Receiving Natures Healing Touch
Marlow Shami
Autumn 2001.
Greetings NaturalSense Readers--
Autumn greetings. A big welcome to new subscribers of the NaturalSense e-newsletter. Thank you all for introducing NaturalSense to your friends, colleagues and family. Your NaturalSense connections have brought new faces to my workshops and inspiring emails describing personal experiences of nature's healing effects.
Speaking of nature's healing effects, I have a gift for you. Dr. M. J. Cohen, the founder of Project NatureConnect created this valuable gift and I believe anyone attracted to nature and healing will truly enjoy receiving it. Please feel free to pass the gift on. This is where you will find it. Enjoy! http://www.rockisland.com/~process/2yourgift.html
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The short activities you will receive are designed to enhance your daily sense of well being. If you are interested in participating, hit reply after typing "YES activity!" into the subject line. Only those who respond will receive the activities.
All the best to you with Earth in heart and mind--
Marlow Shami
NaturalSense
Autumn 2001 ISSUE
Volume 2 Issue 6
CONTENTS:
* Mission statement
* Essay: Receiving Nature's Healing Touch
* Activity
* Resources
Mission Statement: NaturalSense e-newsletter offers the opportunity to investigate how and why our relationship with nature can be a healing one. We are a part of Nature, not apart from Nature. Many of modern culture's problems are symptoms of our inner nature's longing for connection with our natural environment and authentic self. This newsletter provides an essay, activity and resource list to inspire your natural connections with Nature; connections that enliven your personal and our collective healing journey with earth, into wholeness.
Those who contemplate the beauty of Earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds, the ebb and flow of tides, the folded bud ready for spring. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature--the assurance that dawn comes after the night and spring after the winter. -- Rachel Carson
Essay ~ Receiving Nature's Healing Touch
By, Marlow Shami
The aftermath of September 11 has touched all of us in profound eye, mind and heart opening ways. And yes, as we open, crack, and even crumble, reality is shaken and altered for many of us. How we attend to these changes is crucial in creating a more compassionate world.
I have received essays from many thoughtful writers, artists, spiritual healers and social activists. All addressed the difficult, deep questions that are being asked now. Questions that have no quick or easy answers, but need asking in order for us to get beyond the simple notion of stomping out terrorism.
The question that comes to my mind is this: what makes a person or group act so inhumanly? I won't attempt to analyze the complex nature of this awful event. But I think we are now all addressing how this heart breaking event has affected our personal and global relationships.
I called my friend Sarah the other day. Her family was on holiday staying in a Berkshire country cottage. Her energy and enthusiasm grew as she described her activities in nature. She took her son to visit the baby goats at a small farm. They first saw the goats in the spring and it was wonderful to see how they had grown.
"Marlow, we bought a pumpkin right off a cart. No one was there to collect our money. We just threw it in a box. "
There was a sigh, she lowered her voice. "It has been so hard in the city, it feels so uncertain...so uncertain now."
I realize she's lowered her voice because she doesn't want her 17 month old to hear. I'd do the same.
Her tone brightens "Just being outside, visiting the goats, visiting our friends up here, enjoying the smells and change of autumn is really making a difference. All last week, after work, I made it down to the river to bike." I sense her breathing ease into a soft place, as I resonate with the strong attraction she has to seek outside nature connections.
The rustle of the Halloween costume she is sewing for her son fills a pause in our conversation. Her comment wrapped around me like a soft blanket on a crisp night.
"There is something so reassuring about the rhythm of nature. It always happens...it is there, always. I don't forget so often now."
We commiserate on this truth. I realize how I need to feel this often, especially now.
Sarah remembered. She reminded me, and I pass this simple wisdom on to you, even though you already know it...we forget easily. It is a modern human condition to forget connections that are wordless, mostly invisible, and carry no price tag. Our consumer culture doesn't teach us how to value and utilize our sensory connections with nature.
We can remember how to think and act the way nature does simply because we grew out of nature's evolution. We are nature. We just forget. But now we are remembering. And often it is the most uncomfortable experiences that drive our search to learn the truth of who we really are and why we are here. Our truth. Appreciating and using our many senses is key to healing on all levels.
Sarah was remembering by simply being outdoors and feeling gratitude for the tastes, smells, colors, feelings, sounds, etc., nature elicited in her. When we take time to do this daily, we start to find our thoughts and actions reflect nature's ways. Take a minute to image in detail a natural area you love to visit. If it has been left alone or treated with respect, it thrives and recycles every part of its diverse community. Nothing is wasted, everything has value. The area is quite beautiful in its own unique way. We learn to live life, like the natural place you were just imaging, when we pay attention to our senses and how nature touches us when we connect with it.
I have become more attuned to the details of my outdoor walks and the people in my life. This deepening of my relationship naturally grows with each walk or during a simple moment when I intentionally stop my busy day and pay attention to the natural world. Just yesterday a red dragonfly decided to land on my pant leg and inspect me, rolling her all eyes of a head back and forth as I quietly talked to her. And later, a Katydid allowed me to hold her. The golden afternoon sun lit her bright green body up like a holiday light. My interaction with both insects held symbolic meaning. They jogged some good memories and inspired a sense of humility, tenacity and hope.
I believe deep in the heart of every living being is a wish that all entities have the opportunity to fully live a natural life. Nature wants to touch us in profound, eye, mind and heart opening ways. And yes, as we open, crack, and even crumble, reality is shaken and altered. For many of us this is not new. For others, it is an awakening. How we attend to these changes is crucial in the process of creating a more compassionate world.
Go to the natural places outside your front door and experience more of who you really are. Nature holds your heritage in the heart of compassion. Your relationship with nature can touch and guide you in healing ways. Learning to sense nature's touch enables you to receive the healing wisdom held in the web of life. We just need to remember to listen with all our senses.
POST ESSAY ACTIVITY:
This activity is based on Dr. Cohen's pioneering work known as the Natural Systems Thinking Process. You may learn more about the Natural Systems Thinking Process by checking out the Project NatureConnect web site listed in the resource section of this newsletter.
Enhance your experience: I suggest you create a special time for your activity first thing in the morning. This way you receive the activity's benefits throughout your day.
Take a pencil and piece of paper with you. Spend 10-20 minutes experiencing this activity.
Go outdoors to an attractive area, an area you feel safe and welcomed in. Ideally find a natural area or entity within walking distance of your home. The idea is to have a smooth entry into the activity and not a lot of hassle driving or walking a great distance. Nature is everywhere: city, suburb and rural areas.
Step 1-- Go outdoors and follow your positive attraction to a natural area or entity (field, tree, rock, spot of sun, etc.) Once you find your place and have a feeling of welcome, stop, take a deep breath and exhale slowly. The feeling of welcome you experience is nature's way of communicating you have consent to do your activity. Thank the area for welcoming you. Expressing gratitude enhances all our relationships. Since non-human nature communicates with sensory attractions and not words it is especially helpful to express gratitude.
If you arrive to an area or entity and it no longer feels comfortable to be there you have just been redirected to find a different attraction. Thank the area for redirecting you and follow your attractions to another area or entity and repeat step one.
Step 2-- Focus on your body for a moment. How does it feel? Notice your feet on the ground, your arms hanging at your sides, the weight of your head.
Step 3-- Shut your eyes for about 30 seconds than open them. What is the first thing you notice? A color, shape, a sound or smell, wind, heat?
Step 4-- What are the outstanding qualities of your attraction. I noticed oak leaves falling and I appreciated how they know when to let go, each one falling to the ground in a unique way. Wet oak leaves smell good. They will become shelter, soil, food and eventually become a part of something else that grows from the soil they become.
Step 5-- Realize the qualities you have been attracted to outside in nature are qualities you have as a human being, they make up your inner nature.
Write about how the qualities you like in nature express themselves in your life. For instance, I liked the way the leaf knew when it was time to let go of the branch and gracefully float to the ground on the breeze. How does this leaf reflect me? I like the way I know when it is time to let go in order to change with my inner season and trust life to flow with me to my next experience.
Be gentle with yourself. If at first you aren't sure how the qualities relate to you, try the activity with different positive attractions.
Step 6-- Notice the difference in how you feel before and after the activity. When you feel the activity has come to a completion, thank the area for participating. Amplify your good feelings by demonstrating your gratitude in some way. Whistle a tune, pat the ground, do a little dance, hug a tree, share the activity with a friend...use your imagination.
RESOURCES/REVIEWS:
From GRIST Magazine http://www.gristmagazine.com/grist/dogood/consumption.asp?source=daily#tide
If you think you have to spend a year in a tree or a lifetime on Capitol Hill to help the environment, think again.
Thanks to a new online program called "Turn the Tide" (www.newdream.org), everyday folks can learn how
to protect the environment and -- here's the twist -- keep track of how well they do so.
The program, a project of the Center for a New American Dream, offers participants nine simple, ecologically smart
ways to change their lives, from cutting car trips to canceling junk mail.
The center's Eric Brown describes the program as a "powerful tool" for demonstrating the impact of small behavioral changes. Each member has a personal log, and the site calculates how many resources the member saves. Take action to turn the tide against consumption!
(www.newdream.org)
The Orion Society:
is an award-winning publisher, an environmental education organization, and a communications and support network for grassroots environmental and community organizations across North America. The Orion Society's work covers a broad spectrum, including teacher training and model classroom programs that have pioneered "place-based" education, reading tours that have brought leading nature writers and poets to communities in over twenty-five states.
The Orion Society 195 Main Street Great Barrington, Massachusetts 01230
phone: (888) 909-6568
http://www.oriononline.org/index2.html
Project NatureConnect:
This organization has lots to offer anyone who would like to learn about how to deepen a mutually healing relationship with Nature. PNC offers online classes, degree programs, discussion lists, and resources for personal and professional development. You can learn more by visiting the following websites:
Nature-Connect Home Page http://www.nature-connect.com/list.html,
Nature-Connect Resource Page http://www.nature-connect.com/resource.html
Project NatureConnect http://www.ecopsych.com/
Interreligious Eco-Justice Network:
The mission of this Connecticut based organization is to engage people of diverse faith traditions in prayer, dialogue, education, advocacy and celebration of the sacredness of creation. It encourages faithful living and reflects a right relationship between humankind and the environment. P.O. Box 270147, West Hartford, CT. 06127
READERS WRITE COLUMN
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Copyright © 2001, all rights reserved. Permission is granted to reproduce, copy or distribute NaturalSense™ Newsletter as long as this copyright notice and full information about contacting the author is attached. The author of this article is: Marlow D. J. Shami. Contact her by email at:
MShami@aol.com, or by phone at (203) 720-0302
Create balance and healing by deepening your relationship with Nature.
Marlow Shami
NaturalSense™
PO Box 186
Bloomfield, CT 06002
TEL: (203)720-0302
