We can use outdoor time in a meditative way to remind ourselves who we are while expanding your consciousness.
As the weather warms, our urge to go outside grows, whether we sit on a porch or seek adventure through hiking, swimming, boating, or golfing. Being outdoors lets us reconnect with our inner child and briefly leave adult responsibilities behind. Recreation re-creates us, letting us rejuvenate and renew.
Some view recreation as time away from growth and achieving goals. However, if we use outdoor time meditatively and as part of personal growth, it can help us grow our true selves and connect to cosmic energies. Here are some ways to make this happen the next time we go outside.
Heaven-Earth Connection
One important phrase from the Chun Bu Kyung, an ancient Asian spiritual text, is “chun ji in.” Literally translated, it means “heaven earth human.” This phrase reflects that humans are both spiritual and physical beings, symbolized by our feet on the ground, connected to earth, and our heads reaching up, connected to the heavens.
To help develop our sense of the heaven-earth connection, we can focus on it while in nature. For example, when we go hiking, we can try to feel the energy of the earth rising through our feet and the energy of heaven entering our heads.
We can also use our palms, which are especially sensitive to energy, to feel. As we walk, we can hold them toward the ground to sense vibrations from the earth. We can turn our palms toward things in the environment, perhaps feeling the energy of trees or a babbling brook.
If we lack time or can’t hike, we can try this seated anywhere outdoors. For example, we can sit on a bench or lawn chair in the backyard or at a park, remove our shoes, and place our bare feet on the ground. Closing our eyes, we can place our palms facing upward on our thighs and keep our backs nice and straight as we feel energy touch our palms and enter the tops of our heads. If we practice this regularly, we will feel much more relaxed and connected to nature’s energies.
Opening Our Senses
Our modern world bombards us with sensory input, causing our senses to begin to close off, protecting us from overwhelm. Otherwise, we would be overwhelmed by our technological environment. In nature, however, we can relax and let all our senses reawaken.
Often, our senses lose sensitivity and the ability to distinguish subtle sounds, textures, and smells. When we play outdoors, we can take time to take it all in. We might notice how sunlight changes throughout the day, how it interacts with objects, how colors shift as the sun sets, or how light shines through leaves onto the ground.
We can also notice the smells that come and go as we pass through nature. For example, as we walk, we might catch the sharp, fresh scent of pine needles in a grove of trees, the musty smell of damp earth beneath our feet, and the earthy, slightly sweet aroma of moss growing on cool boulders.
When we stop to rest, we can notice the textures around us. We can feel the textures of different kinds of rocks—the cool smoothness of pebbles, the slick glassy surface of stones, and the gritty roughness of boulders. As we walk, we can observe how the texture of the ground changes under our feet, shifting from soft soil to gritty sand to uneven gravel as we pass from one area to the next.
We can open our ears to all the sounds that surround us, too: the sharp chirping of sparrows, the melodious calls of robins, the soft cooing of doves in the trees, and the gentle rustling of leaves as the breeze passes through the branches.
Even our sense of taste can be engaged. At the ocean, we can taste the sea salt carried by the breeze. In the forest, we might notice a subtle, herbal flavor hanging in the air.
There is no right or wrong thing to sense. It’s just a matter of opening our senses and seeing what we discover.
Being with Each Other
Lastly, when out in nature with others, we can learn to be fully with them. When we are connected to the earth below and the sky above, something opens in us that naturally reaches out to the people beside us. We can set aside our preconceived ideas about who they are and what we expect of them. Nature frees us to be ourselves, so we can encourage each other to relax and be authentic.
Experiencing nature together can spark meaningful heart-to-heart talks about life and the universe, but simply sharing silence can be just as special. While hiking or sitting by a campfire, we can sit quietly and feel each other’s hearts. This helps us move out of our heads and into our bodies and most authentic selves.
No matter how much time we spend in nature, even if we spend very little and spend most of our days sitting at a desk, we are a part of nature. Stepping outdoors from time to time can remind us of who we are while also expanding our consciousness. Let’s go out and play.
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