This entry was posted on Could 23, 2023 by Charlotte Bell.
A sensible yoga instructor as soon as advised me: “The earth is the guru of the physique. The sky is the guru of the thoughts.” I keep in mind this quote typically after I’m climbing within the mountains the place I stay. Our surroundings is wealthy with studying alternatives. Out of doors meditation can tune us into our environment and reawaken gratitude.
Out of doors meditation offers us a direct expertise of the guru nature of earth and sky. The earth is unpredictable, and wealthy with sensory experiences. However just like the sky, consciousness can take all of it in with out dropping its readability and vastness.
We often consider meditation as synonymous with sitting. However particularly after we observe outside, we will benefit from the different meditation postures. These embody strolling, standing and mendacity down.
Methods to Apply Out of doors Meditation
Out of doors meditation is just like out of doors yoga observe in a single important manner. After we meditate outside, it’s necessary to open our senses to what’s round us. Much like the observe of “forest bathing,” out of doors meditation invitations us to drink in all that’s coming in via our senses—and it’s quite a bit if you’re outdoors. Listed below are some methods to discover out of doors meditation:
Sitting: Discover a piece of degree floor. Utilizing a meditation cushion or bench might help you preserve a sustainable posture. The Sukasana Cushion is a light-weight, compact choice for working towards outside. Zafuko cushions are additionally ideally suited for out of doors observe.
- Start by settling into your seat. You possibly can maintain your eyes open or closed. Really feel the contact factors in your physique.
- Open your sense of listening to, permitting sounds to return and go as they naturally do. Take care to not attain out for the sound. Merely permit it to return to you.
- Discover if there are sensations of the solar or a breeze in your pores and skin. Let the breezes come and go as nicely.
- Discover any smells or tastes that come up as nicely.
- Think about all these sensations coming and going like clouds within the sky, within the huge area of consciousness.
Various Poses for Meditating Outdoor
Strolling: Strolling meditation permits us to concentrate to the dynamics of motion and steadiness. After we observe strolling meditation, it’s necessary to maintain the eyes open. It’s straightforward to lose steadiness with the eyes closed, to not point out that it’s straightforward to journey over or run into an surprising impediment on our path. In strolling meditation, we decelerate our actions in order that we will tune into the extra delicate features of strolling. Right here’s a put up that explains strolling meditation intimately. Apply steps 2 via 5 above when you stroll.
Standing: I really love standing meditation for its grounding qualities. Generally strolling meditation can appear overly stimulating. And a few of us get drowsy in sitting meditation. Standing meditation strikes the right steadiness. It permits us to cease and pay attention with openness and receptivity. The power it takes to keep up a standing posture might help clear the fog of drowsiness. Apply in Tadasana (Mountain Pose), and use steps 2 via 5 above to information your consciousness.
Mendacity Down: As with out of doors yoga observe, meditating in a lying-down place takes a little bit of setup. However what’s beautiful about mendacity down on the bottom is that it permits you to tune into the power of the earth beneath you. Should you’re on grass, be at liberty to lie down instantly on the bottom. Should you’re not apprehensive about dust, you may lie down instantly onto the forest flooring or a sandy seashore. However be at liberty to put a Yoga Mat beneath you. Then permit your self to sink into the earth. Think about being utterly supported by the earth as you then open your senses to all the opposite wonders round you.
About Charlotte Bell
Charlotte Bell found yoga in 1982 and commenced instructing in 1986. Charlotte is the writer of Conscious Yoga, Conscious Life: A Information for On a regular basis Apply and Yoga for Meditators, each revealed by Rodmell Press. Her third e-book is titled Hip-Wholesome Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Information to Defending the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Ache (Shambhala Publications). She writes a month-to-month column for CATALYST Journal and serves as editor for Yoga U On-line. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte performs oboe and English horn within the Salt Lake Symphony and people sextet Crimson Rock Rondo, whose DVD gained two Emmy awards in 2010.