LOVING-KINDNESS Opening Our Hearts to the Natural World

BY MARK COLEMAN

We live on an enchanting planet, this beautiful Earth. You could say we’re here because of love— because of the benevolence that comes from nature and the abundance of this Earth. For many of us, one of the easiest places our heart is touched and opened, where we feel a sense of connection, kinship, and love is in nature. Whether by looking up at the night sky, seeing a bird fly by our window, or when we’re more deeply immersed in the woods or walking by the ocean—wherever we may find ourselves in a natural setting, it is easy for the heart to bloom.

Moving Beyond Our Sense Of Self

And so with loving-kindness practice, what’s most helpful is to find the most supportive place or environment that allows you to feel that sense of connection. Ideally, you’re doing this practice in a natural setting such as a park, or you could be sitting on your deck or in a garden, or out by the ocean where you feel a sense of warmth, love, or connection with the world around you.

You don’t have to be physically in nature, however, to do this practice. You might be sitting at home, but you may be recollecting times you’ve been in nature, in a forest, touched by contact with an animal, having been near the ocean, or remembering a sunset or the night sky. And in reflecting about that, it’s allowing you to feel that sense of connection. Because what loving-kindness practice does is open the heart; it takes us beyond our small sense of self. And, of course, being out in nature, a sense of connection is immediately apparent: We can touch in with a wider sphere of experience. It can take us out of that sometimes-constricted sense of self, where we feel small or separate or isolated.

So the loving-kindness practice itself, as well as being in nature, is a way to allow the heart to open, to soften, and to abide more naturally in a sense of openhearted connection.

First, find a posture where you can feel comfortable, where you feel safe in the environment you’re in. You can close your eyes for a few moments and just let your attention settle. First attune to your body: Sense the physical body touching the ground. Feel your connection with the earth. Notice the support of the land, of the earth, under you. It’s always there: present, supportive, nourishing.

As you sense your breath, consider that with each inhale you’re taking in oxygen released from leaves, plants, plankton. Each exhale releases carbon dioxide that’s reabsorbed by plant and tree life either nearby or far away. Sense how this simple breath connects you to this vast web of life. Feel any sense of appreciation as you inhale; that the life— trees and grasses—sustains you, nourishes you. And with the exhale, foster a sense of well-wishing, warmth, love, appreciation to all the photosynthesizing life that allows you and all breathing beings to live, to survive.

Now, take a moment to reflect on a time when you were recently touched by some experience in nature—something that moved you. Perhaps it was an encounter with an animal or bird. Perhaps it was an ancient tree in a forest, or a deer and her fawn, or the vastness of the night sky. Recalling that experience, extend your heart with a sense of warmth and kindness, love, well-wishing, toward whatever it was that touched you. Radiate a sense of kindness and friendliness.

If you are sitting outside, you may choose to look around. Take in the trees, meadow, grasses, or desert terrain, or whatever landscape is around you. And, again, extending a sense of warmth, friendliness, love. You can do that through phrases that express your heart’s wish for life: May these grasses, may these trees, may all the beings that live here—animals, birds, insects—be healthy. May they be safe and protected.

Use whatever words come to you that express your heart’s wish for the life all around you. Say these words silently. Repeat them a few times. They can be inspired by whatever is around you, or whatever comes into your mind and heart. Consider whatever part of nature touches you—and extend this sense of warmth and loving-kindness. May all the beings on this earth be safe and protected from harm. May all endangered species, and all species, be safe. May all creatures be happy and thrive. May all life be healthy and vital.

Sensing into the life around you, the experience of love is always a process of giving and receiving. You may be feeling how loved or touched you are by the natural world, and how the heart naturally wants to respond with offering loving-kindness, well-wishing, or gratitude.

Remember to include oneself as part of Earth’s moving surface, worthy of love. Continue to radiate love to all peoples everywhere: those near and far, those you know and don’t know. May all these life forms, or beings, or peoples, or creatures everywhere be safe from harm, be protected, live with health, with happiness, with safety.

So, in these last moments, allow the heart to radiate in all directions—to all elements of this Earth, to the life that lives here.

As you end this practice, you can take this heartfulness anywhere because this kindness is the essence of your own heart. The nature of the heart is to love, to be kind and compassionate. So, whether you’re moving about in the city, or out in nature, see if you can extend this quality of heartfulness, this kindness everywhere. Radiate love through a sense of friendliness and warmth to yourself, to each other, and particularly to Earth on which we live and the natural systems on which we depend. ●