This continuation of the essay on Cultivating Wholeness (Part 1) is a guided invitation to interact with nature through the four windows of knowing. Find a wild or semi-wild place, like a park, an open field, a forest, desert or even your backyard— you don’t have to go far. The picture above shows one of my wander places in my neighborhood (included in full at the end of this essay) [1]. It helps if you have some privacy, though it’s not required.
Each section below introduces a cardinal direction and its corresponding window of knowing from Bill Plotkin's "Wild Mind - Field Guide to the Human Psyche [2]." Give yourself 5-15 minutes per section; I suggest reading each slowly, following the reading with embodied interactions with the natural places and beings around you. If facilitating a guided experience for others, do not read the section titles, allowing participants to stay in their flow; use your own creative intuition to modify the practice to your liking. Anything enclosed in parentheses are optional -- if not sure, skip them.
If the time available to you is short, you can cultivate different windows on different days, perhaps focusing on the ones that are most difficult or uncomfortable to you (these are the ones that will bring you the most value, as they are cultivating dormant resources).
Everything here is most effective when done slowly, with a focused attention on the present moment, channeling your experience through each window of knowing…
Come into a wild place -- a park secluded from everyday activity, where humans seldom go, and the natural beings thrive in their element. Consider taking your shoes off, as we’re not going far.
EAST: Full-Presence Sensing
Find a comfortable place to sit facing the East.
You might start with your eyes closed.
(The East is where the sun rises and brings about a new day).
Tune into your breathing.
Can you feel the point at which the air strokes the inside of your nose?
Are there flowers or trees nearby that want to be known through their aromas? Take them all in.
Are there flavors hinted by the aromas? Are you able to taste them?
Are you able to see them with your inner-sight?
Is there a breeze coming through dancing with the leaves?
Or maybe, it’s whistling through the long branches?
Are you able to feel the air as it passes near your skin?
Is it cooling to your skin?
Or is the sun radiating warmth directly on you?
Slowly open your eyes to the world.
Notice the details of all that you see, especially the more-than-human beings around you.
Spend time taking them all in.
SOUTH: Full-Bodied Feeling
Feel your feet on the ground. Is the ground moist, dry, rocky, or chalky?
(Turn your gaze to your right shoulder, and shift your body facing the South, the direction of the Sun at noon and the warmest time of day).
Who is immediately near you? Are there grasses, rocks, trees. Are you lucky enough to see a flower?
Can you feel an internal resonance? Where do you sense beauty? Which of these natural beings tugs at your heart?
You might move slowly toward it like a salamander, a turtle or a snake — on your feet or on your belly.
Notice how the scenery changes as you move slowly forward.
You are passing through ordinary space, through the air enveloping you, slowly seeing the more-than-human shift their position, like the moon following you on a long journey, acknowledging your movement.
Soon, you will reach the being that calls to you. Take your time getting there -- feel your body from the inside as you are moving forward.
Once you reach this natural being, interact with it in any way that feels natural to you, allowing your body to love what it loves.
Communicate your feeling with your body through movement or sound.
Especially if you are drawn toward using words, tell them what is alive in your heart through your body.
Accept whatever arises as a gift from the Mystery. What feelings do you notice are arising? [3]
Are you celebrating or mourning life’s invitations?
Either way, express your emotions through movement, dance, or sound without words.
Access your animal senses, and interact with this being, through smell, touch, sight, maybe even taste.
SOUTH-WEST: Imagine Why [4]
You might close your eyes now, exploring the inner source of your feelings.
Imagine why you are having those feelings, tuning into your inner experience independently of the being of your gaze.
What inner energy is fueling your feelings? What are your needs associate with them? [5]
Perhaps you're desiring sustainability, ecological justice or equity?
Or you find yourself celebrating the sense of connection you just had, the simple beauty of your interaction, or a deeper belonging to the world?
Whatever it is, stay in that inner source of your need, soaking in whatever is being revealed to you through your inner experience.
You may return to your embodied feelings at any time; then return here to Imagine the "Why" behind it.
Savor the experience of acknowledging this inner truth.
Notice if your feelings shift in any way as you acknowledge your needs.
WEST: Deep Imagination
Open your eyes, gaze upon your new friend while staying in your imagination.
(Turn your gaze to your right shoulder, and shift your body facing this new direction, moving clockwise around your new acquaintance so that you’re facing them and looking toward the West -- the direction of the setting sun, a time between day and night).
Imagine what this natural being is feeling through an inner curiosity of "what's alive in you?"
Imagine what they might be needing.
Allow for plenty of space...
Pause.
Breathe.
Focus your imagination on what they might be feeling and needing.
Gaze into your new friend, feeling into what it’s like to be them.
Now become your new friend, looking back at yourself from their perspective.
What do you see and experience from this new perspective?
What feelings are evoked? What needs?
Now tune into your longing from this new perspective.
What do you wish for the being gazing upon you?
Allow this longing to flow in your being.
NORTH: Heart-Centered Thinking
Return to being yourself, seeing your new friend from your own perspective.
(Turn your gaze to your right shoulder, and shift your body facing this new direction, moving clockwise around your new acquaintance so that you’re facing them and looking toward the North, the sun is on the other side of the Earth, bringing about the darkness of midnight, a time for rest, the coldest time of the day).
Express with words your curiosity about them with compassion for your new friend in the form of a question.
For instance, Are you grateful for our connection? Are you worried about your long term wellbeing?
Speak whatever your imagination led you to sense about your friend in the form of a question.
Listen compassionately for a reply.
If something comes through, you might echo it back to them as a form of acknowledgement.
Continue these exchanges until you notice your own energy shift toward peace and harmony.
Ask your friend if there’s something you could do for them?
Listen compassionately for a reply.
Complete your connection with your new friend in anyway that feels natural.
Walk slowly toward the place in which you started this exploration.
(Once you get there, turn facing the North).
Tune into yourself listening for any generative energy — is there a request you would like to make of yourself based on what you just experienced?
Pause.
Breathe.
If something arises, open your journal and write it down as a request to yourself: “Would I be willing to _____________ ?
As you come out of this exploration, note in your journal any highlights with observations, feelings, needs, and requests that arose. What was it like for you to experience your surroundings through the windows of knowing?
In Closing
A guided practice of cultivating wholeness through the four windows of knowing was presented as a continuation of the essay Cultivating Wholeness (Part 1). The practice should be seen as a sample of what is possible -- use your intuition to modify the practice to your liking, while honoring each window of knowing. Notice which windows support the deepest connection to nature by listening to the intensity and character of your feelings.
This guided experience can be seen as an introductory sample of the Wild Heart Intensive (in-person), Wild Heart Online Series, and some of Animas Valley Institute's offerings.
Endnotes and References
- Rachel Morado Park in Kansas City, Missouri
- Bill Plotkin, Wild Mind – Field Guide to the Human Psyche, New World Library, Novato, California, 2013, pp. 11-30
- A Feelings Inventory combining Jaime Prieto's Heart-Canvas with CNVC's version on the back side, available at https://uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/2d46415c-173f-48b0-8b56-4b42fe7225ab/Feelings-Inventory.pdf
- This step between the South and the West emerges from the integration of NVC with Plotkin's Nature-Based Model of the Human Psyche, and is the same as the "Insight Step" referenced in Plotkin's "Nature and the Human Soul" chapter on "Processing Emotions" -- go here for the full reference. It seems appropriate to place this between the South and the West because I'm not convinced yet that it results from the window of Deep Imagination. My current hypothesis is there's a relationship between universal human needs and archetypal energies of the personal and collective unconscious; universal needs may indeed be smaller elements that make up the various archetypes; more research is needed in this area.
- A Needs Inventory combining Jaime Prieto's Needs Flower of Life with CNVC's version on the back side, available at https://uploads.strikinglycdn.com/files/2d46415c-173f-48b0-8b56-4b42fe7225ab/Needs-Inventory.pdf Organizing universal human needs in a flower mandala that has been internalized to support self-empathy might bring the process of identifying needs closer to the Deep Imagination, as different parts of the image would be highlighted by the life energy itself seeking fulfillment. In other words, one's focus moves to the area of the image that is most relevant, thereby facilitating needs identification. The flower mandala then becomes a kind of map to parts of the personal unconscious, the parts that motivate behavior.
Picture of Rachel Morado Park, Kansas City Missouri taken by Jaime L. Prieto, Jr. on Sep 16, 2024.
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