I had the pleasure of being in the mountains of Utah for a week this month. I noted a pleasant state of awe in response to being in the presence of snow-covered mountains. One day we also visited the Great Salt Lake. I was struck by the beauty and majesty of the mountains and the lake. Sometimes in my personal mindfulness practice, I practice mountain meditation or lake meditation. I find them both useful metaphors for when I need to reconnect to my own internal resources of stability, physically and/or cognitively.
We benefit from practicing mindfulness in our everyday lives, not just as a formal practice but informally as we engage in activities, with others, in work and pleasure. In Utah, I was reminded that nature can be a great teacher of what supports us, what contributes to our well-being and what assists in managing stress or reducing the impact of stress. I wasn’t sitting in formal meditation practice, rather I was engaging in my everyday life and awake to what was arising for me. This ongoing practice of seamless awareness allowed me to easily connect with the qualities mountains can bring to us: strength, stability, and steadfastness in the body. As we visited the Great Salt Lake, in the same way, I was reminded of the benefits of learning from the lake. The lake teaches us about skillful ways of responding to the ever-changing landscape of our thoughts and feelings. For me the experience at the Great Salt Lake evoked reminders of my own reservoir of stillness and ability to go with the flow when called for. There are times when my mind is a flurry of emotions and thoughts. Lakes and meditation remind me that I can be aware of and present with the flurry and drop below the surface to access calm while holding all that is present. Using mindful awareness in our everyday lives and engaging with nature allows us to tap into those innate human qualities of wholeness, heartfulness, calm, clarity, and ability to adjust and thrive in the sea of change.
The National Institutes of Health in the US and the Mental Health Foundation in the UK both show research that supports how Nature Based Interventions in Natural Outdoor Environments has a positive impact on our overall health and well-being. Mindfulness Based Interventions research has produced results that indicate how Mindfulness Meditation has a positive impact on our overall health and well-being. I’m encouraging you to explore your community and find open, green, and blue spaces to tap into your own internal resources. Try practicing mindfulness in nature, either formal or informal. We aren’t in an outdoor space at Monthly Mindfulness at EUCC, but we would be glad to have you join us on Sunday, March 3rd; see https://www.mindfulnessandmotion.com/events for more information.
Perhaps you will try the Mountain Meditation and Lake Meditation in the links below.
Wishing you well,
Karen
Mountain Meditation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW_-d84Igxw
Lake Meditation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsa30_myJL0