Practicing Wilderness Insight Meditation Among the Autumn Aspen Trees

"A little noiseless noise among the leaves,
Born of the very sigh that silence heaves . . . "

John Keats

The other day, I spent an afternoon having a retreat in an aspen grove up in the Medicine Bow Mountains, about an hour away from my home. What a glorious time it was! Sitting with my back against a tree whose lowest branches spread out fifty feet above me, journaling while enjoying the nostalgic yet invigorating autumn scent of all of those golden leaves lying on the ground, coating my fingertips with the white powder of the trunks and then rubbing it on my face - ah, how wonderful! When it came time to meditate, the forest seemed to practice along with me. The spacious blue sky visible through a clearing in the trees embodied the vastness of my own awareness, made more prominent through attention to each outgoing breath, enabling me actually to BECOME that vastness. "Mixing mind with space," the meditation teachers would call it, and that is exactly how it felt. The sound of the fluttering leaves, eventually dropping off into silence before arising once again, signaled the same rhythm occurring in my own thoughts. Crow caws resounded now and then in the distance as Some Presence LOST in bliss within me nevertheless found a way to label each thought, feeling and perception "Echo, Echo" - amazed at the way they seemed to arise out of nowhere before melting back into spacious silence once again . . . Ah, how wonderful that afternoon truly was  :)

Photos: Aspen trees, Rawah Range (Medicine Bow Range), CO, September 21, 2015

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I am available for one-on-one spiritual direction / mentoring via phone or Skype. You can contact me at canyonechoes@gmail.com if you are interested. The rate is $65 per hour-long session. You might also want to check out my Spiritual Direction with Stephen Hatch Facebook page.