Feel the Nature
105th Edition
Happy Spiritual Monday!
Hello there in web land! It’s been a big week spent out in the bush and this one was full of adventures as always.
There is so much to debrief, I will simply disseminate some token pieces here.
Dirt Time
Awhile back I shared on the practice of a 30 day dirt time challenge. Dirt time, in this reference, equates to time spent working with, practicing, honing a nature or bush survival tool and process. This past week and weekend was the final gathering of a small group of us who are going through a process of deepening our relationship to nature, survival and self.
We have been spending time together since October, and each time we gather, we camp out on a beautiful piece of land in the hills with nobody and nothing else around to bother us. When I take a moment to consider it, to me this is quite a luxurious endeavour. What we refer to it as, though, is dirt time.
It goes without saying that there are a wide range of preferences to spending time away from home for people. Some like comforts, security, softness, some like adventure, ruggedness and danger, some like quiet, peace and stillness. All are valid, but my preference is definitely quiet, adventure, freedom and the outdoors.
These weeks of dirt time satisfy this desire for me and I feel like this one past was a beautiful episode of deep learning and challenge.
Dirt time is an opportunity to hone our craft, to explore our relationships with self and other, with tools and practices and with life and survival as a general sense. While there is dirt involved, the act of deliberate practice is the core of the time spent, so theoretically it could occur anywhere.
In this recent episode we all had the opportunity to teach some of the skills which we have been practicing for some time now, but which we are not quite masters of yet. Sharing with others is such a gift, and being challenged in the process adds a bonus flavour to the mix.
From knife skills and fire to weaving, wild awareness and refined walking techniques, night stalks without the use of our eyes we did some stuff. We were challenged. We were dirty. We were humbled and we came into stillness.
Stillness and Power
A portion of this week was to spend time in a particular form of meditation which brought us deeper into contact with the bush and the land around us so that we could listen, feel, tune in. The mundane, when our vision is refined, can become extraordinary to any of us, and this is one of the major aims of nature connection and dirt time.
We discussed the idea of power, the concept of it, the definition of it. Every person had a different view, but we all agreed that it was not the way much of humanity deems - or seeks - power. Not power over another, or against another force, but power within.
Power and stillness can beget one another and to truly be still, we must develop power within us. Power to calm our breath, our mind, our heart, power to drop into the now and shed any distractions. This will refine our vision - not just with the eyes but beyond - and allow us to see beyond the ordinary world.
Many people have tried meditation and many more have kept at it, developing a regular practice which they may claim allows them to function in society. This is one avenue to claim power of self for self and it is widely regarded as the best way.
We practiced a form of meditation which required us to find our little plot of dirt or bush, and sit to observe our surroundings and our inner happenings, but more importantly the link of the two.
When this practice becomes habit it can help to develop our ability to move in and through nature - the land, the sea the life! We practiced this by walking blindfolded through the bush in bare feet. We applied this by braving the incessant armada of mosquitos intent on draining us dry. We applied this technique in order to claim our birthright, some primal power, to then share our passions. In the form of teaching.
While this can sound vague and ethereal. It is simply due to the fact that I don’t with to give too much away in the case that you get the opportunity to engage in some of these practices, so that you get the initial aha feeling.
All of us finished the week feeling more powerful, more present, more us. We all left to return to our homes, families, friends - the “familiar world”.
But what if this, the bush, was our familiar world? This is a long process, but one I am embarking on for the sake that I find it to be incredibly nourishing, I feel healthier, I am at peace, and I simply love learning and growing into deeper entwinement with the land.
In the not so distant future, we are going to be shifting our lives around to experience more of this daily, but stay tuned for the updates on this endeavour.
Simply Put
Simple does not necessarily mean easy. Complex does not necessarily mean hard. As much as we can get these terms interlinked mistakenly, we can adopt theories of unfamiliar places that may be incorrectly applied.
We refer to nature as if it is some grand far away land, when in reality we are it - an intricate part of the tapestry of life. If we reframe nature to be an aspect of us, we can instantly gain some insights into how and who we are.
Terms get thrown around in self development circles of the light, shadow work, integration… These can get convoluted, but being outdoors can make tangible these concepts.
In one of my meditations, I sat on a log for an hour. Upon approaching, I looked under the log - a hollow half dome shaped plank - and thought it might make a great shelter for a snake in the midday sun. I had a little peak underneath it, but no visitors seen.
Upon sitting, I noticed I always face north - the sun - when meditating, so I randomly chose to turn south - a 180° shift while staying on the log. About 20 seconds after settling in - which included a little bump on the log, moving it into the air and back - I heard someone or something walking through the scrub and brush near me. I looked, but didn’t see anyone. After only a couple seconds, the walking turned into a sliding sound, and I glanced down to see the tail of a snake slithering away, having come out from under my log.
This could be seen as shadow work, observing a part of myself which I hadn’t wanted to look at and buried under a proverbial log. The snake slithering out could represent the unexpressed attitude or emotion manifesting as a serpent - a thing which we often refer to with fear.
I was calm, accepting, curious.
You see, there are many myths of snakes - and many other beasts for that matter - which invoke fear in us. But just like observing our inner shadows, they do not have to be scary, in the same way that simple doesn’t have to be easy. A snake is not out to harm us, it simply exists. Same with our inner shadows and lights. We simply are.
Make peace with your inner nature, and you will find stillness. Find stillness and you will source power. Hone this power and you will feel the wild nature coursing though you and around you.
Thanks for reading, I am still high from the experience, and will debrief more soon.
And so it is, with love.
PS. I have taken the last couple weeks off, so I am going to add an extra edition this week… Stay tuned!
Feel the Nature