Mindfulness in Nature

by Anne Milligan, LCSW

Have you ever taken yourself up on an invitation to take a walk in the woods, pressed your face up against the wind and stretched your body as far and wide as you possibly can, so that it seems to blow through you, and erase all that tension from too much thinking? Have you felt the freedom of a strong and swirly wind blowing your hair all to kingdom come, like Medusa double-daring the world to fence you in with seductive words and concepts? And have you then been opened up to the wonder of the moment, to be fully inspired from deep within?

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Over the past few years, the ongoing science and practice of "mindfulness" has yielded a rich cornucopia of insight which I am certain is restructuring "brain maps" for steady growth not just in my brain but in my relationships, responses, and life choices. I suppose there is a reason that so many of our guided imagery/hypnotherapy clients choose nature imagery for relaxation and inner healing. Trees, plants, the free flow of the wind, dirt, seeds, the scent of mother nature "doing her thing" – all of these awaken in us a sense of connection that cannot be broken despite a host of possible negative messages and interpretations which formed our brain circuitry in the first 26 months of life.

Even as I type these words on a clear morning in late October, the sunrise casts a glorious blanket of orange, reds, and greens over the trees in our yard. It is as if every cell and fiber of my being WAKES UP to the display and a song arises in my heart: "Morning has broken, like the first morning." And then, just then in a flash of awareness, I seem to remember from a deeper place of knowing, that I am ALIVE! I know in an instantaneous, free-flow of input from the Wellspring of all life, that every name was written into the Book of Life from the very beginning of time. Opening up that place of existential meaning in the "right brain," I see that we are all participants in the beautiful cycles of graciousness embedded within creation itself. Gratitude wells up, a great sense of joy envelopes the senses, and I know that I am alive and well. All is well. All will be well. All is well. Namaste to all creatures on earth. Peace to you.

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