meditation

Meditating outdoors? Does it really matter where you meditate? I think it can. For some of us
being outside makes for not just a different meditation experience
but a more profound one. There are some good reasons for this.

perhaps meditating in a quiet room with no sounds and nothing to distract is the easiest way
especially for beginners. It's hard enough to quiet your mind without constant input from your surroundings. On the other hand
life is constant input
so if you want the peacefulness that comes from meditation to enter your life beyond your practice
perhaps learning to meditate despite surrounding sounds and movement is just what you need.

Meditating Outdoors

There's a high bank on a river where I lived years ago. It was a five-minute walk from the house. There's a level grassy spot at the top
looking down on the water fifty feet below. That is where I would go to sit. Often there was a breeze I could feel on my skin and hear in the surrounding trees. I also heard the water as it strained through some dead trees near the river bank. I smelled the dirt around me
and the odor of fish coming up from the water.

Meditating there wasn't only pleasurable because of the environment
but also different from meditating in the silence of my home. There was more of a sense of experiencing the world without thought
without over-analyzing. Why? Perhaps simply because there was more to experience. There were the sounds
which included birds
and the occasional splashing of some animal in the river. There were things to smell and the feel of the grass.

I usually close my eyes when I meditate
because I am a very visually-oriented person
and find it easier to meditate this way. When I finished my meditation by the river
I would open my eyes
of course
but what I saw was always different from what was there when I started. Of course it was the same
but I was seeing it differently
as if for the first time. While difficult to explain
this is easy to recognize if you have had the experience.

It's wonderful to look around as if seeing for the first time. You are seeing without preconception. I might see a deer on the opposite bank of the river
but the thought "deer" wouldn't cross my mind
meaning it wouldn't cloud my vision with any ideas about what a deer is or should be. The sounds and sensations were also "new." I think this more direct experience of life is a profound demonstration of how much we normally "live" through our thoughts
somewhat detached from reality.

If you haven't already tried it
why not get outside for your next meditation? Sit on a hill or in front of a garden
or try standing in front of a lake or pond when you meditate. The view will be wonderful when you open your eyes. There is nothing quite like meditating outdoors.