Photos from the Unwind in Nature Facilitated Walk on 06.05.2013.
Facilitated Walk 06.05.2013
contemplation
Peonies Obsession 2013 !
Every year, I seem to get completely seduced by peonies and their scent. Getting lost in their many layers of petals, with a complexity of the folds that leaves me bewildered, is an annual ritual. I often will meditate on the scent as though that alone is enough to make me journey into another world. So far, my artistic response this year has been with my camera. Perhaps I will do some works on paper also, picking up on the fingerprint-based series Scent of Peonies from a couple of years ago.
Facilitated Walk 05.29.2013
Photos from the Unwind in Nature Facilitated Walk on 05.29.2013.
Starting with some open blue sky above us, we ended with spellbinding light as the sun began to set off to the West.
Dramatic Landscape Transformation in Hadley 05.15.2013
A nine image photo set showing the transformation of the landscape over a one hour period while on a facilitated walk in Hadley May 15, 2013, 5:30–6:45PM.
Intentional Seeing–Openning the Eye-Mind Connection
The act of consciously using your visual focus for increasing awareness in nature is one of my core practices. There is great power in training the mind to both choose what one looks at, and how to use what one seees. For example if I choose to keep my focus on the sky without breaking my attention I have a experience that is informed by the continuous unbroken and constant fluidity of the clouds or perhps the vast unbroken field of blue if a cloudless day. I can then choose how I want to relate to this visual experience. If the sky is a very complex cloudscape I might choose to look at the complexity in a very detailed fashion, focusing on the dynamic variations found within the cloud field. Following the edge of one cloud and how it flows seemlessly into what feels like another cloud, slowly getting lost in the layerd billowing flow. This type of looking often leads to a sense of awe and wonder at the profound creativilty expressed in the formation of clouds.
If the sky was an cloudless blue sky I might choose to relax my attention and let my eye-mind rest in the open empty field. The later encourages very soft open mind that is excelllent for releasing the hyper focus tension filled mind many of us operate out of for many hours a day.
Both methods can lead to very profound mind state and are supportive of self-discovery and opening the creative channels.
Learning to control one’s visual attention is one way to train the mind as a type of meditation. Similar to focusing on the breath, you can always return to focusing the mind on a particular visual point of attention.
Sky Mirroring in Hadley 12.13.2012
Midday along the Connecticut River.
The deep translucent blue of the sky reflected in the river offered a great opportunity to meditate and experience clear light throughout my body. Also meditated on the way the sky above is also the water below. Confounding the natural logic of earth below and sky above is always a mental treat.
Dropping Deep in the Hadley Fog 12.10.2012
Discovered that the rain held off much of the day and revealed some wonderful surprises in the luminescent fog, from colors to the quality of light over the farm fields.
The brilliance of the yellow-brown grasses let me know that this was a special day for getting outside.
I was stunned by the mirror-like calm of the water. Reminding me of the mirror-like nature of my soul to reflect beauty.
Letting my energy yield into the earth, the depth of connection showed no sign of an end, only the invitation to listen to the deep vibration as primal communion.
The land dropped away as I felt an opening into the embodied light of the foggy sky.
Facilitated Walks
Promoting feelings of joy, ecstasy, and greater connection with nature, the core of my work uses guided or facilitated walks. Similar to the instructions found in a yoga or meditation class, I gently guide your attention to particular aspects of the landscape, especially the sky, helping you keep a focused awareness with an emphasis on maintaining unbroken concentration. My guidance assists you to stay present and develop ever greater capacities of concentration, so you can have a more refined and powerful awareness of both of your inner and outer world.
Facilitated walks are quite powerful even for people who have struggled with other relaxation methods. You have to experience a facilitated walk to fully understand its power.
Below is a sample facilitation using a late afternoon cloudless blue sky:
“Let your eyes relax and your gaze soften. Stay present to the blue sky, let you mind rest in the luminous blue. Notice any mild or strong resistance to being totally absorbed in the blue. Give yourself permission to move past any resistance that you noticed. Invite the blue into your heart. With each breath let it penetrate you more and more. Open to the radical emptiness of this infinite blue field. Hold presence in the emptiness, resist any boredom that might be arising and continue to stay present, letting the azure purity wash you clean. Let your heart-mind become as luminous and clear as this azure blue sky.”
Self Care and the Dilemma of Chasing vs Searching
I was talking with a friend the other day and he used one of his favorite phrases, “chasing the great American nightmare.” I happened to be reading about the spiritual process of searching after the Beloved and the notion of spiritual certitude. I began to realize that we often confuse searching for truth, meaning, and happiness with chasing the dreams that almost always fail to satisfy. Most material ambitions are at best based on deep compassion for improving the state of the world, or perhaps the desire to improve the opportunities for yourself and family, but far too often are an unsubstantial mania for the latest and greatest.
Our corporate consumer society puts more and more demands upon us and often leaves little time to consider one’s own well-being. How many professionals I meet who do not have a sense of trusting they can truly take care of themselves, physically but especially spiritually. I feel that we have confused chasing for searching. My work in nature starts with the simple notion of moving out of the state of chasing for a while. Put simply, I want you to stop chasing and simply become present and aware. From a place of awareness and presence, awakening of your inner self can begin to have the space to come back to life and clarify the quality of search.
Chris Page 