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Meditate in nature: Techniques from Listen to Nature
The best way to appreciate Nature’s beauty is to sit and meditate with Nature. … If you feel the ocean or sea as Nature, then sit in front of the water and meditate. … Anything that you consider as Nature or Nature’s beauty, you should try to become one with.
Meditation on the Vastness of the Sky
Kindly keep your eyes half open and imagine the vast sky. In the beginning try to feel that the sky is in front of you; later try to feel that you are as vast as the sky, or that you are the vast sky itself. After a few minutes, please close your eyes and try to see and feel the sky inside your heart. Please feel that you are now the Universal Heart, and that inside you is the sky that you meditated upon and identified yourself with. Your heart is infinitely vaster than the sky, so you can easily house the sky within yourself.
Meditation on the Beauty of a Flower
Feel that you have entered into a garden with many, many flowers. Choose one flower that you like and go near it. Appreciate its beauty and smell its fragrance. Then just say a few times, “How I wish I could be as pure and as beautiful as this flower.” After five minutes, try to imagine that an infinitesimal amount of beauty from that flower has entered into you. Then gradually try to feel that all the good qualities you are seeing in the flower – its beauty, its purity, its fragrance and so on – have entered into you and are inside you. Then try to feel that you do not have a body, you do not have a mind, you do not have anything. Think of yourself only as that most beautiful flower.
Meditation on a Tree
To develop compassion, meditate on a tree. Although the flowers, leaves and branches are above the ground, they are not looking downward with contempt or a feeling of superiority. The trunk of the tree may be very tall; the flowers, fruits and leaves may all be above us. But when we pass below the tree, the leaves, flowers and fruits say, "Take us; we are ready to be utilised by you." Because of its oneness with us, everything that is good and beautiful that the tree has, it is begging us to take.
Free Classes
San Diego -- Noble Learning offers free "Meditate in Nature" classes on a regular basis, at local parks and beaches.
New York -- Free meditation sessions are held in NYC parks in warmer weather. Please text 516-710-8084 for upcoming sessions.
Parliament of the World's Religions -- A meditation workshop based on Listen to Nature will be presented at the Parliament of the World's Religions in Chicago on August 16, 2023.
Blogs and Podcasts
Earthkeepers Podcast -- This 40-minute interview with Listen to Nature editor Pragati Pascale explores how spirituality can help us find a deeper approach to healing the planet, both locally and globally.
"Changing Our Policies, Changing Ourselves" by Pragati Pascale, featured as a guest blog on "Sustainable Development, Coffee and Life"
About the Author
As a spiritual teacher, poet, philosopher, musician, artist and athlete, Sri Chinmoy dedicated his life to the pursuit of an integral vision of peace and harmony in the individual and the world. The recipient of numerous awards, he has been recognized globally for the simplicity and hope-affirming power of his work. Born in India in 1931, he made his home in New York City from 1964 until his passing in 2007.
Love of Nature permeated his inner experiences from an early age and was expressed in his poetry and other writings. In 1970 he began offering non-denominational Peace Meditations for delegates and staff at the United Nations, at the invitation of Secretary-General U Thant. For over thirty years, as he met to share inspiration with many dignitaries and seekers, he often responded to their concerns and questions about the environmental crisis, offering his perspective on humanity’s relationship with the natural world. He viewed respect for Nature as an inseparable part of the overarching vision of peace. His illumining views on these crucial issues have been collected in Listen to Nature: Living in Harmony with the Earth.
More information at srichinmoy.org/Sri_Chinmoy.