The following is from my field notes during Natural Mindfulness Guide Training
I was mentally exhausted after work and almost considered saving the "Coming Alive Inside" practice for another evening. There was also an inner urge inside of me to be outside in nature. So I decided to head over to the Evergreen Nature Preserve with a short ¼ mile paved loop through a dense variety of trees and plants. I walked down the path, stopped, and brought my attention to a deep Spring Breath followed by a slow Fall release. I closed my eyes and raised my hands over my head. How did I know my hand was there if I couldn’t see it? I could feel a slight breeze across the back of my hand, the cool air on my skin, Amy running up to give me a high five, and now the tingling on my skin. This brought a smile to my face and I could feel a shift in my body. I turned my focus back to my body, my hand, and if I could sense the energy within me. I could feel an energy that felt like the low vibration of a singing bell a few seconds after being struck. I continued down the path and began to tune into an inner and open awareness of my body and the environment around me. The first feeling that was apparent was the sound of a passing car with a modified muffler rattling loud enough where I felt the vibrations in my chest. The trail curved and opened up to a multi layer canopy of green leaves high above our heads, splashed with the orange light of the setting sun. Walking along the path there were lazy Susan's, blackberries, fireflies hovering and flickering all around us, and cardinals hidden in the canopy singing their hearts out. I continued down the path, mindful of my step, looking for a tree to connect with that was not covered in poison ivy or Virginia creeper which is everywhere here. I finally see a Magnolia Tree near the trail where I could feel it’s leaves, smell it’s flowers, and touch it’s branches. I take a leaf between my fingers. The top of the leaf is a waxy shell with a velvety texture underside. I reach out to touch the base of the tree and bring my focus to the bark under my finger tips. I take a minute to allow a second to connect. I sense, or imagine I feel, it’s energy running up and down it’s branch as an interstate running from the very tip of its leaves all the way down it’s roots deep into the ground around me. I thank the tree for its service and bringing me so much joy as a child when I would climb a Magnolia tree’s perfect branches and sit for hours reading and imagining my escape into nature. On the way back to the car I could hear a Cardinal singing above us. I stop and begin to search the trees, my eyes searching among the branches. I finally see a beautiful female Cardinal high above us on a dead branch. On the way back, still deep in the woods, I pass through the strong smell of marijuana. My dog pauses and looks into the woods as I see movement in my peripheral vision. I could feel someone was near that I couldn’t see and felt a heightened awareness in my body. I arrived safely back at the car, thankful for a nice evening connecting with myself and nature around me.
