Shared by Penny
I belong to a small discussion group that has recently been reflecting on our connection with nature. I had been looking forward in retirement to spending more time in nature as food for the body and soul.
However, the very phrase connecting with nature suggests it is ‘over there’, outside of us and the homes and cities most of us live in.
The ecological crisis that threatens all life on our fragile planet is encouraging a rethinking of this perspective. Scientists are increasingly able to show that the earth is a living organic web of life and of course, Indigenous cultures have always known that we are connected to the earth, to each other and all living things. Our separation from nature is an illusion.
I have been grateful for our Zen Teacher Geoff’s recent teachings on some of these subjects. Geoff has said that when we sit on our cushions and focus on our breath we are connecting with life. And I like what Norman Fischer writes in his recent collection of essays: When You Greet Me I Bow.
Simply the experience of body itself is the focus of meditation. When the awareness wanders, as it will, this is fine as long as the practitioner is fully committed to coming back to the feeling of the body sitting and the breath moving……. there is an uncanny magic in this simple practice. Returning awareness to the body and the breath over and over again………interrupts the usual flow of thinking…. awareness is returned to the flow of lived experience in the present moment of being alive……. the body becomes more than it is. It becomes identical with the awareness and there isn’t a beginning or end to it.
So, while I am grateful that my life gives me opportunities to spend time walking in wonderful forests and along beaches where earth meets the ocean and the boundless sky, I am glad to be reminded (particularly under lockdown!), that every breath I take…. wherever I am…… connects me to this precious life.