Indigeneity, Place, Healing

Indigeneity, Place, Healing: 8 minutes

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION

• Have you ever had an experience in the Living World that felt mysterious to you? An interaction with a place or a creature that you cannot explain?
  What happened? How did you interpret it? How do you interpret it now?
• When or where do you feel most connected to the Living World? Is it a type of place: ocean, mountains, rivers, lakes, forests, deserts? Is there a particular type of natural environment that appeals to you? If so, what qualities of that place do you find appealing? How does it make you feel? What are the elemental qualities of the places you feel most connected to? What are their colors? Shapes? Forms? What kinds of plants are there? What kind of animals? Where do you feel at home in the Living World?
• Have you ever been some place in the Living World where you could feel the energy of the place itself? If so, where? What did you feel? How did you interpret that?
• In English, non-gendered 3rd person pronouns are considered to be "Its". The Earth is considered, in English, to be an "It." Yet when we call her Mother Earth, and she is gendered feminine, she is no longer an "It." This is a problemmatic feature of the English language itself (if we can't establish the gender of a noun it becomes an object, not a subject), but how does it feel to you to imagine that the Earth herself is alive. How does it feel to know that you are walking around on someone alive, not something inert? If you begin to feel this, how does it change your relationship to Mother Earth?
• Ilarion speaks about the mirroring between Mother Earth and the human body. How does this concept sit with you?

AWARENESS PRACTICE

Read these instructions first, and then try it. Once you've tried it, journal about it, or document or reflect on it in a creative way. Ok, so in this practice: You will either stand, sit, or lie down on the Living Earth. We'd invite you to be in direct contact with the earth herself, so that you are touching soil, sand, or beach, rather than asphalt or sidewalk (for urban dwellers). For this exercise choose a place that you like, where the energy feels good to you. If you will stand, take off your shoes. Then, bring your attention to the felt contact with the Earth (could be in your feet if you are standing, your seat if you are sitting, your whole body if lying down.) Your eyes can be open or closed. Allow yourself to receive the feeling of contact with the Earth. Stay with this at a feeling level, and notice what arises in your body as sensation or emotion. Notice thoughts, and let them fall away. Imagine then that you are standing, sitting, or lying on a living being. As you breathe, feel the Earth breathing with you. Notice the sensory and emotional qualities that arise with this awareness of the Earth herself as a Living Being. Engage with this for as long as feels natural. Then reflect in some way on your experience.