Ecomeditation

This is a meditation on the lotus. It represents our natural state, clear and beautiful, resting in the present moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CwaXtY5cxU&t=199s

Wellington EcoBuddhist group

Here is our recording from our first meeting, on the Five Elements.

Here are some recordings of practices from the book Storm-Weathering, and one transcript of a practice.

1 A Place to Stand

2. I am Alive

I am a Living Part of Nature

My Wild Nature

Ocean: this isn’t the exact one in the book but a similar one.

14: Receiving Nature’s Empowerment

Elizabeth loved to go into the Australian desert with her husband, in a jeep. She meditated on rocks and other things she saw there. Her favourite was golden late afternoon sunlight, as it fell on a long view. She filled her body with warm gold light. Her child was born in golden light; he shone with a light of his own. Her mother, when she got cancer, meditated on the sunsets she saw from her kitchen window.

In Tibetan Buddhism, teachers transmit a practice to us, in a ceremony called an empowerment or initiation. They transmit the power of the practice through their head-to-foot presence. In this book, we open ourselves to Nature as our teacher. In the following practice, we receive empowerment from this kind and mighty teacher, and absorb her blessings.

When we open to the wise power of this beloved teacher, our being transforms. Nature empowers us. As you work with nature imagery, let it sink in deep.

GONG – go into the body – tune in to the voices of the body – our body is our foundation, it’s where we live – we’ll imagine a landscape – this body is where we’ll meet and feel that landscape – how it touches us – feeds us

go to a place in wild nature that you love – take yourself there with all your senses – what do you see? – what do you hear? – what do you smell?

feel your love for this landscape – let the landscape speak to you – of your inner strength – what strength within you is mirrored here? – what part of your spirit does this landscape bring forth? – what feeling does it rouse in your body space – where your mind and emotions also live – what strength does this landscape rouse in you? – this strength is your resource – your natural resource –

feel the empowerment this landscape brings you – let your body – your body space – be filled with that empowerment – the gift of Nature – let your senses help you feel this – where do you feel it – is it the wind on your face? – the salt smell of sea spray? – or what

let go into the landscape – relax, so your body becomes spacious – into that spaciousness, let the landscape rush in – fill you with its power – its strength – that’s part of your own being – as well as part of the landscape –

wild nature and its power is outside you – it’s also within you – it’s your resource, your strength – feel that filling your whole body-mind – say thank you to wild nature – for the empowerment she brings you – let yourself receive the empowerment – open your heart and say thank you –

now go to another wild place – a different one – that evokes a different strength in you – again go there with all your senses – sounds – tastes – smells – touch

what’s the strength within you this wild place brings forth? – breathe it in – through every pore of your skin – breathe in the power of this place – till you’re full of it – until the outer landscape and your inner power are the same – one moving force together – or still calm force – whatever kind of force it is – you become part of wild nature – wild nature becomes part of you

let go into the landscape – let your body relax and open out – and your heart – however you experience the inner being – let go and relax – into the space of this landscape – let its wild nature rush into the space – let it come in – rather than try to suck it in –

let yourself be empowered – this is my strength – my resource – feel your love for the landscape – your love for the power of nature – feel how your love for the power of nature empowers you – takes the empowerment deeper – stay in your senses – so you keep yourself in sensual contact with where you are – smells – sights – let that help the empowerment –

before you finish – go back to the first wild place you went to – let that fill your body for a moment – feel the special different qualities of the two places you chose – two strengths – resources of your being – go back to the second one – say thank you to Nature for this gift – GONG