Day 48 – Completing – Giving Back
Mar 21st
Today I invite you to take anything you need with you in order to be comfortable to lay on the earth. Having a ‘lay spot’ rather than a sit spot can have a very different quality about it. Whilst you’re there, bring your awareness to the earth below you and the basket of roots holding you and invite your body to really relax and rest into this holding. At some point either laying or if you choose to transition to a sit spot, I invite you to ask the question: What can I give back to this space. This may be something practical by way of tending it in a way only humans really can, or it may be simply sharing a song, gratitude or continued relationship with the space. Something surprising may even come in and inspire you. My asking this question is what brought about this sit spot journey offering – that was the response I received from my sit spot.
Week 7 – Trees
Day 47 – Become a Tree
Mar 20th
In the simplest form, today – I invite you to become a tree for your sit spot time today. Practically this looks like going to a space where you could be planted as a tree. If you have a spacious amount of time and it’s appropriate to do so at your sit spot, you could take a spade, and dig a whole and bury your bare feet, ankle depth in the ground. Otherwise, you can just take your shoes and socks off in your chosen location. Then crouch and tuck as a seed, grow yourself into a tree, then relax into being and perceiving the world as a tree.
Day 46 – Open Communication with a Tree
Mar 19th
Today I invite you to go and spend some time being with a specific tree and to allow open communication between yourself and the tree. This means being open to receiving messages or guidance from the tree. This can come in many forms, be open to however it might arrive in you. If there’s something I’m finding challenging, then I find it incredibly powerful to take a question out into nature and ask a tree or the trees as a collective for guidance. If you try this you may find that you leave the tree with deeper peace or clarity around that question.
Day 45 – Can you Hear Life Force Rising?
Mar 18th
As you may have discovered with the Birch tree, the sap is welling up and flowing up through the tree. Along with the physiological rising of a vast volume of sap, is an energetic rising also. So today I invite you to sit with a tree and listen. Listen with your ears against the trunk and notice what you can perceive. You can also listen with your being and your feeling senses too. If you happen to have a stethoscope, you could even give this a try too!
Day 44 – Smell the Fresh Young Leaves
Mar 17th
I invite you to bring your sense of smell to connect to the trees. Whilst some trees are still in their buds, others’ leaves have opened and sprung forth already. Look out for an Elder tree to have a sniff as these have such a unique, pungent smell. You could integrate your sense of taste if you know that a tree has edible young leaves and are 100% sure of identifying it, such as Hawthorn, or in a few weeks Birch and Beech. (Elder is NOT edible).
Day 43 – Connecting to Birch through Taste
Mar 16th
Today’s invitation may not be accessible to all of you, however for those of you who have a mature birch tree at or near your sit spot, you can feel into whether it is ok to tap the birch tree and share the gift of its sap. I find by doing it in the simple way I describe here, snipping a peripheral branch and gathering the drips in a vessel, it builds relationship over the coming weeks whilst the sap is flowing and I return each day to gather the sap. It also feels very manageable for the tree to self heal after the sap has stopped flowing in the uprising of Spring energy.
Day 42 – Feel Bark
Mar 15th
I invite you to enliven your sense of touch by exploring the bark of different trees. It could be helpful to close your eyes to bring attention to your sense of touch at times. It would be good to be able to feel more than one tree species if that’s accessible to you, and notice how different they feel. Whilst giving your attention to the bark, you can of course also take a closer look at the bark of trees – do they have deep ruts, or smoother bark? Do they have lenticels (little horizontal slits or patterns) on their bark? Who lives on or within the bark? Do birds feed on what lives here?
Day 41 – Tree Buds
Mar 14th
This week we will be bringing our attention to the trees. Shelter, warmth, company – trees offer us so much just by standing and being themselves. The invitation for today is to see if you can find a tree that still has its buds. The buds of trees are just as unique as their leaves and although some have already opened into leaf or flower, this is the last opportunity to look at the buds of those trees that are yet to unfurl this cycle. Here’s a link to some identification features of different winter buds and another with fun winter tree bud ID games. And if you don’t yet have a jewellers’ loupe or magnifying glass you can use to have a closer look, we recommend getting one!
Week 6 – Plants
Day 40 – Adding Plants to your Map
Mar 13th
In wrapping up our plant themed week, I invite you to notice the broader patterns of where different species of plants are growing on the journey to and around your sit spot area. When you return home, from memory as best you can, draw a plant layer onto your map. It might be best to make a new map with those same familiar landmarks and then add the plants to this. You can repeat this in different seasons as the plant life changes.
Day 39 – A Conscious Cup of Tea
Mar 12th
Today’s invitation is to make a cup of wild tea and take it with you to your sit spot. I recommend nettle tea if these are available to you. Whilst at your sit spot, take time to perceive what the nettle has to offer you through the sensations and responses of your body. After your sit spot you could watch this short film on Nourishing Nettle Tips to learn more about how nettles can support us at this time of year.
Day 38 – Drawing as an Aid to See More
Mar 11th
I experience looking in a different way when I draw. Today I invite you to take a journal or paper and pencil with you to your sit spot, choose another plant and draw it – but this time, see if you can draw without looking at the page until you feel complete.
Day 37 – Draw Your Plant
Mar 10th
I invite you to return to the same plant you spent time with yesterday. Today, take a journal and pencil or a few colouring pencils with you. Spend a bit of time drawing this plant and appreciating its form and deepening your connection with it.
Day 36 – Sitting with a Plant with All of your Senses
Mar 9th
Let yourself be drawn to a plant and sit and be with it a while. Take time to perceive it through all your senses (except for taste unless you know it is edible). Notice the textures, the shapes and forms, feel the leaf and stem, smell the aroma of the plant. And notice if you perceive any information about the plant intuitively be simply being with it. It can be powerful to learn directly from a plant what it may have to offer you, and you can then of course look it up subsequently and see if this fits with established knowledge of this plant.
Day 35 – Experiencing Plants through Taste
Mar 8th
Today, where there is a safe opportunity to do so, I invite you to pick a leaf of a wild edible and taste it on your way to your sit spot. You can notice how your body responds to it. Does it leave your mouth feeling more moist or dry? Does it feel energising? Ensure you follow safe foraging practice when picking any wild edible. At this time of year of early spring, I recommend the silvery bramble tips or a hawthorn leaf. Check out these short films on safe foraging practice and on a few edible spring greens.
Day 34 – Meeting Plants through Touch
Mar 7th
Our theme this week is plants. I invite you to notice five different plant species on your way to or around your sit spot and pick a leaf from each. Once at your sit spot, you can lay these leaves on your lap and pick up each one in turn, feeling it and getting to know it through your sense of touch.
Week 5 – Patterns in the Landscape
Day 33 – Sharing the Story of your Sit Spot
Mar 6th
Enjoy the relationship building that is organically occurring between you and the wildlife at your sit spot as you become more familiar with each other each day. Following your sit spot today, I invite you to find someone who you could share a simple story of what you noticed whilst at your sit spot. If finding someone isn’t easy for you, try journaling about what you noticed as this can be just as helpful.
Day 32 – Find a Caterpiller
Mar 5th
My invitation to you today was inspired by a little encounter I had with my 2 year old son a couple of weeks ago when he drew my attention to the caterpillars around us hiding under leaves. I invite you to engage with the insect realm and to go on a mini quest to find a caterpillar. There are an abundance of them out there right now! If you find one, you could always follow up with seeing if you can do a little research to identify it.
Day 31 – Water Bodies
Mar 4th
Where are the water sources for wildlife at and around your sit spot? Which of these are temporary and less dependable, such as a pot in your garden that fills when it rains? Where are the bigger water bodies in the wider landscape? I invite you to add water sources to your map and if you’re inspired you could do a map to include a larger region for water bodies too.
Day 30 – Lacks and Larders
Mar 3rd
Today I offer you a concept around Lacks and Larders. Through this concept of where the areas of plenty and where the areas of lack are for different animals in meeting their physical needs, we can get good clues and insights as to where their patterns of movement and trails will be in the landscape. You can also consider how these change throughout the seasons.
Day 29 – Adding to your Map
Mar 2nd
I invite you to notice all the different things that you have noticed over the last few weeks of visiting your sit spot, and to notice what you have and have not yet marked on your map. You could choose to detail this on one map or on several that have the basic landmarks in common.
Day 28 – Reawaken your Senses
Mar 1st
Again, today I invite you to take it simple and slow and to enjoy being. My invitation to you is to journey consciously to your sit spot and to check in with and expand each of your senses whilst you are there and enjoy being in your familiar landscape.
Day 27 – Back to Basics
Feb 28th
For this week’s theme I will be inviting you to take a look at the patterns in the wider landscape and making connections between different aspects of the natural world. For today though we will breath out and review the basics. The invitation is to have a simple sit spot with a conscious journey toward that sit spot, leaving your list at the door, fox walking in owl eyes and arriving fully into the landscape. It may be interesting to reflect on if you notice any difference in the quality of your sit spot or the relationship you have with this place and the natural beings here since we began this sit spot journey.
Week 4 – Tracking
Day 26 – Inner Tracking
Feb 27th
I invite you to tune into the non-physical aspects of tracking both with the animals and life around you. For example, if you come across a footprint or sign of an animal, can you attune to how that animal feels or felt when it was there. I also offer the concept of tracking your own inner landscape, your emotional realm. By bringing curiosity and the practice of tracking to your internal states we can learn more about ourselves and through bringing patterns and habits into consciousness in a new way we can change things that no longer serve us in a good way anymore. I like to consider this alongside how nature reflects my mood that we explored last week (Day 18).
Day 25 – Tracking the Trees
Feb 26th
Bringing our mindset of tracking to the trees, along with looking for signs of spring with the buds and catkins emerging, today I invite you to look on the ground around the trees and see if you can find any of the Autumn leaves and see if you can match them to the trunks of trees around you. If a particular tree catches your attention you can practice the art of questioning with it and see how many phrases starting: “I wonder…” you can come up with. (eg. I wonder how old it is)
It would also be a good idea to go and check if there are any bird tracks where you left the birdseed yesterday.
Day 24 – Track Trap for the Birds
February 25th
I invite you to find an area with great tracking substrate such as the silty mud on the edge of a puddle that has started drying out and leave some bird seed there to see if you can trap some bird tracks. In addition I invite you to start to notice the signs of spring that are beginning to emerge among the trees such as the hazel catkins that are out near me and their elusive, small and beautiful flowers hiding on their twigs.
I encourage you to check back to your mammal track trap to see if there are any changes to when you looked yesterday. Sometimes it takes a couple of days of food that we’ve touched being out in the landscape for animals to feel it’s safe to eat, and other times they seem to eat it up as soon as they encounter it.
Day 23 – Become the Mammal
February 24th
I’m hoping that over the past couple of days you’ve noticed evidence of at least one mammal moving through your sit spot area. My invitation to you today is to choose an animal that you know or think moves through your sit spot area and to embody that animal on your journey to your sit spot. Do a little sensory meditation to become that animal whilst at your threshold, your gateway toward your sit spot. Feel into what each of their senses are like, where their eyes sit in their skull, where their ears are on their head…and then move as that animal toward your sit spot. If it is safe and appropriate to do so I really recommend getting on all fours and try moving with your head at a similar height as theirs would be and notice how perceiving the landscape from this position as this animal is, and how it might give you fresh insights into your familiar space in nature. You can also check your track trap to see what you find.
Day 22 – Track Traps and a Mandala Offering
February 23rd
Whenever looking for something in nature, I find remembering that our relationship is reciprocal is helpful and that offering something before I take or receive feels good. So today I invite you to take some food as a form of offering to the mammals – this could be some slices of apples with some peanut butter for example. You can arrange the food offering in some kind of mandala if you feel like it. With your offering though I also invite you to create a ‘blank canvas’ of easy substrate to catch some tracks. You could take a little bucket of damp sand if you have some or some fresh mole hill mud that you can leave a little lofty so that it can catch the detail of tracks more easily than the compacted ground around. Of course, if you have a great tracking substrate at your sit spot then you could just offer the food and leave the sand.
Day 21 – Take a Tracking Wander
February 22nd
I invite you to take a wander around your sit spot area noticing tracks and signs through the eyes of a tracker. Look out for evidence of birds or animals having been there. You might notice a trail of an animal where the vegetation grows differently or is compressed, or a gap under your fence where cats pass through – are there any hairs caught on that bit of fence that might give a clue who moves under there. Maybe you’ll notice the browsing sign of a rabbit or deer. I find whenever I go on a tracking wander, if I’m able to effectively engage my heightened sense of awareness, curiosity and get some good questions going then I won’t get very far as there is too much of interest along the way. Perhaps it’s a good idea today to wear trousers that can get muddy as you might need to get down on your knees to get a closer look at your discoveries.
Day 20 – Become a Nature Detective
February 21st
This week the invitations I share will be linked to the theme of tracking. When I ask people: what does tracking mean to them, the most common response is looking at footprints of animals. I share how my relationship to tracking has grown and how I experience it as a mindset now – having an inquisitive focus, heightened awareness and asking myself good questions.
If we consider tracking in nature to be looking for evidence that can come together to tell us a story of what happened here, then the kinds of tracks and signs we notice can go far beyond footprints. The evidence of storm Eunice is a particularly fresh example. Today, on your usual journey to your sit spot and whilst you’re sitting, can you notice a trail that a mammal uses when moving through your sit spot area. This could be a physical trail that you can see, or a gap in a fence for example that a cat could fit under.
Week 3 – Birds
Day 19 – Giving Something Back to the Birds
February 20th
Bringing our bird themed week to a close, I invite you to give something back to the birds perhaps supporting them at this busy time of year for them. You might like to leave some bird seed for them to leave in the landscape or perhaps you have some natural wool or horsehair that you could drape in the trees or on the fences around you that they might appreciate as nesting materials.
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to add any bird patterns onto the landmark map I invited you to create last week.
If you want to take your relationship to the birds further, you can look out for our bird themed bundle which should be coming out by the end of March.
Day 18 – How I Feel in Nature
February 19th
(NB. I prepared the content about a week in advance and was unaware of the storm at that time – so my additional, live question is: where do the birds shelter in the storm and how do they meet their immediate needs in those conditions?)
I invite you to have an awareness of how you feel before you go to your sit spot, when you arrive at your sit spot and after you’ve sat at your sit spot for some time. When checking in with how you feel, I suggest you to ask yourself: how do I feel in my head, my heart, my belly and my spirit if you connect to that word.
How might how you feel be perceived by the birds and how might this be reflected in their behaviour?
At some point whilst at your sit spot I encourage you to drop into a state of gratitude and notice if this affects how you feel and how the birds might respond to your presence.
Day 17 – Spheres of Awareness and Disturbance
February 18th
I offer a concept to carry with you to your sit spot. Imagine each person has a sphere of awareness around us, beyond this you are not aware of sounds or movements. This sphere can grow and shrink depending on our mood, state, context and intention. Each person also has a sphere of disturbance, as we move through the landscape, we make a noise and movement. In response to our presence, birds and animals become aware of us and also pass on the message to others that we are there.
If my sphere of disturbance is bigger than your awareness sphere, then birds and animals will notice me far sooner than I will notice them. I’m unlikely to see much wildlife. In contrast, if I’m peaceful, aware and unrushed whilst moving through a landscape then I’m much more likely to have a smaller sphere of disturbance and a larger sphere of awareness. In this case, I’m more likely to encounter wildlife in their relaxed baseline.
Day 16 – Mini Bird Quest
February 17th
Can you notice a bird through sound, one you can hear but cannot see immediately, and then move toward it in such a way that you can get close enough to have a really good look at it? The ideal would be that it continues to be relaxed, perhaps still singing, whilst you get close. In order to do this, we can utilise some teachings that I learned from Thomas Schorr-Kon as the routine of invisibility. When I want to move close to a bird or an animal, I can feel excited and tense. This causes more disturbance and they are far more likely to notice me and move away. Instead, I take on the character of the ‘lazy surveyor’. I drop my gaze toward the ground keeping the bird in my peripheral vision (rather than intently looking at the bird), I tread consciously and quietly but with a relaxed feeling and I might even nibble a few bramble tips on my way to create an air of being totally relaxed and a sense of normality. You might want to have a spacious sit spot and then when you feel to, embark on this mini bird quest. Good Luck!
Day 15 – Where are the Birds Hanging Out and Where are their Invisible Pathways?
February 16th
Today I invite you to focus on where a bird is when you notice it and what drew your attention to it, movement, sound or gut feeling. For example, is the bird on the ground, at the top of a tree or in a mid-layer? Is there a big movement of the bird whilst it’s in your awareness from one ‘level’ to another? The location of a bird can give an indication as to the kind of bird it is. You might also notice the patterns of where individual birds fly from and to, their invisible pathways in the sky, in order to forage food. Can you notice birds’ habits and routines whilst you observe them? If you notice any you could also mark these on your map that you drew last week.
Day 14 – Bird Behaviour, kinds of sound
February 15th
Continuing with our theme of birds, today’s invitation is to notice how the birds are behaving, what feelings you perceive they might be feeling and also your own feeling response to them. You might notice quite a difference in response to a bird singing in contrast to a bird that is feeding on the ground, flies up tutting with a tense and alert body language. This is a simple and accessible way to explore the different ‘voices’ of the birds. If you want to explore this further, our friend Charlie Peverett from Birdsong Academy has collaborated with us to create this short film on the different kinds of bird sound to listen for. This is also informed by the work of Jon Young, detailed in his book: What the Robin Knows.
Day 13 – Shapes and Patterns of Bird Sounds
February 14th
This week’s theme will bring your attention to the birds. With their activity toward nesting and with migrants still away we have the chance to become more familiar with our winter residents without so many other bird sounds in the air. Today’s invited activity is to listen for the patterns and rhythms of the songs and calls you can hear around your sit spot and in some way draw what you hear. I’ve found this exercise helpful both when I was first starting out and still now that I’m more familiar with our resident birds.
Week 2 – Feeling at Home
Day 12 – Mapping the Landmarks at your Sit Spot
February 13th
I invite you to go to your sit spot and notice the landmarks of prominent trees, perhaps a bird table if you’re in your garden, a pond or stream, fences, buildings etc. Notice which orientation they are in. When you get back home after your sit spot, take a few minutes with a paper and pencil to sketch a map of your sit spot area remembering to orient it to the directions of the compass. The process of remembering and drawing it when you are not at your sit spot is key to more deeply integrating the landscape and landmarks. We can use this map in future weeks for noting where bird and animal encounters and habits.
Day 11 – Reflecting on the North East Time of Year
February 12th
I invite you to reflect on this time of year and this time in the cycle of the year. A few days ago we created our compass at our sit spot. If we reflect on the times of day, the East is sunrise, the South is midday, the West is sunset and the North is midnight. If we correlate the seasons to the directions, North, midnight would be the midwinter, East when the sun rises would be Spring and so on. The point we are closest to at the moment, having just passed Imbolc, is half way between Winter Solstice (North) and Spring Equinox (East). So we are at the North East time of year. What is the North East? How is this time of year reflected in different cycles in nature? What’s going on for different aspects of nature, the plants, trees, birds and animals. Here’s a link to a short film about the North East that you might enjoy watching before or after your sit spot today.
Day 10 – Make your Sit Spot Time Even More Nourishing
February 11th
I ask you to consider how you could make your time at your sit spot even more nourishing. I include suggestions of taking a sit spot mat with you for physical comfort as well as enjoying a spacious cup of tea, or even your breakfast. Whilst you’re there, you might want to revisit your own form of sense meditation and expand into the space.
I acknowledge that we are taking a couple of weeks to really arrive in ourselves, our senses and the physical space of our sit spot and for those of you who are wanting invitations to dive deeper into layers of the natural world, please rest assured that this is coming in the subsequent weeks!
Day 9 – Simple Tending of your Space
February 10th
I offer a question of whether there is anything in the environment around you that is keeping you from being fully relaxed. This could be as simple as a discomfort such as brambles nearby. If this is the case, I suggest you take some secateurs with you to trim the brambles back a little so you can really relax at your sit spot. This is not a long gardening session, but just enough that it makes a difference for you. Or perhaps there’s a species you have a fear of that you could learn more about in order to feel safer and more comfortable when you’re at your sit spot. Once you’ve considered this, do then enjoy your usual sit spot time, noticing what’s going on around you in the layers of nature in this season.
Day 8 – Orienting in the Wider Space
February 9th
I invite you to create a form of compass at your sit spot, choosing four objects to mark the cardinal directions of North, East, South and West. For this you may find it helpful to bring a compass with you to your sit spot. You can look out for objects that you’re drawn to on your way to your sit spot such as a particular stick or stone that you can use to mark each of the directions. I find it helpful to be aware of the directions whilst at my sit spot to connect me more to the cycles of nature and to note where I hear particular bird calls, or that I noticed a fox come along a trail, journeying from East to West, to the South of me.
Day 7 – Sense Meditation
February 8th
Today I invite you to take time to tune into all of your senses either before you journey to your sit spot or once you’ve sat down and settled into the space (or both if you want!). I’ve recorded a short sense meditation around 6 minutes long that aims to integrate holding an expanded awareness of all fives senses simultaneously. I’ve found this one of the most effective ways to bring me into presence in nature. I’m grateful to Jon Young who I learned this sensory practice from.
Day 6 – What Can You Taste at your Sit Spot
February 7th
As our sense of smell and taste are so closely related, we will build on all the sniffing we did yesterday and today bring our attention to our sense of taste. Sip the air and see if there are any wild flavours you could drink in by making a tea from a young edible plant, perhaps stinging nettles, from your sit spot. Here’s a short film on nourishing nettle tips and nettle tip tea that you might enjoy!
Week 1 – Arriving in Your Senses
Day 5 – Sniff the Air
February 6th
Having given attention to our touch, sight and hearing, today we will bring our attention to our sense of smell. Take time to sniff the air and to carefully sniff anything you notice on your journey toward your sit spot…
Day 4 – Listening with Deer Ears
February 5th
Deer have amazing large ears that they can turn to any sound they hear to listen acutely to it. Today I invite you to bring attention to your sense of hearing and to have a go at using a cupped hand to enlarge your external ear and hear the difference. I also offer an exercise to experience listening and the way we receive sound and communication with a new awareness. Here’s a link to a short how-to video on Deer Ears.
Day 3 – Seeing through the Eyes of the Owl
February 4th
In our modern society for most people a lot of time is spent indoors looking at things near to us often in a focussed way, for example when we read. Today I invite you to soften your gaze and see with fresh eyes taking inspiration from the owls. By shifting your vision out of ‘tunnel’ or ‘focussed’ vision into Owl Eyes or Wide-angled vision, you’ll notice subtle movements and I also experience this way of seeing softening things within me as well as how I see the world around me. Here’s a link to a short how-to video on Owl Eyes.
Day 2
February 3rd
Today I invite you to slow down and tread consciously on the ground from your ‘gateway’ to your sit spot. You could take inspiration of how a fox can move incredibly stealthily and to walk with foxy feet, here’s a link to a short how-to video on this. Hope you enjoy slowing down and feeling the earth.
Day 1
February 2nd
If you’re just starting out on your sit spot journey then today you’ll need to find a sit spot. If you’re not sure what I mean – please check out this short video here: Sit Spot
Wherever you choose your sit spot to be, make sure it’s close to home – I mean really close to home so it’s really achievable to get there every day.
On your way to your sit spot, choose a threshold, a gateway, a place where you will remember to become present to the journey toward your sit spot. It can be very close to your actual sit spot, just a few metres away or up to around a minutes walk away. It could be the space between two trees, or an actual gateway or your back door to your garden. Then at this threshold place, this gateway, pause and set the intention to leave your ‘list’ of things you need to do or whatever might be buzzing around your head at the gateway. Don’t worry – it’ll be there for you to pick up again on your way back to the house. Then you’ll be more free to be present for your time at your sit spot. Enjoy taking in the space at this Imbolc time of year.