the sky.
Is it blue or is it gray?
Are the clouds filling the sky,
Are they thick and rotund or are they wispy and soft?
Is the sun shining bright or is she hiding away?
Notice the depth of the colors of green in your environment,
In the plants and in the trees.
And just notice the tendency of the mind to want to label everything and evaluate everything.
And instead just try to simply stay with the experience of the colors,
The shapes,
Sounds,
Movement,
The feel,
As if you have never experienced it before,
As if this is your first time ever witnessing the natural world.
And just let this serve as a reminder of the fact that you are part of this living,
Breathing ecosystem.
You were born from the stars and you will return to dust at the end of your life.
And let the natural environment around you serve of the nature ever present within you,
The connectedness of its all,
The fact that you are a part of this bigger web,
That we are one with nature,
We are nature.
And then if you don't have the natural environment anywhere nearby you,
You can always find it within.
And stay with this sense throughout the rest of your day.
Take it with you and allow yourself to feel ever connected to the nature in our environment,
In the nature within ourselves.
Have a wonderful day.
