This week, I find myself hours away from home, surrounded by this vast endless agricultural landscape .. fields stretching as far as the eye can see. The long drive here was through rain and blustery winds, very moody and very grey (in colour). Last night I woke in the very early hours and stepped outside to see a completely different sky – I’d forgotten how many and how bright the stars are, away from humans and artificial light.
The breeze moves differently here. The birds sing unfamiliar songs. Even the air feels changed – in scent, in texture, in tone. I can smell eucalyptus (delightful) and cow manure (less so!) both new scents from my usual salty sea breezes and traffic.
Within this landscape, something subtle definitely shifted in my morning meditation. There is a very different energy. A different sense of space. As though the openness around me is mirrored within me – this quiet spaciousness of mind that feels both new and deeply familiar.
It’s a gentle reminder that our practice is not fixed. Sometimes, without realising it, the where and when of our meditation can become a little contained. Familiar. Even slightly stagnant. Not wrong – just ready for a small shift, a refresh.
This week, I would encourage you to move your practice somewhere new:
• Taking your practice outside, while the last warmth of late summer lingers
• Sitting in a different corner of your home
• Opening a window, inviting new sounds and air
• Or joining others in a shared meditation space
Notice what changes – in your senses, your energy, your awareness.
Sometimes it’s not the practice that needs to change … just the space that holds it.
Even a small shift in location can open the mind in ways that might surprise you, helping you rediscover the fresh, living energy in a practice you thought you already knew.
xx Sarah
Quiet Mind Meditation
Have you joined our monthly guided meditation series – The Quiet Pause? Our March practice is called The Breath Journey where we notice and feel and meet our breath within our body .. there is so much to learn there! JOIN UP HERE