A Meditation on Awareness

2015, Ratna Ling Retreat Center - Cazadero, California

Six Month Durational Piece : Walking Trail, Ecology Talk, Guided Meditation

During a six month retreat in a Tibetan Buddhist community, I developed a walking trail and ecology talk that ended with a half hour guided mediation in a redwood grove.

The walking trail was intentionally planned to walk through a number of ecological landscapes native to the region of the Northern California costal forest.

In the oak savannah, participants learned about the holistic use of fire by indigenous peoples to maintain the ecosystems.

In the redwood groves, participants saw scars of lumber industry of the late 1800s and learned about the change this had on the ecosystem.

Participants walked into an area recently cleared out for fire mitigation, and then directly into a section of the property with deep buildup of fallen trees and underbrush.

This juxtaposition served to highlight the more recent impacts human have had on the landscape.

In a time of historic drought and wildfires, participants were urged to consider their own impact on the land.

The first step to change is to become aware.

It is hard to process the trauma on the land.

We begin by feeling the body

Starting at the crown of the head

Spilling downwards into the limbs and torso

Into the tips of fingers

Settling into the seat and soles

Filling the body

Perfectly aware of all the spaces within

Slowly moving beyond the barrier of the body

Feeling the senses expand

Out into the woods

Down into the soil

Moving beyond the membrane of self

Until what is inside

Is one with what is outside

To be in this landscape

Perfectly aware