Writing this meditation was an interesting process. I started by dictating my ideas to ChatGPT. Then I asked it:
All right, now I want to ask you to help me clarify the requirements for this meditation script so we can refine it together. If you think there are any important unanswered questions about the script, ask me one question at a time, starting with the most important. Then I can use these questions to reflect a little bit.
This is a great way to improve your meditation scripts: ask an AI chat assistant to interview you.
Some of the questions it asked me:
What is the primary intention of this meditation?
What kind of guidance style do you want throughout the meditation?
How much silence do you want the script to include?
What level of imagery and poetic language do you want?
Before We Begin
Welcome to this practice. This meditation is designed to be enjoyed while sitting outdoors, wherever you happen to be in nature.
There is no music. The sounds around you will become part of the meditation.
We'll begin with the eyes closed, taking a little time to settle into the body and the breath. Later, you'll be invited to open your eyes and gradually include the landscape, the sounds, and the wider sensory world around you.
Near the end, we'll close the eyes once more and return to the body.
Before beginning, take a moment to make sure you're sitting somewhere safe and reasonably comfortable.
Arriving
Whenever you feel ready, you can gently close your eyes.
Give the body a little time to settle into a position that feels both comfortable and awake.
You might begin with a slightly deeper breath in.
And then let the breath leave in its own time.
One more easy, unhurried breath.
Then allow the breathing to return to its natural rhythm.
Begin to notice the movement of the breath around the belly.
Perhaps there is a gentle expansion as the breath comes in, and a softening as it leaves.
There is no need to change the breathing. The sensations at the belly can simply offer a quiet place for attention to rest.
From here, allow your awareness to include more of the body.
You might notice its weight, and the places where it is being supported.
The contact beneath the feet, the legs, or the seat.
Rather than moving through the body in any particular order, see whether you can sense it as a whole.
There may be warmth or coolness, pressure or movement, ease, tension, or sensations that are harder to name.
Thoughts and feelings may be here as well. They don't need to go anywhere.
Opening Outward
When it feels comfortable, you can begin to let the eyes open.
There is no need to lose the connection with the breath or the body as you do.
Let the gaze remain soft, resting naturally ahead of you, toward the ground, or toward the horizon.
Give the eyes a little time to adjust.
Rather than looking for anything in particular, allow the scene to come to you.
Notice the simple experience of seeing.
You may still feel the movement of the breath at the belly while becoming more aware of the space around you.
The body can remain a gentle centre, while awareness begins to open more widely.
Feel the support of the ground beneath you.
And, without needing to focus on any one thing, let the visual field become a little broader.
What is near and what is far away can be received together.
Listening
Now you might begin to notice the sounds around you.
Some may be close. Others may be farther away.
There may be wind, water, birds, insects, leaves, human activity, or stretches of quiet.
Whatever is present can be part of the practice.
Rather than searching for individual sounds, see how it feels to receive the soundscape as a whole.
Sounds arrive, change, and fade.
Listening can be quite effortless.
The breath at the belly may remain as a gentle anchor.
It does not need to compete with the sounds.
Breathing and listening can happen together.
One Field
Now allow some of the other sensations around you to join this open awareness.
Perhaps you can feel the temperature of the air, the touch of a breeze, sunlight, shade, or stillness against the skin.
The body can be here. The landscape can be here.
Sounds, sensations, thoughts, and feelings can all be present together.
Nothing needs to be pushed away, and nothing needs to be held onto.
You might notice whether the boundary between you and your surroundings feels a little softer now.
Sense the body sitting here, while the natural world continues all around you.
There can be a feeling of being grounded in the body and open to the surroundings at the same time.
Settled, but not closed.
Open, without needing to reach for anything.
For the next few moments, there is very little you need to do.
The breath can move naturally.
Sounds can come and go.
The landscape can remain just as it is.
Allow yourself to rest in the whole experience of being here.
Returning
When you're ready, begin to bring a little more attention toward the body again.
Let the sensations of breathing and sitting become more noticeable.
Before closing the eyes, you might take one final, easy look at the space around you.
Then, in your own time, let the eyes close.
Feel the breath moving at the belly.
Feel the weight of the body and the support of the ground beneath you.
There is no particular feeling you need to find.
Allow the whole body to be felt once more.
Breathing, sitting, and supported.
You can begin to invite a little movement into the fingers and toes.
Perhaps roll the shoulders, gently move the head, or stretch in a way that feels good.
Take your time.
And whenever you're ready, allow the eyes to open.
Welcome back.
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