A Mindful Walk In A Monastery Garden

This meditation is inspired by a short stay for quiet time and reflection in a Benedictine Monastery in the south of Ireland. The visit allowed an opportunity for unguided, mindful nature walks and strolls in the gardens and pathways surrounding the monastery. Here is a description of one of the walks. Close your eyes and let your imagination bring you there. Background music: Good Morning Nature by Narek Mirzaei of Music of Wisdom. Photo: wooden-bridge-in-the-forest-at-sunlight-2025-01-15-13-37-34-utc.jpg Envato Elements from whom some background sound effects also

Transcript

Dear friends,

Fran and I have just returned from a couple of days in a Benedictine monastery in the south of Ireland.

We weren't there on a guided retreat.

It was simply an opportunity to spend some time in the monastery in quiet reflection.

Of course there was the beautiful singing of the monks,

Morning and evening prayer,

Mass,

And at the end of the day,

The wonderful complain.

Complain is like a spiritual goodnight.

It's quiet and gentle.

It speaks of God's sheltering presence and of letting go.

It asks for protection through the night as we rest in peace.

And there was time for unguided nature walks and strolls in the gardens and pathways surrounding the monastery.

I would like in this meditation to share with you some of the thoughts that occurred to me in the course of one of those walks.

But let us begin by coming to a place of rest.

You might like to close your eyes to help you relax or you might simply prefer to direct your gaze downward to help avoid distraction.

The important thing is to take an opportunity to bring yourself to a place of stillness and allow yourself to just be.

One or two deep breaths in might be helpful and as you breathe out with a big sigh let go of any concerns or worries.

Be happy knowing that you have allocated these few minutes to yourself.

You could call it an appointment with yourself,

Something you owe yourself and which you should take every day.

So now just a one minute pause to allow you to relax into a feeling of presence in the moment.

Welcome back.

So imagine yourself heading out the monastery door.

Just as you leave the car park there is an open gate to the right.

This leads you down a stony path trees to the right and left of you as the path meanders along.

The path is leading slightly downhill.

Through the trees you notice a stream to your right and you wonder if at some point the track will meet the stream.

All around you are the sights,

Sounds and smells of nature.

The chirping of birds,

The humming of bees the scents coming from bushes and trees all coming to life in the warmth of spring.

After a time the path reaches a narrow point in the river.

A crossing appears possible by means of a narrow wooden structure.

You could hardly call it a bridge.

It's less than half a metre across.

The river is very narrow at this point and very shallow so any reluctance to attempt the crossing is easily overcome.

Once across the river a grassy pathway leads you along the river now on your left,

Widening as it flows along.

You are now in more open ground and the birdsong is now coming from way in the distance.

After a little while you reach a real bridge and crossing the bridge you come back into the more wooded area back into the concert hall of Bordestone.

A track on your right leads to a gate.

Inside and on the left of the gate there's an old metal seat.

This provides a welcome opportunity for you to sit for a deserved rest.

You realise you have been walking for quite a while.

Looking around you feel that this place is sheer heaven a real Garden of Eden.

On your left there's a clump of vegetation and within the vegetation a number of wildflowers in bloom.

You notice a bee arriving on the scene.

The little creature is paying no attention to you.

The bee is too busy moving from flower to flower and meticulously collecting nectar.

Stopping here and there,

Taking what one flower has to offer buzzing around a little and then repeating the task going to another flower,

Then another and another.

It's fascinating to watch the little creature going about its business in such a systematic way.

Sitting in that place a poem came into my mind The Summer Day by the wonderful and frequently quoted Mary Oliver.

The poem is a powerful reflection on presence and wonder Mary tells us about walking through a field on a summer afternoon.

We imagine the sun warm as she walks a soft breeze,

A little like the spring weather I'm experiencing in the monastery garden just now.

In Mary's case the grass is high and somewhere in that grass a grasshopper appears Most of us would pass by without noticing we are too busy thinking about what happens next our endless to-do list our regrets about the past,

Our worries about tomorrow but not the nature loving Mary Oliver she kneels,

She watches she pays attention and it teaches you and I to pay attention as well.

In her poem Mary Oliver is doing something incredibly simple yet so important.

She's not issuing directions she's practising presence she's showing us what it means to be truly alive in the moment by the simple act of paying attention she is demonstrating a way of being in the world a way of being connected to the world slowing down as we know we should paying attention as we rarely do Mary is noticing the beauty that is present in the ordinary letting the small things,

In Mary's case the grasshopper in my case the busy bee,

Be seen and noticed as sacred She asks,

Who made the grasshopper?

This isn't just a question about nature and the underlying basis of the wonderful world we inhabit a question which we all ask even though we know the answer is elusive Mary's question is about about simple wonder about the nature of this incredible existence and she admits,

I don't know exactly what a prayer is,

But she tells us that she knows how to pay attention and we see how important it is to stop,

To notice and to pay attention This mindful stopping expands our idea of prayer beyond the routine repetition of words important as those previously thought out formulae may be Mary is suggesting,

Maybe prayer isn't a matter of words maybe prayer is just being here and giving thanks for the fact that we are here just looking,

Really looking just listening,

Really listening really appreciating this glorious world and the amazing fact of our own existence and then of course two lines that I really love extraordinary lines that stop us all in our tracks and they cause us to ponder the words,

Tell me what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life This is not a challenge it's not an instruction to fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run as we read in the Rudyard Kipling poem,

If no,

These lines seem to me to be more in the nature of an invitation to really live to be awake and alive in our surroundings to see life for what it really is a daily renewed gift which we have done nothing to earn It's an invitation to notice around us a grasshopper in the case of Mary Oliver,

The busy bee in my case to see ourselves and all we have managed to create not only ourselves but the wonderful buildings,

The technology that we have,

To see all this as miraculous As I sat paying attention to that busy bee I took out my phone and I listened to Mary Oliver reciting The Summer Day hearing that poem read in her own voice in that setting,

I gave thanks for all that is and I don't think I will ever forget that morning of presence in the monastery garden Mary Oliver reminds us that doing nothing,

Simply being,

Taking time to just notice is not wasting the time of our lives as has been said,

We are human beings not human doings simply being present and mindfully noticing opens our minds to the sacred and the wonderful Our world urges us,

Encourages us and often demands us to do more to achieve more,

To be more productive Mary Oliver and so many good people like her offer us the gateway to being instead of doing They offer us a more gentle way and in a way a more radical alternative Stop,

Be still notice,

Be astonished at the gift Here we are,

You and I enjoying this one wild and precious life Namaste

Reviews

A beautiful meditation taking me beyond a walk in a monastery garden and into an appreciation of my own garden where miracles happen there daily. As always, Tony’s words bring me peace and into the present. He is a most gifted teacher!

So deeply peaceful and yet invokes such profound gratitude and awe. You convey that blessed and sacred moment perfectly and allow us to feel its beauty through you. What a gift to us all. Thank you so much. 🙏💛💐 xx

A wonderful talk around Mary Oliver’s poem and a lovely experience. Thank you.
While I’m generally surrounded by concrete in Brooklyn, I do find so much joy in the trees and flowers and birds that you can see.

This was really lovely and I wish I could share it with others, but I don’t think I can because it’s a “plus” track. Anyway, I had the pleasure of listening to it and I thank you for sharing your reflections. Always good to listen to you, Tony!
By the way, what was the name and location of the monastery?

Thank you Tony, I enjoyed walking in the monastery gardens with you, beautiful. Loved the reflections, love Mary Oliver's poetry. Let's enjoy just being. Blessings to you. 🙏

I hope you had a restorative and peaceful retreat…something we could all use now. Thank you for sharing your experience in the garden…it brought peace and joy as I begin a new day! Being is nature is truly a miraculous gift! 🙏🏻

What a beautiful meditation Tony! I felt right there with you. So calming and peaceful. What an experience for you and Fran. Thank you for taking us along it was wonderful. 💕🙏🏻

I felt like I was in the garden with you. Thank you for your teachings. What a beautiful respite to start my day.

Lovely, Tony! So glad you had - became? - this beautiful experience and also shared it with us. Thank you! With metta, Jane 🌞 🐝 🌺

This walk through the monastary's garden was the perfect way to start our day. Thank you! 💙

Thank you for sharing your experience with us! Thoroughly was on that walk with you! Lovo it! I thought of the children as they notice and are curious about every little thing on their outings! Namaste 🙏🙏🙏

This meditation brought me the tranquillity of the monastery's surroundings. Birdsong mingled with the sounds I could hear from my bed. A pure moment of happiness. I so appreciate your gentle wisdom Tony ✨🙏

Always a pleasure to listen to your lovely voice and words of quiet wisdom 🙏

Tony, thank you for sharing your monastery retreat with us. Your descriptions made it seem like we were there with you. And I always love quotes from Mary Oliver.

Oh Tony that was so lovely ! Thank you and I will listen to A Summer Day ! It was a beautiful beginning to this Friday in Salt Lake City !

How wonderful you and Fran got to experience a little step back from the world. And you’re so right, we all deserve to just be for a few moments each day. Thanks for sharing 🙏🏻

Dear Tony, this meditation is so so beautiful. I was in the monastery garden with you both. What a lovely experience for you, Fran and me too! Thank you.
🙏💕🌟🕊

Just lovely, Tony, thanks so much. Hope you’re well 🙏🏼

👏👏👏 just beautiful, Tony. Thank you for sharing your moment at the monastery with us.

It felt like I was therehearing the sounds,cool air... thank you very much.