An Autumn Walk in Eastern Canada

This guided meditation allows you to relax as you imagine being on a nature trail in autumn.

Transcript

Today,

I invite you to walk with me in your imagination through a suburban trail in my community in the Ottawa Valley of eastern Canada.

It's 10 degrees Celsius with a moderate breeze,

Cloudy skies dropping light misty showers here and there,

And occasional sun shining through.

So we will need a light jacket and gloves.

Claire,

An Insight Timer Meditator from DeFur Argonne,

Has especially requested this autumn walk.

So I welcome you Claire,

And I welcome each of you who have joined us as we begin our walk together.

Stepping outdoors into this weather today is refreshing as we take our first deeply cleansing breath together.

Breathing in.

And breathing out.

And then pausing for a moment longer to repeat this.

Breathing in.

And breathing out.

And noting how your chest feels to give it a good expansion as we breathe.

Particularly breathing in this refreshing autumn air.

Our walk begins within my neighborhood en route to a suburban trail not far from here.

The trail is thickly forested and quite beautiful at this time of the year.

So we'll keep a good pace to get there sooner.

And allow ourselves a good stretch of our legs as we walk and get some needed exercise.

Get our circulation moving a little faster as it uptakes the delightful autumn air and oxygenates our entire body as we walk quickly along the sidewalk together.

The cars zoom by us in both directions and are a distraction from the beauty of this day.

So to help us keep centered we just keep our eyes focused on the distance where we can see the path because it's distinguishable by all of the trees that are located in that section.

So keep focusing on that as we continue to walk quickly for another few seconds.

And then finally we are arriving at the entrance of the trail.

And as we arrive here,

Stop for a moment and just notice how we are being greeted by a hushed stillness that seems to mark the boundary between the busy neighborhood parkway and this pathway.

This always strikes me as I enter this trail.

It also calls us to stop and notice the immediate difference between the busyness of what we've left behind us and the quiet and peace of our new surroundings.

We are alone on the path as we continue to walk again.

And this time let's just walk a lot more slowly and take in the beauty of this day,

The beauty of our new surroundings.

Pausing to stop here and there and take a deep breath again as we need to.

And just acknowledging all of this refreshing air mixed with now distinctive scent of freshly fallen leaves that are along the path.

In fact there are enough leaves on the path to tempt us to gently kick them ahead of us and from side to side as we walk.

And as we do this we are increasing their familiar scent and keeping that scent active and alive around us as we walk.

Looking down at the path and at our feet beneath us,

We see very easily how our feet are creating a connection for us,

A connection that is very grounded within us,

A connection to the earth through the soles of our feet.

As we continue to kick about the leaves and allow this activity to bring back childhood memories.

And the feeling of the attributes of being carefree,

At the same time feeling grounded in the safety and comfort of these happy memories that may be coming for you right now.

Let yourself just enjoy those thoughts and I hope that you have a smile on your face as you are doing this.

Just letting them come back to you.

Distant memories.

The pathway stretches out ahead of us,

Earth covered with soft covering of leaves and allowing us to walk comfortably and easily on this beautiful autumn day.

Just enjoying all of this we lift our eyes from the pathway now as we notice the many leaves that are still clinging to the trees.

Their golden and crimson colors,

A complete delight to our visual field.

Almost as though we are walking in the middle of a painting that we are admiring in a gallery.

But this is real.

Trees are real,

In our imagination of course,

And their colors are not made from oils or acrylics.

They are made from one of the many miracles of nature that share their consoling gift of beauty with us at this time every year.

On this particular trail the maples are the most prominent of the deciduous trees.

Along with a few oaks and smaller aspens and poplar that have their own distinguishable and compelling scent.

We stop again as we come to a group of them now,

Closed in their magnificent yellow,

Inviting us to breathe in the life force of their physical presence,

Their color and their wonderful fragrance.

Allow yourself to visualize these things now as you take a few moments to actively breathe all of this in,

The color,

The fragrance,

The freshness,

The beauty.

There's no need to rush.

Take your time and I will wait for you.

And just notice how you're feeling as you breathe the life force of autumn colors and moist air,

Slowing down enough to be able to do this in your imagination.

Feeling the peace that goes along with slowing down enough to do this in your imagination.

Now let's look up through the trees now to the sky above us and to a patch of blue where the sun is managing to shine through the trees.

And what this is doing is it's accentuating the color of our imaginary painting as though there's a light shining on the painting in the gallery as we continue to breathe in our awareness of this beauty and the energizing life force it shares with us even in our imagination.

We continue to stroll slowly,

Allowing the beauty of the autumn pathway,

The scurrying of squirrels hunting for falling acorns,

And chipmunks gathering up what the squirrels have missed,

Their mouths swelling their cheeks before disappearing down their holes to store them for winter.

Listen also for the sounds of any birds that are familiar to you.

The breeze picks up a little followed by some light mist against our faces,

Refreshing us with nature's moisturizer,

Then blows freely through our hair adding to our reflexed sense of freedom as we continue to stroll.

To breathe in and out with awareness and enjoy all of these delights.

Too soon the end of our trail is visible now,

Marked by some centuries old pine trees.

It's my custom to stop by my favorite pine tree and place my hand against it to quietly say hello or goodbye as I enter or leave the path.

Today though,

I think we'll do something different together.

First,

Look around you in your imagination and choose a pine tree that seems to be calling to you.

And then walk over to it.

Turn and lean against it for a few moments and allow it to support your body as you lean.

You may want to place the palms of your hands against its bark also and then close your eyes and simply listen to all the forest sounds that are stored away in your memory.

The rustle of leaves,

The patter of rain falling gently on the leaves,

Occasional bird calls in the quiet.

And within these memories,

Allow the universe to speak to you today with a message you are needing to receive.

And take a deep breath in again.

And slowly exhale.

And in.

And out.

Acknowledging anything that is coming to you today in these moments.

And now in your imagination,

Open your eyes again and step away from the tree and then turn around and acknowledge its presence.

Touch it and say thank you.

Thank you for supporting you as you drifted freely amongst your memories,

Opening you to receive whatever you have needed from this meditation today.

And again notice how you're feeling as you take a deeper breath.

A breath that is filled with the gift of autumn circulating in your bloodstream and in your mind,

Invigorating your soul with the life force of the universe.

And as we reach the end of our trail,

Let's extend our gratitude for not just the trail,

But for one another's company and for our experience on the trail today.

Till next time,

Let's bring our hands together in front of our chest,

Bow to the forest in gratitude and to each other and say together,

Slan Gafua,

Goodbye for now.

Reviews

Update: I’ve now listened to this meditation probably 50-100 times (and possibly much more than that) yet it’s a special treat that invigorates and calms me, each and every time.

For context, walking in nature has been a driving force in my life for decades, yet a severe chronic illness has resulted in my being housebound and primarily bedridden for the last eight months, reducing my walking to just a few steps to the bathroom each day.

This meditation has been a real saving grace. I wish you’d make more like these, but I’m eternally grateful even if just for this one! (Once winter settles in soon, I’m looking forward to your winter walking meditation as well!)

(Original review)
Beautiful and serene! I could have easily listened to an entire hour of this gorgeous poetry. You have a wonderfully calming voice and a real eye for detail. I really appreciate you sharing and I’ll be revisiting this nature walk many times over.

Thanks again!

wonderful. in my opinion, you don't have to keep saying "in your imagination", that's understood and took me out of it.

That was delightful! Thank you! Will be returning to this throughout the season 🍁

Very good I could deeply relax.

Love this 💖 I have recently returned to the UK from Vancouver Island where I was visiting my son and daughter in law. We had some beautiful autumn walks on the forest trails and this took me right back there. Thank you 🙏

Lovely- thank you!

Great walk. Thank you.

This is exactly what I needed today as I lie in bed 3 days after my recent chemotherapy and unable to get out of the house. It was so beautifully delivered - I was able to touch, smell, feel and hear so easily. I loved recalling childhood memories of autumn.

Loved this Autumn walk!

What a delightful walk into the trees of Autumn...I love hugging the tree and giving thanks for it's presence! Well done, thank you!

It was so captivating, thank you thank you, my heart is full of the earth and sky, trees and leaves, sun and rain.

That was lovely! Now, I want to come go on that walk.

Thank you for this peaceful and relaxing walk.

Really enjoyable. Shared

Thank you for the lovely walk!🍁🍂