Take a moment to find a spot to sit down or lie comfortably. If it is a nice day you can lie outside on the ground. Move around, make any adjustments that you need to be comfortable and find a place to settle in. Allow yourself to take several very deep and slow breaths. Let these breaths to move all the way down into your belly.
As you breathe, fill your body with air, your belly rising as you breathe in and lowering your belly as you breathe out. Breathe deeply and slowly letting go of your day. As you breathe begin to release your thoughts and calm your mind. If your mind continues to wander, you can acknowledge to think about things later, imagining thoughts leaving your mind with your exhale. For now letting yourself just settle into some moments of peace and relaxation.
Now you are going to take a journey to meet with a plant. Choose a plant that you have physically been with, a plant that you have visited in the past. Thinking now of which plant it is that you would like to communicate with today. Remembering what this plant looks like, maybe what its name is and where this plant is growing.
You do not need to know the name of the plant. It may be growing in your garden, in a local park, between a crack in the driveway or in a wild place far away. Remember a place where you have actually seen this plant growing and would like to visit today.
As you go to visit with this plant, go with the intention to receive any information that the plant might have for you at this time. Travel to your plant with the intention of asking and being open to receiving the teaching that this plant has for you today. You might ask, “What message do you have for me at this time?” or “What is it that I have come to learn from you today?” Feel free to ask one of these more general questions or take a few moments right now to formulate a specific one sentence question about a situation in your life.
Decide on what question you would like to ask of the plants when you arrive to sit next to them. “What is it that I have come to learn from you today,” or “What message do you have for me at this time?” Take a moment to become clear about the question you will ask
Now set the intention that you are open to your answers coming in many different forms.
Close your eyes and imagine that you are traveling to the place where you have seen this plant. See yourself arriving and sitting or lying next to this plant. Let yourself travel to your plant in any way that works for you. You may just immediately see yourself there, you may have to swim there, or fly there or walk through a forest to get there. In your minds eye, see yourself going to this plant in anyway that comes to you. Then you will see yourself arriving and sitting or lying next to this plant.
So once again relax your body and take several deep breaths and remember your intention and your question. You have been attracted to this plant because there is something here for you. This plant has a message for you. Take the time to ask this plant your question
Ask this question and allow yourself to be open to receive.
What does this plant have to tell you today? Just rest and relax, drift and daydream for a while and let your plants message come to you in any form that is right for this time. Spend as much time here as you like.
When you feel complete in your time with your plant, thank it for sharing itself with you. Find a meaningful way to express your gratitude to this plant. Find your own way of saying thank you.
Once you feel complete with thanking this plant, see yourself traveling back to yourself the same way you traveled to the plant. Leaving where you have been with this plant and returning your awareness to the place where you are sitting or lying down. Coming back to the present moment, place your hands upon your belly and take a deep breath in feeling your belly rise as you inhale and then exhale completely. Wiggle your toes and fingers and run your fingers through your hair. Take a big stretch and notice the temperature of the room. Notice the texture of the clothes you are wearing. Notice what time of day it is. Take another few deep breaths and slowly open your eyes to the present moment.
Take a few moments to write down or just think about your journey and what the plant world had to say to you today.
Kami McBride has taught herbal medicine and women’s health since 1988. She is the director of Cultivating the Herbal Medicine Woman Within, an experiential herbal studies program where women are inspired to reclaim their heritage as herbalists and healers. Kami is the author of 105 Ways to Celebrate Menstruation that is available on amazon.com Kami teaches Women’s Wisdom workshops for women to experience optimum health in relation to their body cycles. For a schedule of upcoming classes or for an herbal consultation Kami can be reached at (707) 446-1290 or sign up for her free herbal enewsletter at: www.livingawareness.com
Earth Communication Meditation