Following are extended excerpts from The Circle of Healing:

1. Honoring the Body's Wisdom
2. Communicating with Respect
3. Slowing Down and Waking Up
4. Nature as Healer

Honoring the Body's Wisdom

The body weeps the tears that the eyes refuse to shed.
-- author unknown

Our culture has taught us to split the mind and the body, and to exalt the mind while assigning the body the inferior role. Many religious traditions depict the body as filled with desires, lust, laziness, and frailty. "The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak." The shaming of young children in toilet training reinforces this contempt for the body.

Suppose there was a servant living in your house. Although you clothed and fed him, you treated him with utter disdain. You barked orders at him, and never made eye contact. Assuming that he had nothing of value to say, you never listened to him. You treated him like a beast of burden, beating him just to remind him that you were the boss. There was no trust, for you accused him of laziness, greed, lust, and violence. Then suppose that this silent servant, whom you had abused for years, turned out to be the best friend you'd ever had. What if this long-enduring one was revealed as the wisest, most devoted and truthful ally, offering you the path to healing and wholeness?

Your body follows your orders faithfully. If you don't want it to feel, you will not be aware of feelings; but the emotions will be stored for you so that when you are ready, they can be experienced. When you open your mind and heart to yourself and listen attentively to your body, it dares to dream that you will honor its wisdom and wishes, that you will listen to its quiet protests. Slowly, trust is built, from one part of you (your mind) to the other part of you (your body).

It isn't really possible to separate mind from body; but if the illusion is there, a bridge of trust must be built. The body holds much wisdom and will share it if we are willing to listen. Our inner vulnerability speaks to us and communicates its hurts to us, through the body. In contrast to the constant chatter of the mind, the body's voice is quiet. Does your body have a communication for you? Would it be willing to answer a question you have?

The body never lies. We can say, "I'm not nervous," but our shaking hands and pounding heart tell another story. We learn to tune the body out when we don't want to hear the truth. Unacknowledged feelings may then show up as symptoms. If we try to medicate away the symptoms, they may recede for a while, only to show up in another form -- still trying to get a message across.

When we reject that part that is hurting ("my bad back"), it's like whipping the servant who tries to speak. Many people disassociate themselves from a painful part of their bodies. Communication becomes more difficult, and healing is blocked. On the other hand, if we start to send love and respect to the body and to listen to its messages, communication begins to flow. Honor the messages received by acting on them appropriately, and slowly we can win back the trust of the disrespected and mistreated body. One of the greatest ways to practice self-acceptance and self-love is to honor the body and care for it. In my case, sometimes this means being patient enough to notice and release tension in my shoulders every half-hour.

Christiane Northrup, M.D., asks us: "How would your life be different if your body were your friend and ally, as valuable as a beloved friend or child? How would you treat yourself differently?"

The less rigidly we hold our bodies, the less rigidly we hold our beliefs and thoughts, and the more vigorously we live our lives. Relaxation helps us lighten up by letting go of what isn't working anymore. Practice deep relaxation every day if possible. Learn what it feels like to be awake yet fully relaxed in every muscle. Twenty minutes of deep relaxation once a day is a great way to start. Later you can give yourself a choice: twenty minutes once a day -- For one minute, twenty times a day.

There are fascinating stories recounted in The Heart's Code by Dr. Paul Pearsall about heart-transplant patients who receive, along with the new heart, some of the likes, dislikes, and even memories of the donor. A prim and conservative elderly woman who received a young man's heart discovered a new fondness for beer and Chicken McNuggets. A young girl began having nightmares of murder after her heart transplant, with such vivid descriptions that they led to the identification of her donor's killer. Is it possible that every one of our organs, perhaps each cell, is filled with information and awareness? How can we tap the vast potential wisdom within our bodies?

As you develop the ability to be more present in your body and to live comfortably there, you'll develop more self-awareness and, with it, self-appreciation. As you come to know yourself better, you'll like yourself more. Our false ideas about ourselves generate self-rejection, which leads to pain, both emotional and physical. Stop shutting yourself out of your heart. Come home to your Self.

Begin to notice the ways in which your body is trying to communicate with you. Have you ever felt your gut ache when contemplating doing something you thought you "should" do but didn't want to? In the biofeedback clinic, clients have a literal opportunity to listen to their bodies' messages. Sensors are attached to the skin over a painful muscle group, and a signal can be displayed visually, while a sound will occur when muscle tension exceeds a set level. A client might say, "I don't think I'm stressed by my relationships at home," but their painful muscle "speaks up," registering an audible increase in tension!

One woman with an occupational arm-and-shoulder injury felt twinges of pain in her arms every time she talked about going back to work; her body was warning her not to become re-injured.

From Lucia Capacchione's books (The Power of Your Other Hand and Recovery of Your Inner Child), I learned a very simple way to have a dialogue with the body. It has helped me and it might work for you as well. The nondominant hand is connected to the hemisphere of the brain that is generally considered to be the intuitive part. Hold a pen or pencil with your dominant hand, and write down a question relating to an illness or problem you have. Then transfer the writing tool to your other hand and allow your intuitive self to express an answer. Writing with the nondominant hand can feel clumsy and slow, so give yourself as much time as you need. If you like, continue questioning with your dominant hand and answering with the other hand. At first this felt awkward and strange to me, but the more I've practiced it the more helpful it has become.

On a vacation trip, I realized that I had sustained several small injuries, all on the left side of my body: a scraped knee, a stubbed toe, a pulled muscle from kayaking, and a slight tear in the eardrum from diving. I took a pen in my right hand and asked what was going on. Then I took the pen in my left hand and wrote this message from my left leg: "Slow down. Even on vacation you try to do too much. That decreases your enjoyment. Have more quiet contemplation." Then my left arm suggested: "Don't overreach your limits." My left ear added: "Don't go too deep too fast." The overall message was: "Get into better balance."

Using your nondominant hand, try completing this sentence: "When I hurt, my body is asking me for ___________."
If you prefer, use your nondominant hand to draw the answer to your question.

Communicating with Respect

In true listening, we reach behind the words, see through them, to find the person who is being revealed.
-- John Powell

Positive relationships are founded upon certain principles of communication. The basic principles are the same, whether we are communicating between different parts of ourselves, between humans and animals, between family members, or between nations negotiating at the bargaining table. Communication involves listening and reflecting back what is heard, giving a message in a form which can be understood, listening for a response, and continuing until clarity is reached. The most important aspect of communication is respect, and respect means being willing to listen. Many people do not listen well, but merely take turns talking. Might this be because we live in such a noisy environment that we frequently need to practice selective listening? Or is it because we lack respect for the other, whether it is the other person, or an animal, or our own bodies?

Even a small error in communication can set off a nuclear war. Skillful communication, on the other hand, can establish a healing sense of connectedness with others, including not only other people but other life forms as well. Native Americans, along with great mystics like Saint Francis and Meister Eckhart, have referred to the sun, wind, water, trees, and animals as father, brother, sister -- "All my relations." Many of us think of the Earth as mother.

In fact, the prevalent modern sense of alienation and aloneness may spring from our disconnectedness from other people and from nature. As we lose the ability to connect and communicate in nonverbal ways with our multispecies extended family, human-to-human communication is impoverished. We rely on words and tend to neglect or ignore the many other ways in which communication is constantly occurring.

We have also forgotten how to listen within ourselves, to listen to the promptings and messages of our own bodies. If a symptom such as pain or illness signals us that something is out of balance, we can discover what is needed by attending to the message and learning how to translate it into a corrective action we can take. Rather than viewing the symptom as a nuisance that interferes with our plans, we can learn to value the body's messages, recognizing that they have information useful for our healing.

For some, the concept of having a dialogue with a symptom or a painful part of the body may seem odd. Wouldn't it be nice if we were so well in touch with our bodies' needs that no such communication was necessary? Unfortunately, we have learned to "tune out" the subtle messages of the body, so we must relearn how to listen in order to take better care of ourselves. The body's messages are an aspect of our intuition, our inner guidance system. I discuss this more in "What My Knee Knew." As we learn to relate better to our own bodies, we become able to relate better to nature, since our bodies are part of nature.

When I'm willing to take the time to communicate, I get the result I'm seeking: harmony. Great harmony, as in choral singing, requires time, listening, and patient practice.

Pay attention to the other's feelings and show that you heard those feelings. It isn't necessary to share in the feelings in order for empathy to be present, but it is necessary to refrain from judging the other. Notice your language. If you hear yourself contradicting another's point of view, using "but," "instead," or other words that oppose, try saying "and" or "or." Thus you put your alternative view alongside theirs, simply offering them an expanded array of choices.
Example:
A: "You said that to hurt me."
B: "But you weren't giving me any respect..."
Alternative:
A: "You said that to hurt me."
B: "Or I said it out of my own blindness and pain."

Most people are adept at disguising their beauty and greatness under a humble or abrasive exterior, designed to mislead us. We can only really see them if we are able to look past the facade. In any interaction with another, practice silently saying, "Namaste." The translation of this greeting is: "Spirit in me greets spirit in you." In this way we evoke the highest aspects of ourselves and others. Would we say, "The petty, critical nastiness in me salutes the self-centered stinginess in you"?

Whether you are seeking to communicate with a person, a symptom in your body, or another creature, many of the same principles hold true.

Basic Steps for Communication:

1. Calm and center yourself, by taking a slow, deep breath and letting it out completely, a couple of times. Focus on letting go of tensions in your eyes, jaws, shoulders, belly. If you like, imagine putting roots down into the ground beneath you and letting any fear, anger, or other unwanted feelings be released into the ground. Imagine yourself standing inside a circle of safety. One of the biggest barriers to understanding one another is fear. As much as possible, speak from an open heart. Many people find it easier to open their hearts to a dog or cat than to another person. It doesn't matter where you start. The skill of open-hearted communication is transferable.
   
   
2. Put aside judgments. Nothing closes down communication more surely than judgments, whether they be silent or spoken. What we want most from others is permission to be who we are! Describe the other's behavior in neutral language.
   
   
3. Practice respect. To respect means literally "to look again." Sometimes it is necessary to take a deeper look. It is easier for me to respect a child when I remember that each child has great potential, which is nurtured and fostered by the respect of adults. Respect means not giving unsolicited advice. Patience is a form of respect; it's giving time and space to those who are doing me the honor of communicating with me. If it is difficult to speak to someone with respect, it might help to practice focusing upon what you admire or appreciate about this person.
   
   
4. Let go of any status difference; perceive the other as an equal, whether you are listening to your child, a caterpillar, or your aching back. Practice humility. Resonate with the other's point of view in any way that you can. In nature, an "I-Thou" relationship of subject to subject enables communication. If we commodify nature (seeing a tree as lumber), or in any way see the other as "less," we can't fully enter into relationship.
   
   
5. Listen more than you speak; seek to understand the other's viewpoint. Ask open-ended questions; allow for answers to come in unexpected ways, including nonverbal cues, movements, or gestures. Attend to your intuitions, and any feelings that come up. These are all part of listening. Sometimes, when I have a strong urge to interrupt, I've sent a thought-message instead. Although this is different from listening, it is often received surprisingly well.
   
   
6. Reflect back what you heard, especially any feelings or emotions being conveyed, to check for the accuracy of your understanding and to clear up any vagueness or uncertainty. Often we are unaware that we did not fully understand another's message. People love to know that they have been heard, even if the only way we can help is to convey our understanding. Giving an accurate acknowledgment of another person's viewpoint and feelings does not mean that you must agree. Acknowledging a child's feelings by saying, "I hear how angry you feel that you can't have a piece of candy now," can be more helpful than trying to distract her or telling her that candy isn't good for her.
   
   
7. Practice empathy. Marshall Rosenberg, author of Nonviolent Communication, suggests that we ask, "Are you feeling ________ because you're needing ____________?" This simple query lets people feel profoundly heard. It can work with symptoms too. Even if your guess is wrong, this question lets the other know that you care. They will be more open to sharing their emotions than if you simply ask, "How are you feeling?"
   
   
8. Honor the message by stating your response. If you are attempting to communicate with a headache, for example, and it is conveying a request for you to get more rest, decide whether or not you are willing to do that, and communicate your intentions. Stating intentions is equally important when communicating with people! If you are angry and need to take time out from an interchange, it might help to say, "I'm angry (or upset) right now and need to take a break to collect myself. I will get back to you in a half-hour."
   
   
9. Speak about your feelings rather than your intellectual judgments or defenses. Tell the truth without blame or judgment. There is a much better chance I will be heard when I say, "I feel hurt by the tone in which you said that," than when I say, "You're being rude." Also beware of "I feel that..." and "I feel like..." These phrases are almost always followed by evaluations rather than emotions. The truth of our feelings is incontestable, but as soon as we begin to blame or criticize, the other party will shut down and become defensive. Communication comes to a halt.
   
   
10. Transform complaints into requests or suggestions. This allows the other to focus on meeting your request rather than defending against it. It also puts you in an empowered and creative position, rather than in a victim role. "It's too cold in here" becomes "Is it OK if I close this window?" Angeles Arrien tells a story of a tribal elder who, when given a chance to bring some problems to the attention of government officials, did not bring up any complaints. His words were: "I regret that I have only three creative solutions to offer to solve these problems."
    
    
11. Instead of criticizing, appreciate. Look for the best in the other. Criticism rarely resolves problems; instead, it usually creates defensiveness and/or counterattacks. I heard about a day care center where a child who is angry or violent is simply held and comforted, perhaps even toted around for an hour or more, instead of being scolded.
          If it is necessary to communicate negative feedback, it is much less stressful for both the communicator and the receiver to surround it with appreciation: an "appreciation sandwich" consists of a genuine statement of appreciation or acknowledgment, followed by the feedback, followed by another appreciation. For example: "I really appreciate your asking me if this is a good time to talk. The issue I want to bring up with you is that last night I was bothered by your comment about my weight. I realize that you are genuinely concerned with my health." A request might be added, such as, "I would like you not to discuss my weight with other people."
          When communicating with a symptom in the body, we can appreciate it for any benefits it has conferred, such as time off from work, or an opportunity for reflection. Also, appreciate all the parts of yourself that are healthy. This practice invites more health. Appreciation is a form of love that is vastly underutilized. Researchers at the University of Washington have discovered that couples who stay together tend to have five times more positive interactions than negative ones. Child development researchers Betty Hart and Todd Risley found that children who were the most intelligent, self-confident, and flexible at age six had received five times more positive than negative interchanges with their parents. That's a pretty good ratio to give to ourselves, as well.
    
    
12. Keep your agreements. If you commit to taking an action, be sure to follow through with it. Otherwise, you are breaking your word. It is easy to promise your cat you will spend more time playing together and then to forget all about it. When you are dialoguing with a symptomatic part of yourself, it is very important to stick to any agreements you make. Too often, after a symptom disappears, we tend to go back to our old habits. Keep your word to animals and symptoms as much as you would to people. If you find that it is not possible to keep an agreement, renegotiate until you have a new plan that is mutually satisfactory.
    
    

An excellent book on communication is Marshall Rosenberg's Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Compassion. For more ideas on how to dialogue with a symptom, I highly recommend Healing Yourself by Martin Rossman, M.D., and Creating Wholeness by Peper and Holt. To learn communication with animals, Penelope Smith's Animal Talk is an excellent primer.

Slowing Down and Waking Up

The soft breezes of the dawn have secrets to tell you. Don't go back to sleep.
-- Rumi

We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.
-- I Corinthians 15:21-22

Perhaps the time is at hand for the Great Awakening to occur. It doesn't feel as if we're asleep, but the great sages and mystics of many traditions have assured us that we are, that we are dreaming this nightmare illusion we call reality. When a nightmare gets too intense, my usual response is to wake up, with great relief. How bad must this nightmare get?

If life is really a dream, we might look deeply at the symbols that are showing up. What if we were to view our waking life as if it were a dream? What if everything were a communication to us, if we could only understand it? One day I saw a snail on the bed. Of course, I could rationalize that it was probably carried in from outdoors by our long-haired cat. Or I might see it as a broad hint to slow down. While at my mother's house trying to deal with all the physical clutter of magazines and mail and junk, which reminded me of my own mental clutter, I was feeling awfully serious and frustrated. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a pink helium balloon wafted into the yard -- a reminder to lighten up?

The ability to choose consciously within a dream, which is referred to as "lucid dreaming," depends upon our knowing that we are asleep. It is the result of greater conscious awareness during the dream state. On those rare occasions when I have had a lucid dream, I have chosen to fly. The excitement and joy of knowing I am choosing my dream usually wake me up quickly! Perhaps the next stage in our evolution, before waking up completely, will be to choose our dreams.

The Andean shamans believe that humans have dreamed the current pollution and destruction of the Earth into being. They call upon humanity to change to an Earth-honoring dream, to bring healing to our planet. The images we carry reveal our intentions, and hold subtle power. We must be able to envision the change we wish to see. Perhaps when the collective dream shifts from "get rich quick" to "live in harmony," our actions will change accordingly.

Various forms of anesthesia are widely available these days. Alcohol, drug abuse, overeating, shopping, workaholism are all ways of numbing the pain of existence. What will rouse humanity from our dreamlike state of unconsciousness about the devastating effects our lifestyle is having upon the planet? Reports of the extinction of thousands of species, cutting of the last old-growth forests, depletion of fisheries, serious loss of topsoil, pollution of air, water, and land, severe weather patterns caused by global warming, increased cancers and other environmentally caused diseases have not resulted in a decisive change of direction as yet. This is true even though it is becoming more and more clear that it is our own nest that we are fouling, our own children whose inheritance is being squandered. Many believe that a collapse of the current economic system is now inevitable.

Some folks believe that we are powerless to act, or that we can leave it to "the experts" to solve the messes we have created; yet there are no global agencies with the mission of protecting environments. Many feel that they just don't have time to deal with these huge issues of environmental destruction; they are already overwhelmed with trying to make ends meet and take care of their children. And so, we become numb. With the Y2K scare over, we are being lulled back to sleep by the siren songs of fossil fuel and technology.

Lack of time is cited as the reason for leaving children in the care of the TV set, eating prepared foods instead of home-cooked, failing to communicate fully with our loved ones, driving instead of bicycling, and not getting to know our neighbors. We hurry along, cell phones glued to our ears. "Where evolution once described an interaction between humans and nature, evolution now takes place between humans and human artifacts," says Jerry Mander in his book In the Absence of the Sacred. "We coevolve with the environment we have created.... It's a kind of in-breeding that confirms that nature is irrelevant to us."

As the pace of life has become faster and faster, it seems impossible, even foolish, to slow down and take time to meditate or to just be, quietly in nature. Gandhi observed: "I have so much to do today, I need to meditate twice as long." Being in too much of a hurry prevents us from being able to hear our inner guidance, and makes reverence impossible. According to Angeles Arrien, "We kill our dreams by being too busy."

We are always going so fast, rushing, rushing to get more things done in a shorter time. Our language reflects how we have made time into a commodity: "Time is money." We "spend" time. We have been taught that if we hurry now, we will have more time later. It is slowly dawning on me that this is an illusion, perhaps one of the biggest illusions of the modern age. Speed has become a god. Labor-saving devices are embraced unquestioningly, since they are supposed to give us "more leisure time," and yet, the more technology we have, the more rushed our lives are becoming. Perhaps by worshiping speed, we become imbued with its energy, and unable to slow down. Speed breeds speed. And the faster we go, the more unconscious we remain.

We cannot be mindful of our actions or thoughts when we are in a rush. When we are driving fast, it occupies all of our attention to make sure we don't have an accident or miss our turnoff; there is scarcely any attention left for noticing the environment, perceiving beauty or uniqueness, or examining our thoughts. There are so many times when I was hurrying, then forgot something very important and had to go back for it, using much more time than if I had been more deliberate and thoughtful of what I was doing. And yet I stubbornly resist slowing down. It's partly because I place such a high value on productivity, after many years of being judged (and judging myself) on the basis of my achievements.

Acceleration creates anxiety, and harms relationships among people, by making us impatient with each other. If people are not going fast enough to suit me, I start to see them as obstacles in my path. If I am not giving myself enough quiet time and breathing space, I cannot give it to anyone else. My impatience with myself is transferred onto everyone I encounter.

Once, when I was rushing to a meeting, I failed to see a "Yield" sign. My peripheral vision did not seem to be working. Next thing I knew I was in a collision with another car. Luckily, no one was hurt, but I was left with a damaged car. I had received a not-too-subtle reminder that I need to do less charging straight ahead, and more slowing down, opening up my wider vision and "yielding."

As Caroline Casey said on her radio program The Visionary Activist, "When we learn to slow down, we won't need to hire authority figures to give us speeding tickets."

If we are always in a rush, there is literally no time to feel our feelings. I suspect that this is one of the hidden seductive aspects of being busy. We leave ourselves no time to feel grief over a loss, regret over an injury we've caused, pain over a rejection. It was very important for me to attend a grief support group after my mother's death, and at each meeting I experienced the bittersweet sadness of my loss. Yet, between meetings, it was easy for me to become so engrossed with my own busy life that I was unaware of my grief. Without the support group, I might have simply pushed away the feelings, deferring or refusing to feel them. I encourage anyone who has suffered a loss to take the time to be with those feelings -- even if you think you are finished with them.

Compared with human time, Earth time is much slower. What is one human lifetime next to the life history of our planet? When I give myself some time in nature, my frenzied urban rhythm shifts into lower gear. My breathing and heartbeat become slower, more relaxed. Sometimes I become aware how unnatural it is to consume caffeine and sugar, which speed me up more. Lately there have been reports that the Earth's vibrational frequency is quickening. Is the frantic pace of humans causing the Earth's frequency to increase?

In Buddhist mindfulness practice, one eats very slowly, chewing each bite of food twenty times or more, really tasting it, and receiving the gifts of the sun, rain, earth, and the toil of human hands that made the food possible. Eating in this way is an incredibly sensuous experience, and I notice that I don't need to eat as much in order to feel very satisfied. Mindful walking involves awareness of the breath, the surroundings, the weight being placed on each foot, and the thoughts: it enables us to be fully present in each moment.

Optimism and pessimism both reflect attachment to future outcomes. Neither attitude is focused on the present moment, where life is to be lived. Those who do the most outstanding service are often those who act from love, without expectation or attachment to the results of their efforts. Dick Roy, founder of the NorthWest Earth Institute and tireless volunteer for the Earth, recommends "viewing optimism and pessimism as distractions."

The Buddhist concept of awakening refers to being fully conscious, fully aware. In an oft-quoted story of the Buddha, he is asked, "Are you a god? An angel?" To which he responds, "No, I am awake."

Waking up is hard to do! Sometimes it even feels like breaking up. Who has not had the experience of shutting off the alarm clock and going back to sleep? A friend of mine says we are all here to help each other awaken, but often our response to those well-meant attempts to rouse us is grumpiness, insults, or hurled pillows. The true friend continues trying despite all our complaints. When we finally awaken, we are very grateful for the persistent, loving nudges that prevented us from being late for an important commitment. But while we are still snoozing, the friend's behavior seems most irksome.

The best way to make our dreams come true is to wake up.

Perhaps we've been "half-brained" (using only the left brain) for too many years and the time has come to reawaken the nondominant hemisphere. Our best rational, logical and scientific thinking got us into this mess. Practices of reverence, humility, meditation, prayer, ritual, and listening for guidance in sacred time were largely put aside while we marched to the beat of technology. To live in balance with nature, we need to slow back down to nature's rhythm, walking instead of driving or taking jet planes. In the history of humankind's life on Earth, only certain indigenous peoples, whose notion of time was circular instead of linear, lived sustainably. Their way of life is gravely threatened by our all-consuming culture. What can we learn from them that might apply to our present situation?

Here are some principles:

• When planning, take into account the effect of our actions on the seventh generation from now. Doing something for the coming generations is not self-sacrifice! Most businesses fail to look past the next six months.
  
  
• Sitting in councils, bring forth the wisdom of the circle for making important decisions.
  
  
• Live with respect for, and in harmony with, other species -- not as if ours were the only one that mattered. Many indigenous cultures perceive spirit as dwelling in all aspects of the natural world.
  
  
• Seek fulfillment through connection, rather than through acquisition.
  
  
• Balance giving with receiving; offer thanks for what is received.
  
  
• Ask for spiritual guidance and support.
  
  
• Align with the natural cycles of the seasons, of night and day, growth and decay.
  
  
• Perform rituals of honoring the more-than-human forces and rituals of atonement when we have done harm.
  
  
• Take action to restore what was damaged.

These ways of life arise from, as well as generate, awareness and reverence for the Spirit in all of creation. May we all awaken to such an awareness, through slowing down enough to touch and feel it.

Nature as Healer

As long as the Earth can make a spring every year, I can. As long as the Earth can flower and produce nurturing fruit, I can, because I'm the Earth. I won't give up until the Earth gives up.
-- Alice Walker

"When I had pneumonia," my artist friend Augusta recalls, "I would drive myself to Briones Park. I could only walk about fifteen minutes away from the road, then I'd collapse on the ground. I lay directly on the grass, or the dry creek beds. I just lay on the earth, incapable of doing anything, even visualization, to heal myself. I was just there. And then it all came in on me, and it was the most euphoric thing! I just didn't want to leave, it was like being in heaven. I was simply open, receiving. I could have died there happily. The earth healed me, and when I hike in that park now, I spend some time lying there. Sometimes that euphoria comes back. Not always."

Our true home is among the stars and trees, with crickets and frogs singing us to sleep at night, and birdsong to awaken us along with dawn light. We were meant to co-evolve with plants and creatures, not with computers and concrete. We cannot be healthy without spending time outdoors, since nature is our true source of healing energy. Healing requires an improvement in our energy flow. David Abram, author of The Spell of the Sensuous, believes that we need relationships with creatures other than ourselves; we can't get all our relationship needs met by humans alone. "Link your nervous system back into the ecosystem," he advises.

When I first began working with guided imagery and healing, I felt most drawn to imagery that began with a visit to a beautiful place in nature, real or imagined. In working with many clients and students, I have found this to be nearly universal. The most frequently chosen imaginary place of safety and healing is that of a secluded garden, a quiet and private place with beautiful flowers and shrubs, and birds singing in the trees. We all long for the sacred garden.

A well-known story of healing is The Secret Garden -- a tale of two children who are healed emotionally and physically by helping restore a neglected garden. That overgrown garden is a rich metaphor for all that lies within us that has not been cared for or cultivated; it is the safe place at our deepest center, where our healing work must begin. Connection with nature is also connection with our inner nature.

One night while camping in the Grand Canyon, I awoke with an insight that felt as if it came from the depths of the Earth herself and wrote it down. In the morning, I saw that I had written: Health is coming into proper balance with Earth energies. Some adults spend their vacations and weekends shopping or visiting museums. But the fresh air of the mountains and of the ocean is healing. Lie on warm sand and soak up the solar energy into all parts of your body, any parts that hurt. Or lie on leaves or pine needles and feel the support of the ground under your back. We can release unhealthy energy into the Earth, as well as receive the Earth's healing energy this way.

"We belong to the ground; it is our power and we must stay close to it; or maybe we will get lost," says Narritjin Maymuru, an Aboriginal elder.

By paying close attention to any natural entity, such as a tree, a stream, or an insect, we generate a resonance between ourselves and that healthy natural being. As we resonate, our energies become aligned; and our health is improved. If you are feeling too rushed and unable to slow down, spend time with a tree and experience its rootedness and stability. Trees are masters of tapping Earth's energy and letting it flow up through them. By attending to and appreciating these qualities, we can begin to share them. From a diverse old growth forest community, we can learn how to balance growth and death, conserve and recycle resources, and sustain ourselves through time. Luisa Teish enjoins us: "Take note of where in nature you are regenerated, and go there. Declare yourself a child of and a defender of that place. Then, live it."

When you are in the sunlight, you can see your shadow more easily. To have a shorter shadow, get close to the Earth.

Go quietly outdoors at sunset or dawn, preferably alone, and contemplate your surroundings. Notice how the creatures and plants respond to the sun's rising or setting. These times of change from day to night promote inner transformation for us. Spend time with the moon, especially if you are female or want to balance your feminine and masculine qualities.

Nature is a great storehouse of healing memories for us. Have you had a delightful experience at a beach or waterfall, or watching a sunset? Whenever we reexperience one of these, it subtly triggers the feelings of the earlier encounters and all the positive associations. For example, one of my earliest memories was of having fallen asleep in the car and being lifted in my father's gentle arms and carried into the house, aware for just a moment of the soft music of crickets and the shadows of leaves against the moonlit wall. Whenever I hear crickets now, I re-live that moment of peace and security.

Peak experiences in nature are especially healing. Once at Lake Manzanita in Mt. Lassen Park, my husband was paddling a little inflatable raft and I swam up to it and pulled myself in. The contrast between the cool, refreshing water and the hot sun on my skin, with the snow-capped mountain above and blue sky all around me, sent me into an extraordinarily blissful state. A duck with five ducklings swam alongside the raft and I was ecstatic. Now, the sight of ducklings evokes very warm and happy feelings for me.

Of course, we can reexperience these feelings through our imagination as well, without a stimulus to elicit them. One of my favorite memories is of swimming up behind a waterfall on the island of Kauai and embracing the wet green moss on the ancient black volcanic rock. It felt as if I had come home to a deep place of oneness with Mother Earth.

Regular visits to places of natural beauty are essential for me. to "charge up my green batteries." Feasting my eyes on the myriad shades of green in an area with trees and plants rejuvenates me. Trees breathing, moving, rooting, evaporating, condensing, moistening, growing, standing, sheltering, pointing, teaching.

Try walking barefooted, in places where it is safe to do so. Thich Nhat Hanh advises, "Walk as if your feet were giving love-pats to Mother Earth." These bodies were designed to receive sensory input from the Earth through our feet. How many of our foot, leg, and knee problems result from not feeling the surface we walk on? Walking barefoot on sand gives an excellent workout to legs and feet, and may confer some of the benefits experienced in a session of reflexology, acupressure or a foot massage. Some believe that the sensations received through the feet can fine-tune our entire nervous system as well. Studies show that the surface we walk upon even influences the way we breathe. High, shallow chest breathing occurs more frequently when we walk on pavement than when we walk on grass or earth. This same breath pattern is associated with "fight or flight," a state of nervous arousal that is part of the body's stress response. Experiment with taking your shoes off. Do you notice that you step more lightly, carefully, and slowly? Bare feet are alive feet that connect us to the Earth. We feel more grounded, without having to experience heaviness. By standing barefoot on the Earth and giving our attention to the sensations we feel, we receive energy directly through the soles of our feet.

Indigenous peoples the world over recognize the need for periodic healing of the relationships between humans and nature. Illnesses, droughts, and bad luck in hunting have been thought to be caused by spirits. Shamans are those who serve as intermediaries, and help to restore the balance and harmony between humans and the spirits that dwell in nature. Their ability to heal people arises as a byproduct of their connectedness with both worlds. Indigenous peoples live in much closer contact and relationship with nature than us "civilized" folk. And yet, they have institutionalized rituals and shamans to tend the boundary between humans and nature. How much more do WE need shamans! Now some anthropologists, ecopsychologists, and healers are studying and engaging in shamanic practices. Modern shamans may assist people in finding a wise "power animal" through shamanic journeying to the beat of a drum; or, they may lead people on Vision Quests in secluded natural places in order to discover their life purpose. Our society as a whole, however, still regards such practices as quaint superstition, completely without value except to "primitive," uneducated folk.

A component of shamanism is the understanding that all beings are deeply interconnected at the spirit level. When we touch or embrace a tree, we are in communion. I have noticed how my thoughts and mood change as I spend time in close contact with a redwood, pine or cedar tree. Have you ever smelled the bark of a Jeffrey pine? It is an indescribable mixture of vanilla, cinnamon, and nuts. David Abram suggests that when we walk through the woods, we are not only seeing, hearing, touching, and smelling, but also being seen, heard, touched, smelled. The wind and trees, he says, speak when a breeze moves through their branches, just as we speak when air passes through our vocal cords. We can commune and connect by singing, humming, talking, or even whistling to the creatures and plants. Many people speak to their house plants, as well as to their animal pets. How about talking to trees and animals encountered on a walk in nature?

FOREST GRACE
Huckleberry, you touch my hair
With a lover's gentle care.
Ferns, you grow so near the path
And softly contact all who pass.
Bird sings two notes; I whistle back two.
Now you sing three; will I follow you?
Wordless communion of touch and sound:
I once was lost, but now am found.

We would probably all agree that love is the greatest healer. Yet what a challenge it often is to love ourselves, our friends, or our neighbors; perhaps it is most difficult of all to love certain members of our family! What if loving ourselves and other humans were the two most difficult kinds of love? Wouldn't it be helpful to practice loving in some easier ways, too?

Dogs and cats are loving and adorable, and that mutual love is healing. Pets can help lower their owners' blood pressure and decrease heart attacks. Nursing homes that brought in plants and animals reported a 40% decrease in death rates, as well as a major reduction in patients' loneliness and depression. Hospital and nursing home patients receive great benefits from even occasional visits with animals. In the Prison Pet Partnership Program, service dogs are raised and trained by women inmates. The women leave as fully qualified pet technicians, and since 1988 none of them have been repeat offenders. Many of the women are mothers, and prison officials have noted that their parenting skills improve as a result of their interactions with the dogs. Perhaps it becomes easier to love humans when we are also in a loving connection with some of the other beings with whom we share this planet.

Planting a garden and spending time there is beneficial to both body and soul. A good garden is a gift from the Earth. It helps us to cultivate ourselves, which was Voltaire's great advice. Whatever we do outwardly can be a metaphor for inner experience as well. As Rachel Naomi Remen eloquently says, in her book Kitchen Table Wisdom, "The way we tend the life force in a plant may be the way we tend our own life force." What are your ideal conditions for growth? Eating food we grow ourselves puts us in touch with the source of the food; we have a relationship with it instead of eating mindlessly. The fresher the food when we eat it, the more of Earth's healing and nourishing energy is still within it. Foods were not intended to be harvested thousands of miles away and shipped and refrigerated for weeks before consumption, nor were they meant to be processed through machines, doused with chemicals, and packaged in plastic. The closer we are to eating naturally (organic vegetables, fruits, whole grains), the easier it is to acknowledge the Source. The more we appreciate our food, the more it nurtures us. Whenever you feel deprived or lacking, go study the abundance of a blackberry bush, an apple tree, or an evergreen.

As our environment degrades, some of us are becoming more sensitive: to the chemicals in the air and the water, to the burning rays of the sun due to loss of protective ozone. This increase in sensitivity gives us another opportunity to wake up. My hope is that we will become more and more motivated to take action to reverse the environmental degradation.

Do something, even insignificant, to give back to the Earth. Service to the planet is service to humanity. An important role for the elders of our time is to teach children reverence for nature and protection of the Earth. Even picking up a single piece of trash from a natural place is a loving act. As soon as I decide to pick up some litter, a plastic bag in which to collect it will usually appear. Clean up the places in nature where you want to spend time. Help bring back the natural beauty of some part of the neighborhood where you live, or a park, a beach, or a creek. It's amazing how good I feel when I remove a bunch of plastic trash from a beach; I can feel a huge "thank you" from the ocean. Ken Carey, author of Return of the Bird Tribes, says that when we succeed in cleaning up our mental toxins, it will become a simple matter to clean up the environmental ones. I like to think that it works both ways.

I pledge allegiance to the Earth:
I will honor this body given me by birth.
The body is my connection with the Mother;
If I pollute one, then I pollute the other.
The unity of body and mind
Brings peace and wisdom to humankind.

Once I had a dream in which a group of furry brown monsters had wrought terrible environmental degradation. They were climbing a snowy hill that was bare of trees. Perhaps these monsters represented us humans, who have done so much despoiling of the earth and cutting of forests. Suddenly their furry coats split open, and out popped the robust branches of evergreen trees! A great transformation had occurred. The trees stood on the hill in all their glory, and the mountain was forested again.

Consider: How do you tend your own life force?
What are your ideal conditions for growth?