Hello,
Thank you for choosing this Mindfulness in Nature experience.
I'm Natalie Rossiter and I'll be your guide.
Spending time in nature is a wonderful way to take care of our well-being.
We get even more benefit when we're being present and connecting fully with our environment.
In this practice,
You'll need to be outside in a green space.
This could be a garden,
Your local park,
Nature reserve,
Woodland or even the beach.
Ideally somewhere there's a variety of plants and living things.
I'll guide you in a series of activities to help you to connect to nature.
You can take as long as you like with each activity.
When I explain the activity,
You'll hear this sound.
This means you can pause the audio for as long as you like to do the activity and then press play again when you're ready for the next part.
First,
Let's set an intention to dedicate this time to ourselves and put aside any worries or responsibilities,
Just for now.
I know this isn't easy so just do your best and that will absolutely be good enough.
It can take time to become fully present so don't put any pressure on yourself to feel a certain way.
This is all about slowing down and being with what is.
Let's start by simply noticing where you are.
If you're walking,
Stop or slow right down and take a look all around you.
Look to your sides,
Up at the sky,
Down at the ground and to your feet.
Take a nice deep breath and just notice how you feel.
We're going to use our senses to help you really connect with the nature that's around you right now.
Paying attention to our senses is a great way to practice mindfulness as we can only really be present to what we can see,
Touch,
Smell,
Hear and taste in this moment.
Remember to pause the audio after the bell and press play again when you want to move on.
As you look around you,
Start to pay attention to the smaller details.
You'll need to slow down to do this.
Notice patterns,
Shades of colour,
Shapes,
Tiny insects.
Use your sense of sight to connect to your intuition.
See what you're drawn to,
Perhaps a beautiful flower or an interesting tree and go and take a closer look.
See how many things you can notice that you'd usually walk right past if you weren't paying attention.
Now we're going to pay attention to sounds.
I invite you to find a place where you'd like to either lie down,
Sit or stand for a few moments.
You might lean up against a tree,
Sit on a bench or even lie in the grass.
Pause the audio until you're ready and you've found your spot.
When you've found a place that feels good to you,
Close your eyes if you feel comfortable to do so or if you'd rather just rest your gaze a few feet in front of you,
That's fine too.
Allow the sounds of where you are to wash over you.
You may have a tendency to label or judge the sounds.
This is totally normal.
Just notice this too and see if you can return your attention to simply listening.
Letting whatever sounds that are there be there.
Can you hear the birds singing?
The wind in the trees?
Notice that sounds come and go.
Notice the quieter sounds that you might miss if you weren't paying attention.
Notice the space between the sounds.
Let's pay attention to what's going on in your body as you walk.
The simple motion of putting one foot in front of the other.
Feeling one foot make contact with the ground and then the next.
Where do you feel the breath in your body right now?
It might be in your nose,
Mouth,
Chest or belly.
As you walk just stay with these sensations of breathing.
You might play with syncing up your steps with the breath in a steady,
Pleasing motion.
Know that you are breathing in the oxygen the trees around you are providing and that they in turn are absorbing what you exhale.
Simply walk and breathe consciously for a few moments.
Continue to walk at a gentle pace and allow your attention to come back to your environment.
As you walk begin to notice the textures of natural objects around you and when you see something interesting and it's safe to do so,
Go ahead and touch it to see what it's like.
Take some time now to explore your environment in this way.
See if you can collect different experiences of texture and temperature.
You might feel the bark of a variety of trees,
Different leaves perhaps or the earth beneath you.
When you're doing this notice any thoughts that come up.
Do you feel self-conscious?
Is there resistance?
Just observe these as thoughts and sensations as part of your experience.
Try to be curious about them.
See what actually happens rather than what your brain predicts or judges when you reach out and touch nature.
The last sense that we're going to connect with today is now.
Continuing your gentle walk allow the air to simply enter your body through your nose and see what sense you can pick up as you go along.
It's normal for a thought stream to come in here and start judging things.
Again just observe this and return to the neutral action of smelling the air as you walk.
Some smells you'll decide are pleasant.
Flowers,
Cut grass,
Fresh air and others perhaps less so.
Sometimes you won't be able to smell very much at all.
Allow it all to be part of your experience.
Notice how scents come and go on the breeze or as you move around.
Feel free to veer off the path and follow your nose to investigate the scent more closely.
When you come across something that smells really good notice how you feel in your body.
What feelings arise and perhaps what memories does it evoke?
Enjoy this beautiful beautiful scent now in this moment.
Now let's take a moment to layer up all our senses.
Right here in this moment can you be aware of what you can see,
Hear,
Touch and smell.
Notice if you're drawn to one sense more than the others.
Reflecting on your experience of your walk today was there a part that you enjoyed the most?
How did this nature connection practice make you feel?
Notice if you feel any different now to when you started.
Remember there's no right or wrong answer to that.
You're simply being curious about what this has been like for you today.
I hope you found this time valuable and that it's helped you to connect to nature in an enjoyable way.
Like anything that's good for our well-being nature connection and mindfulness are practices.
They benefit us if we do them regularly so use this audio as many times as you like.
Thank you.
