Nature is my Meditation
Meditation, so many techniques, so many linages, so many teachings… A mind practice and a spiritual practice, but for me, when I sit on a cushion encapsulated in four walls, I feel like there is something missing.
I challenge this notion of focusing the mind. You see, I don’t think the mind is to blame here. When I see the destruction to our living planet, what I see beneath the surface is someone who is disconnected to nature herself. In a society that puts themselves at the centre of the universe… do you think going within is the solution?
For me, when I spend time in nature, something changes within me… this change comes through relationship to nature, to the plants, the bees, the kangaroos. The more time I spend in nature, the more I become nature. The animals become less afraid of me, they feel something different in me. They have taught me that we are all family. The place that I call home, is not the house I live in, it is the living, breathing life around me. My nature meditation has taught me about the interconnectedness of all things… and from this, I have come to understand my responsibility to it… to land, to people, to Earth.
Is it time now, for us to turn to the oldest living culture in the world? Has this whole self-centred, modern day, spiritual journey run its course yet? No, really, it is a question…
Those elders, that live and breathe the culture of this land, they have been waiting a long time for humanity to return home… not to self… to nature, to the whole, to the lores of nature. Ever wondered how they meditate?
So these days, I don’t spend much time “on the cushion”, but I do spend a lot of time in nature. Nature is my teacher now, I am learning how to be an honest, humble human. My health is always improving. My emotions settle, but my feeling amplifies as my senses come alive. My nervous system comes back to its natural rhythm, my sleep is deep and my heart is calm, my mind is calm, my body is calm. When I have had a hard day, this whole returning to my nature takes a while… but like any good practice, the more you do it, the more NATURAL it becomes.
Is it time now, for humanity to turn to nature… or maybe… return to nature?
*If you are interested in embarking on a journey of nature connection with First Nations people, you can find out more here:
karla@youngshamanfoundation.com
