Therapy for the Soul Meditating Outside

by Terri Mackinnon

Does it really matter where you meditate? I believe that meditating outdoors can offer a new alternative and change to your life. The therapeutic benefits are hidden and waiting to be explored. I am one of those people that know personally how being outside meditating makes for not just a different type of meditation experience but in some ways even a more profound one.

There are many good reasons for this.

Many of us have experienced meditating in a quiet room that is free from any and all distractions, no sounds, dim lights and the thought that we are one against the world and our environment trying deeply to engage ourselves with deeper inner thoughts.

However, it is sometimes difficult to quiet our minds with all of the constant input from our surroundings. Life is constantly challenging us with environmental noises and disruptions. So if we want to find the peacefulness that comes from meditation maybe we need to allow and find ways to learn how to meditate despite all of the surrounding sounds and distractions that exist.

Meditating in the Great Outdoors

There's a quiet spot on our cottage property away from the city that I love to go to and sit down and reflect my week's events. It overlooks the beautiful lake that we are fortunate enough to be able to borrow for the weekends. We had a small gazebo built just at the point of the property that overlooked all of the beauty. I so look forward to getting out of the city and getting back to my place and my peace. As I sit back and enjoy the beautiful view, I am able to reflect and reconcile my life and what has transpired over the week. This gives me the opportunity to rethink, review and rejuvenate myself.

While sitting there I am Aware. All of my senses are somewhat enlightened and responding to all that is around me. Feeling the breezes sweep by me, hearing the birds singing their songs and smelling the incredible scents of nature only strengthens the experience.

This was a new form of spirit, enlightenment and freedom. Meditating outdoors was a whole new experience of finding what I was looking for. There was a great sense of experiencing the world through these new surroundings.

When I first started looking at new ways of meditating, I realized that we are able to find peace even if the environment was not silent. I also realized how the strength of meditating outdoors seemed greater then that spent by myself in a dark room. There was a greater sense of pleasure and peace that was obtained in the new environment. The sounds, smells and feel created a stronger sense of belonging.

I had spent many years meditating with my eyes closed in a dark quiet peaceful room. However, my new form of mediating included sitting quietly with my eyes closed for the first ten minutes and then opening my eyes and looking up at the clouds, carefully watching how the leaves were blowing in the wind, listening to the birds chirping, smelling the experience and realizing what is quietly taking place around us while we live our lives. How much more amazing and larger the world really is, unlike the space that we only occupy. The experience allows us to witness what is passing us by.

It's wonderful to look around as if you are seeing the outdoors for the first time in your life. No matter how many times I take my place in the outdoors to meditate, I am forever reminded that we are far smaller and less significant then what God has created.

If you haven't already tried it, why not get outside for your next meditation? It can be found as easily as opening your front door and taking a walk to the local park. Sit and listen to the sounds that you haven't heard since you were a child. Take a drive down to your local River, Pond or Lake and spend some time reflecting. Close your eyes and meditated in Gods room. Listen, smell and then open your eyes and enjoy. The view will be incredible when you open your eyes. There is nothing quite like meditating outdoors.

Terri Mackinnon has spent the past ten years meditating and enjoying the great outdoors.