A tree teaching about gentleness and the power that comes from Wild Nature. Also an audio Forest bathing meditation for coping with stress.
Gentle Day
In the softness of a gentle day
Amongst leaves of deepest green
My spirit came to lay
Resting lightly in between
Though the clouds may hold sway
Not a sunbeam left to gleam
Beauty came to pray
To bless this gentle scene
And she was heard to say
This, is not a dream
It is where real life holds sway
Not in men’s things that demean
Metal monsters may rage
Machines may whine and scream
Humans may give up and lay
Upon the trees fallen beam
But in soil hidden deep away
Seeds remain unseen
Nature awaits the day
Mans’ wild self to redeem
And though I was on my way
Down the path yet to be seen
She said to me “Come what may
Wild Nature remains the queen”
Amidst green leaves, the pink
There, in the softest flower
And I could not help but think
Of Wild Nature and her power.
To listen to the audio version of this which also contains a forest bathing meditation scroll down to the AST YouTube channel video. Camellias aren’t native here in England. They are found in eastern and southern Asia, from the Himalayas east to Japan and Indonesia and there are 100–300 species, though the exact figure isn’t known.
How you approach another human being? How do you greet them? Of course, with #socialdistancing we are having to think about and change how we interact with others. It is a good time, since we are being required to think about this, to also think how we interact with others too. Do you notice the shrub at your gate, the #flower on your path, the starling on the telephone line or are they invisible?
To first interact with anything, we have to acknowledge its existence. A large part of life is in spent in negotiation with others, or, at least it used to be, A large part of modern human life is spent not negotiating, but in ignoring others. Culturally speaking a thing is only valid when we pay attention to it. Our modern culture presently has very little, if anything, to recommend it.
When we are in town we walk with an awareness of other humans, we negotiate our way in and amongst them. Taking care not to bump into them. We look at them, we notice what they wear, what colours, textures and shapes. We notice their mannerisms, how they talk, how they hold themselves and how they interact with others. In our greetings we are polite, we don’t invade their space, we listen to what they have to say. If we want something we ask politely, we don’t take without asking. (Unless of course, we happen to be a politician)
Now, imagine if we had this regard for the #wild #world around us. What #culture change would that engender? It’s a big thought … but not an impossible one.
When a tree, plant or animal holds your attention this is exactly what you are being asked to do.
Gentle Day #ForestBathing Meditation
In times of stress the reality is that gentleness is absent from our awareness. If it were present we would naturally feel much better. Things can soon become monochrome as we develop binocular vision. So, to come across something in full colour can be quite arresting. The pink and green of spring is such a lovely colour combination. So gentle yet so alive. So, today our meditation is about colour, pink and green specifically. Stress can leave us feeling shut in and isolated and awareness of anything else can diminish to such an extent that we feel entirely alone. So, for that reason we are also going to expand our awareness beyond the body. In this meditation we are sitting quietly indoors or outside in our chosen place in nature preferably by a flower. If you are housebound without any blooms then you can visualise one. Now you are prepared, you can listen to the audio blog with meditation.
Keep an eye out for the accompanying wild wisdom soul story in the next article.
Blessings Amanda Claire
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