Welcome to another resilience meditation in,
You guessed it,
Pandemic times.
So,
However many weeks into this now,
Eight perhaps?
Nine?
Maybe?
Anyhow,
I decided it was time to keep to my promise of taking you all on a walk in the woods.
Because the woods are a wonderful place to feel grounded.
Nature is a wonderful place to meditate.
And so,
In a way we're going to meditate,
We're going to all meditate in the woods today.
Japanese culture has a term or an activity called forest bathing.
It's really good for the senses.
It's really good for the mind and the body to be together in harmony with the world around you.
And so,
Forest bathing kind of gets us into that place because trees have a lot to teach us about life and resilience.
Trees can be steadfast and we can do even a tree pose,
If anyone is a yoga person.
But trees also bend and sometimes break,
But they bend and sway so that they can remain steadfast despite adversity.
And they persist on,
Which is what we all must do now in week nine of the pandemic,
We persist.
That's where we find our resilience and we nurture ourselves.
And being out for a walk in the woods is a wonderful way to nurture oneself.
I have benefited a great deal.
I'm here with my dog.
Maybe she'll come into the shop,
Maybe not.
She's two.
So today's meditation will be a chance to open our five senses and ground ourselves in our experience.
So go ahead and find a comfortable position for yourself.
One where you can sit or lie down.
Or stand.
Or walk.
Just doing a few gentle stretches to kind of bring myself into my body,
Into this moment.
Just letting yourself arrive in this moment.
Just here,
Giving yourself over to about an eight minute meditation.
Eight to ten.
So good for the soul to just have some self-care,
Some arriving home in this moment through the sounds that are happening in this moment.
Just breathing and being aware of sounds.
I'm hearing the hum of the highway.
Seems a little busier than it's been.
Hearing the birds singing.
What are you hearing?
Not needing to do anything about the sounds,
Just allowing the sounds to be anchors for your present moment awareness.
And now inviting yourself to experience the sense of touch through the feeling of your body making contact with the chair,
The floor,
The ground.
The log I'm sitting on.
Notice how whatever you're sitting or lying on is supporting you,
Holding you up.
Maybe do a few gentle neck rolls,
Whatever feels comfortable for you,
Just inviting yourself to come home into your body through sense of touch.
You might be breathing and just feeling the touch of the breath as it enters your nostrils.
On the exhale,
Inviting the exhale to be a place of letting go.
We can do this every day in our lives.
Just use the breath as a way of letting go.
Letting go of stress in mind,
Letting the mind come home into the moment,
Leaving the worrying thoughts for just a few minutes.
Letting your body exhale and breathe out tension,
Breathing out tension from your forehead.
Allowing the jaw to soften.
This is about self-awareness too.
Meditation allows us to know ourselves and know what we need,
Whether we need to release the stress in our shoulders because we can carry a lot of tension there.
Especially sitting at screens,
Sitting at screens.
I'm brought back into sound through the sound of my dog walking in the leaves beside me.
You might try opening your eyes and if you've had them closed,
Just notice something you see in your visual field.
Maybe letting your eyes be open just to see the trees in the shot behind me.
Looking at blue or green scapes is very good for the human body,
Mind,
Soul.
Research shows it helps our well-being,
Our resilience.
Maybe noticing your sense of smell,
Whether or not there's anything pungent or particularly aromatic to smell in this moment.
Even feeling the sensations of the breath through your nostrils.
Breath is always a place to come home.
It's always here,
Your present moment companion.
You can rest your awareness in the waves of the breath flowing in and out from your nostrils and mouth.
Finally,
Sense of taste.
Even just allowing your awareness to come into your mouth and experience the breath flowing through the mouth.
Or the feeling of the tongue inside and maybe touching the roof of your mouth or your teeth.
Inviting a softening even in the root of the tongue,
Allowing just a little letting go.
Inviting ourselves to come back into sounds,
To arrive right here no matter where your mind has been.
The mind will scoot away every moment if it can.
It's just the nature of the mind to be busy.
We're just practicing another way of bringing the mind into attention with the world around us,
With our bodies very healthy,
Physically great for the immune system.
So in a way an essential exercise during this time whether it be through yoga or meditation or walks in the woods.
Let yourself breathe,
Let yourself be at home in your body.
Thanks for joining me for today's resilience meditation in the woods.
And hopefully we'll try this again sometime.
Let me know what you think.
Always happy to hear from you.
So taking in one more body centered breath.
Breathing in and breathing out.
One more letting go.
Goodbye.
See you next week.
