What If This Truly Is a Sentient World?

Nature Blessing and Communion Practices

~ by Chante Ishta

What if we fully embodied the knowledge that every form and expression of life were aware of our presence and were in constant communication with us?

We humans may have forgotten this truth, but we   were originally endowed with exquisite instruments for perceiving the living world around us, for sensing sight, sound, smell, touch, taste; designed to receive information vital to our well-being. What if we attended more closely and explored more deeply the unspoken language they offer? What might be discovered? What if our physical senses could open doors to other ways of receiving communications? What if that could change everything we thought we knew about this world?

This is an invitation to practice engaging in direct relationship with the non-human world and open to deeper realms of wonder, awe and joy.

Immersion.

Go outside, preferably in a wilder place of forest, stream or meadow. Enter this place with reverence. With words or thought, offer greetings to this space as you would respected relatives, beloved friends or teachers, knowing (science now proves this) they perceive your presence. Take a deep breath and surrender any inhibitions on the exhale. Take another deep breath and open your heart to the welcome, gratitude, joy, and curiosity at this reunion. Proceed with ease and care, slowly and gently and with full awareness of the life under and around you, perhaps pausing to regard a particular being. Expand your peripheral awareness. Breathe slowly and deeply in, allowing your senses to fully perceive the surroundings. Find a place that invites you to sit and relax.  Settle in and soften your body. Give yourself permission to suspend thoughts for a while. Now gently close your eyes. Finely tune in to distinct scents and sounds around you, focusing attention on tone and frequency, on the rhythms and textures of voices in the chorus. Now slowly, deeply breathe in through your nose, sensing the array of scents within the rich blend of aromas in the air. Explore those qualities. What do they evoke in you? Take a moment to wonder, to savor the richness of the unseen before gradually opening your eyes. Now go ahead, remove your shoes and let your bare feet connect with the earth beneath you. Notice to how your body responds. Quiet your mind, surrender yourself to this moment and your surroundings. Allow yourself to completely relax, to feel accepted, held and loved for being exactly where you belong; right here, right now. Follow that golden thread. Reach deep into that mystery. Stay as long as you wish.

When you feel complete, and before departing, offer thanks for everything you’ve received.

Water Blessing

It’s a well-accepted fact that water means life. But how well do we understand or relate to water? Most western, human minds consider water a “thing” or “resource” to be consumed, used, exploited, and often disregard the responsibility of stewarding this precious gift. How might we begin to acknowledge and honor its spirit, its mysteries, the power, generosity and true nature of water?

This is one practice to open oneself to Water’s wisdom teachings.

Prepare to visit a body of water. It can be a stream, pond, river or the ocean. Bring a glass vessel with you.

As you approach water, greet it with reverence and respect, as a force of nature, and feel your heart soften with gratitude. If it is still water, look down at your reflection in it. Ask the question, Who is looking back at me? Allow that to rest in your contemplative mind.

If the water is moving, step into it and feel its energy. Is it gentle? Soothing? Swift?

Powerful?

Is there a sound accompanying its movement? Notice your body’s response to it. What is it signaling?

Now fill your vessel with some the water. Hold it to your heart and remind yourself of your relationship with water. Just as it courses through this living body of earth as its lifeblood, so too, does it through you. We owe our existence to water. Allow yourself to fully acknowledge this relationship and how dependent we are on its presence. Are you feeling grateful? Now amplify your gratitude with all the ways water blesses you and direct your gratitude to the water in your vessel like a prayer, giving thanks to honor every way we are nourished by it. Imagine your prayer entering every water molecule in your vessel, imparting all your love and gratitude, understanding that energy has no bounds and that water has received it. Now, with gentle reverence, give thanks and blessings to the water as you return it to its source to share your prayer in its currents. Know it is done.

We are all part of one larger, infinitely diverse and evolving, creative expression of consciousness. How might we, as human expressions of That, willfully choose to contribute to that expansive process?

What do you choose to open yourself to experience more of in life?