You depend on the earth for living, but all too often the swift currents of making a living, and just plain surviving, can pull you out of the flow of life and put your relationship with the earth on hold.
Keep your connection to Mother Earth strong and vibrant, not just for Earth Day, but for every day.
These meditation exercises will help you tune in, realign and reacquaint your body and soul with earth's natural rhythms.
Meditation Exercises to Try:
1. "Rock and Sole" Reflexology Massage
If you can't set out for a walk on the earth, bring a little piece of the earth to you. Use this reflexology massage to connect with earth's electromagnetic forces and recharge your own Qi when your energy is low in the middle of the day.
Find a smooth or slightly coarse rock, anywhere from a large pebble to a fist-sized rock.
Take your shoes off and place the soles of your feet on the small rock.
You can be sitting or standing while gently pressing into and rolling the sole of your foot over the rock. Rock your foot forward and backward, and in small clockwise then counterclockwise circles.
It is best to massage one foot at a time, while slowly and deeply inhaling and exhaling.
2. Sound Off for Mother Nature
Have you ever seen a group of little kids running around a playground? You may have noticed that it is the children who have mothers or other protective adults watching from the side who are the noisiest.
Use this meditation exercise to feel Mother Earth's protection and let your "outside voice" out.
Like one big group hug, you can gather your friends together, in person or remotely, and take a Moment of Voicing. Inspired by the "moment of silence," this has the opposite intention of honoring the earth by letting your confident, playful voice out into the world.
The best place to do this exercise is in a schoolyard, playground or even a baseball field. But if you can't be there in person, arrange to gather remotely with webcams, conference calls or social media.
To begin, form a circle and stand in Mountain Pose, with your feet hips width apart and your arms down your sides.
Take three deep breaths; inhaling and exhaling through your nose.
Then, holding hands and looking skyward, shout out three times, "I am standing on the earth and I can use my outdoor voice!"
Next, say "I am safe with Mother Earth. She hears my voice and she is strong! When I am so noisy she does not say I'm wrong!"
Repeat this phrase at the top of your lungs six times, or until you start giggling uncontrollably.
To conclude, inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth with a big, noisy, "Ahhhhh!"
This exercise releases stress, opens your chest and heart and gives your lungs a workout for better breathing.
When you are done, take a few minutes to remain quiet, listen to your body's inner rhythms and send your positive intentions to the earth.
3. Call of Nature Sound Healing
The point of this meditation exercise is to help raise your awareness that the natural world is ever-present, beyond what meets the eye and ear.
Whether you live in an urban, mostly concrete and manmade environment, where hearing truly natural sounds are rare, or in wild, rural territory where you've taken the calls of wildlife for granted and so tuned them out, you can reawaken to nature's healing energies.
You can do this meditation alone or in a group. Simply find a place outdoors where you can listen to as many of earth's flora, fauna and elemental sounds—trees, frogs, birds, wind, water—as you can perceive.
Find a spot, in a park, a meadow, by a streambed, on a hillside, or even by your apartment window.
Sitting quietly, gaze at the horizon line of whatever setting you are in. Are you on a beach, listening to the waves crash and seeing the arc of the earth on the horizon? Or are you looking out at utility wires strung at eye level?
Either way, close your eyes and concentrate on the element of air surrounding the landscape and the objects within the landscape.
Listen deeply, beyond the surface of the usual sounds you hear in your everyday world.
Breathe in as you think about the word air itself and the quality of air. Let the air you just drew in from the atmosphere fill and swirl around your mouth, down your throat, into your lungs and throughout your body.
Think about the energy of water. Whether it's the immense energy of an ocean wave or trickling slowly through a water pipe, water is everywhere and always in motion. Your body depends on water and is made of water. Your external body can feel solid and bone dry, yet water is always circulating around, inside and out of your body.
As long as you are on the planet, your life is surrounded and immersed with water.
Now, listen for the energy in the trees and plants. If it is a windy day, you might hear the leaves of a maple tree rustling, or, on a still day, just imagine the grass growing or seeds working their way out of the ground. If you were a microscopic being, the work of a plant growing upward would sound like an earthquake!
Lastly, no matter how sealed off from nature your environment is, the energy of wildlife and animals is all around you. Whether it's listening to a cat purring on your couch or a songbird on a telephone wire, close your eyes and listen intently.
If you breathe deeply and quiet your mind enough, you might hear the buzz of bees in a garden far away, or the call of a frog from a pond by a railroad track. The deeper you go, the better your "hearing" will be!
These meditation exercises will remind you that nature's healing energy is always available to you, and help you
take time everyday to connect to the Earth, no matter where in the world you live.
4. Feeling Your Earth Body
Ilchi Lee, in his book
“Mago's Dream,” says that, although every experience that occurs in the world of the five human senses is an energy experience, you actually experience energy directly as three main sensations: the tickling sense of electricity flowing through your body (this is Qi); the sense of magnetic force pushing on or pulling against your body; and the sensations of hot and cold that comes from both your internal body and the external environment such as sun and air.
These meditations, in two parts, will help you call on two of the earth's most powerful forces, electricity and magnetism, that you can use to attune your body to become more fully aware of its senses.
Practice these meditation exercises anytime you need Mother Earth to give you a lift.
1) Electric Energizer: Find a quiet space outdoors, or where you can see the sky from inside. Begin by gazing at the sky or the horizon and gently inhale and exhale through your nose three times.
Lightly close your eyes and inhale/exhale three more times.
In your mind's eye, imagine great streaks of lightning piercing the sky and connecting with the earth. Raise your arms and reach out to touch this fierce fire energy, letting it send jolts of electricity through your fingertips, down your arms and throughout your entire body.
Keep breathing deeply, holding the image of your hands in the lightning in your mind, sending the sensation of electricity deep into your cells. Soon, you may find that you are tingling.
Enjoy this meditation until you feel fully charged. Then, slowly ground yourself by closing the circuit by turning off "the juice."
Pull your hands now away from the lightning imaginary lightning and bring them to rest gently over your heart. This time take in three deep breaths and exhale each time through your mouth.
Say out loud, "Thank you, Mother Earth, for charging me with your energy."
You are now ready to unplug and be super productive in your day.
2) Mighty Magnetism: This magnetism meditation exercise will make you very attractive.
You can use magnets if you have them, or simply tune in to the natural magnetism your body possesses to connect to the earth's magnetic field.
Sit or stand in a comfortable position. Hold your hands in front of you at waist or heart level with your palms facing each other, about six inches apart.
Begin by slowly pushing your hands closer together, without touching, then pulling them apart, as though you are playing an accordion. Move your hands at your own pace, focusing on the energy that is building between and around them.
Soon you will feel a ball of energy and the sensation of heat in your palms. This is the electromagnetic field that surrounds your body.
Continue to move your hands together and apart, together and apart until you have a big, vibrant ball of energy.
Imagine this energy merging with the earth's magnetic core. Feel the "pull of the earth" growing stronger and stronger until the ball of energy you feel in your hands feels as if it is the size, density and weight of the earth itself.
When the "weight of the world" becomes too much to carry, symbolically place it on the floor in front of you. Place your arms around it then encircle yourself into an embrace.
Say out loud: "Mother Earth, I feel held in your magnetic embrace."
Now you are ready to go out in the world feeling fully supported, in the world and in your life.
Use these meditation exercises to
replenish your energy, reconnect with nature's powerful forces and make every day a celebration of your life on Earth.