Why Try Meditating Outside?
Meditating outdoors? Does it really matter where you meditate? I think it can. For some of us, being outside makes for not just a different meditation experience, but a more profound one. There are some good reasons for this.
Perhaps meditating in a quiet room with no sounds and nothing to distract is the easiest way, especially for beginners. It’s hard enough to quiet your mind without constant input from your surroundings.
On the other hand, life is constant input, so if you want the peacefulness that comes from meditation to enter your life beyond your practice, perhaps learning to meditate despite surrounding sounds and movement is just what you need.
Meditating Outdoors
I live near the sea. It’s a five-minute walk from my house. There’s a level grassy spot at the top of the cliff, with benches dotted around, which looks out onto the beach and the sea below. This is where I like to sit. Often there is a sea breeze, which I can feel on my skin and hear in the surrounding bushes. I can also hear the sound of the waves in the distance as the sea ebbs and flows. As well as the sounds of seagulls and sandpipers. I can smell the salt in the air.
Meditating there is not only pleasurable because of the environment, but also different from meditating in the silence of my home.
There is more of a sense of experiencing the world without thought, without over analysing. Why? Perhaps simply because there was more to experience. There were the sounds, which included birds, and the occasional passerby or a dog barking, even a few rabbits nearby. There are things to smell and the feel of the grass and the sun shining down.
I usually close my eyes when I meditate, because I am a very visually oriented person, and find it easier to meditate this way. When I finished my meditation by the cliff, I would open my eyes. It always amazed me how what I saw was always very different from what was there when I started. Of course, it was the same, but I was seeing it differently, as if for the first time. While difficult to explain, this is easy to recognise if you have had the experience.
It’s wonderful to look around as if seeing everything for the first time. You are seeing without preconception. I might see a rabbit running through the grass-covered dunes. However, the thought “rabbit” wouldn’t cross my mind, meaning it wouldn’t cloud my vision with any ideas about what a rabbit is or should be. The sounds and sensations were also “new.” I think 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, why not get outside for your next meditation? Sit on a hill or in front of a garden, 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.
You can read more about different types of meditation in my blog on Angel Meditation and Chakra Meditation. Or have a go at a Mindful Walking Meditation.