Awake in the Wild

Tom and I are currently taking a meditation class called “Awake in the Wild” led by

Mark Coleman at Spirit Rock Meditation Center.  It is a method I had not tried before and am finding it quite joyful.  Instead of meditating on a cushion with your eyes closed and focusing on your breath, you sit outdoors with your eyes open and focus on your five senses.  You notice your natural surroundings.  What do you see?  What do you hear?  What scents to do you detect?  What textures do you experience?  What taste is in your mouth?  There is nothing to DO, only to pay attention to what you are experiencing in the moment – just like all other meditation practices.  Being outdoors is a constant teacher about impermanence.  In each moment things change … squirrels dart about, birds sing, the wind blows and stops, a flower blooms that won’t be there next week.  Not all of nature is pleasant of course – sometimes it’s too hot, too cold, sometimes the garbage truck arrives with its noisy horn.  Still, you observe yourself making these judgements – I like the birdsong, I don’t like the squawking geese.  I like the forget-me-knots, but not the dandelions.  Oh, we humans are funny.  I myself can’t wait for summer and then it’s too hot.  I can’t wait for fall and then it’s too dark.  We can sit back and notice all these likes and dislikes…. and then we come back to noticing what is right in front of us.  An ant making its way to a tiny hole,  a blade of grass that is brilliant green…a breeze with the scent of pine.

This practice can be done anywhere – in your back yard or on your tiny balcony.  In a park, by a pond.  We are having fun finding different places to do our daily outdoor meditation.  I recommend it.  There are guided meditations on line you can use, but it’s pretty easy to do on your own too!  And, now is a good season to begin!

KNOWING THE EARTH

To know the earth on a first-name bases

   You must know the meaning of river stones first.

Find a place that calls to you and there

   Lie face down in the grass until you feel

Each plant alive with the mystery of beginnings.

   Move in a circle until you discover an insect

   Crawling with knowledge in its heart.

Examine a newborn leaf and find a map of a universe

   So vast that only eagles understand.

Observe the journey of an ant and imitate its path

   Of persistence in a world of bigger things.

Borrow a cloud and drift high above the earth,

   Looking down at the smallness of your life.

The journey begins on a path made of your old mistakes.

   The journey continues when you call the earth by name.

                                    ~Nancy Woods

She Who Echoes Sea and Sky

This weekend I took a womderful workshop with Shiloh Sophia in Sonoma. The day long workshop circled around our painting a very large goddes figure and also being in a circle with women and singing with Jennifer Berezen. It was all quite wonderful and playful. I do love how we can learn to express ourself gthrough our hands and art. Mostly by lettyng go of expectations about the outcome.

To you, O Goddess

of Sea and Sky,

you with birds flying out of your head,

you with a smile

and a rose on your shoulder,

lend me your peaceful countenance,

your immersion in deep

and in light,

bring me a rose -

that I might also see

all the beauty

around and within.

LOGAM

I recently read about the Swedish concept of “lagom”.  It generally means something like just the right amount.  Not too much, not too little.  It differs from “sufficient” or “average”.  Those words imply a bit of deficiency or lack or withholding.  Whereas “lagom” means exactly right…. do I really need more than three pairs of black pants?  Does this piece of clothing fit in every way?  Can I donate three blouses to Goodwill?

The article on Facebook went on to talk about how messiness is not really a problem of clutter, it is a problem of seeing too many choices…. “My office is such a mess I don’t even know where to start.”  The problem is not the messy office, it is a problem of not starting.  The Lagom approach might be to take one surface and spend 5 minutes clearing it.  Whatever can be done in 5 minutes is enough.  Do it.  Check it off and move on.  The next day tell yourself to respond to three emails you have flagged and not acted on.  Only 3.  It is a way of training yourself to START and to start small. Allegedly this will teach your brain to limit the overwhelm and just begin.

I can see the relevance of this to spiritual practice too.  We determine that we should meditate, so we decide to meditate for 30 minutes every morning.  That lasts about a week and we give up on the project.  Lagom might tell us to meditate for 5 minutes today.  Check it off.  You did it!  Maybe you’ll do it again tomorrow or maybe not.  What you will do is START.  And start small.  I am intrigued by this idea.  It’s not so much settling for the small steps as it is a way to begin thinking differently.  I think this could apply to a writing practice ss well.  We all want to write the great American novel.  But, real writers write bad drafts every day… and eventually they find enough good words in there to have a novel, or a poem, or an essay.  I think the message is something like Nike tells us. “just do it!”