Meditating Outside

Have you tried meditating outdoors? Does it matter where you meditate? I think it can, and for some of us, being outside makes for not just a different meditation experience, but a more profound one. There may be good reasons for this.

Meditating in a quiet room with no sounds and nothing to distract you may be the easiest way to meditate for beginners. It is hard enough to quiet the mind without constant input from your surroundings. On the other hand, if you want the peacefulness that comes with meditation to be a part of your life beyond your practice, perhaps learning to meditate despite surrounding sounds and movement is just what you need.

Outdoor Meditation

There is a high bank on the river near where I lived years ago. It was just a five-minute walk from the house, and there is a level grassy spot at the top, looking down on the water fifty feet below. This is where I would come to sit. Usually there was a breeze that I could feel on my skin and hear in the surrounding trees. I could also hear the water as it strained through some dead trees near the bank, and I could smell the dirt around me, and the odor of fish coming up from the water.

Meditating here was not only pleasurable because of the environment. It was also different from meditating in the silence of my home, because there was more of a sense of experiencing the world without thought, without over-analyzing. Why? Simply because there was more to experience. There were the sounds, which include birds, and the occasional splashing of some animal in the river. There were odors and the feel of the grass and the breeze.

I close my eyes when I meditate. I am a very visually-oriented person, and find it easier to meditate this way. Once I finished my meditation above the river, I would open my eyes, of course, but what I saw was always different from what was there when I started. Actually, it was the same, but I was seeing it differently, as if for the first time. This is difficult to explain, but easy to recognize if you have had the experience.

It is very beautiful to look around as if seeing for the first time. You see without preconception. I would see a deer on the opposite bank of the river, but the thought "deer" wouldn't cross my mind, meaning it wouldn't cloud my vision with any ideas about what a deer is or should be. Sounds and sensations were also "new." This more direct experience of life is a profound demonstration of how much we normally "live" through our thoughts, somewhat detached from reality.

If you haven't already tried it, get outside for your next meditation. Sit on a hill or try standing in front of a lake or pond when you meditate. The view will be wonderful when you open your eyes. There is nothing quite like meditating outdoors.