1/30/11 Sunday: SOOTHING THE DOSHAS EXPERIMENT! Revisiting Nature and Taking It Where I Can Get It

Keeping in theme from yesterday, I would like to test a theory I have regarding our connection to nature.  I've been practicing being conscious of which sights, sounds, smells, activities and feelings disturb or imbalance my doshas and which are soothing to them.  It's actually quite fun to try this during your day.  If you look at what aggravates and what soothes you, you will begin to understand a lot about yourself and your prakruti or constitution.  We'll test this out after I explain a little bit more. 

So the theory is this:  Going back to nature is supposed to heal us, but if we can't access nature directly, maybe we can cultivate the same healing energy by sending our awareness back to nature.  If we reminisce in that feeling, it seems possible that our bodies (and minds) will receive the same benefit.  Ayurveda asserts that our bodies are attuned to the same vibration as nature so it's not simply the sight of nature that heals us, but its vibration as well.  Although I'm starting to wonder if one must be surrounded by expansive nature in order to benefit from its healing qualities.  I'll tell you when I first pondered this theory and maybe that will help to explain this concept.

Just recently I watched the Sound of Music.  During the opening scene I slightly noticed the beautiful landscapes of Austria before turning my attention to my mind, which tends to run amuck if I let it.  I stayed up in my head until the opening scene where Julie Andrew's realizes she is late and dramatically runs into the chapel where all the nuns are singing about what they were going to do with her.  At this point (just as the movie is starting) Nick and Luke decided they both needed to go do something so I paused the movie and waited for them to come back.  While the movie was on pause I got out of my head for a minute and noticed the beautiful mountains and that's when it hit me.

 

I 'rewound' the DVD to the beginning of the opening scene with all of the beautiful landscapes and watched again, this time drinking in the nature of each scene and consciously trying to cultivate that healing connection or vibration I feel when I am in a nature setting.  As I watched, the feeling/connection got stronger.  Mind you, we had JUST gotten a flat screen TV for a Christmas/engagement present (thank you thank you thank you, Alvo!!!) so watching on that made it MUCH easier to put myself there in the mountains than it would have been to on our old box, but nonetheless, it was still just a picture and somehow I was still able to "be there," and I think, access the healing qualities of those beautiful hills.  I believe it is that 'putting yourself there' or 'sending your awareness to' that brings about those positive, healing vibrations.

If one walks lost in thought, unconscious of his or her surroundings, even the most majestic forests will have no impact.

Ayurveda suggests that simply being in nature is healing, but I think being present and making a conscious decision to drink it all in that makes a tremendous difference.

I think many of us can relate to that feeling I talked about yesterday--the calm that comes with being in nature.  It is a wonderful sensation when you witness something so vast and perfect you can't help but be completely wrapped up in the experience.  It is like a big smack that brings you right into the moment.  Try watching the video below and while you are watching, send your awareness around the different areas of the scene.  Try using it as a tool to help you recollect that feeling you get when you walk in a forest, or gaze down through the ripples in the water to the pebbled floor of the stream.  Try closing your eyes and tuning into the sound of the birds.  Watch/listen consciously/ actively and then take a minute to notice how you feel afterward.

If you tried watching the scene without closing the pop up ad, did you notice if it bothered you?  Did it detract from your level of calm?  Did you feel relieved when you clicked it off?  Hopefully the video didn't continuously stop to buffer while you were watching it...if so, I'm sure that calming effect went right out the window. If this happened to you...I apologize.

I believe we all need to go back to nature to be happy.  Living in the city is definitely more challenging than living in the country because our attention is constantly drawn away from the beauty the natural world.  The cold pavement, hard lines of buildings and the black cable cords and phone lines that run in masses are distracting and so prevalent in the city.  We ARE nature, and being cut off from it stifles us.  Often times it seems like we have much less of an opportunity to "tune in" to that feeling.  Nick and I both agree on this and hope to someday live in the middle of nowhere so we can be surrounded by nature's beauty and vibration.  Although here in Philadelphia we are surrounded by unnatural objects that definitely have an impact on a person's serenity levels...we are still surrounded by nature.

The sky is still above, there are trees and plants all around, birds still sing in the city.  

Maybe it doesn't hit me in the same way as the Rocky Mountains did the first time I laid eyes on them, but I think with practice, it might.  I am going to try looking past all the wires and the cold, hard lines of our city up to where the tree tops sway against the blue sky...and if the skies aren't blue and the trees aren't swaying, I'll watch the Sound of Music and take nature where I can get it. 

If you feel like exploring this a little further, the next time you are stressed, try reconnecting with nature.  See if you can put yourself back in a moment where nature moved you.  I like to close my eyes and recall the feeling of cool, lush grass beneath my feet or of the sound my feet make on the pine needles as I walk in the woods.  Try to notice how you feel afterward.  In essence, this is a basic meditation technique to calm the body, but I find it so interesting to ponder on the how and why this practice works. I would love to hear your comments on this so please feel free to share.

Notes from the day:
11:00 bedtime:  So cold.  My skin is hot but I am freezing.  Terrible indigestion.  Vata Pitta Imbalance?    No change in my loose skin. Stretched while Nick and I watchedThe Secret In Their Eyes-which turned out to be like a (too) long version of CSI.  It went on forever...and just when you thought the fade to black meant the story was over, they would fade back in again with a new only slightly interesting twist.  The ending was cool...but not worth the time invested. And it was super violent!  Rough on my doshas!  Ayurveda suggests watching violence aggravates the doshas....I really notice it now!!  I'll be meditating before bed to counteract all that violence.