There's nothing that connects us more to nature (and to the primal part of ourselves) than sleeping outdoors. If you sleep in the open air as opposed to a tent you can stare at the night sky and contemplate both the magnitude and miracle of your existence, or you can watch for shooting stars and identify the many constellations. You can also lie their (ever so still) and listen carefully to nature closing down for the night. In our noise filled busy world it is a rare opportunity and special gift to be a part of nature drifting slowly into quietude, to be a part of her unfolding, to sync up with her slow vibration and to absorb that very stillness into the depths of your own being......what could be more restorative and elemental to our recovery than that? Until the creatures of the night make their move that is - think coyotes, owls, cicadas and bullfrogs - but eventually, they too fall prey to the irrepressible force of silence.
Eventually, everything becomes still as if the entire world is sleeping at once and hopefully, you are too. Then, on the other side of night there is yet another gift, the graceful awakening of the first sounds of dawn - a rooster, a woodpecker, a bluebird signing their morning song. You awaken to a freshness, a morning dew, the smell of new life, the start of a new day. Again, it is magical and rhythmically innate. It feels so right and natural as if this is the way it was meant to be, a shared understanding or truce of sorts with all existence that everything, and everyone, deserves and needs a chance to rest. Yet we have cultivated this out of our existence, we've moved away from nature and into our protective and poshed-out dens, separating ourselves even further from the truth of all that is.
It is summer and a wonderful time to sleep outdoors! Drag out your futon, your sleeping bag, your blow up mattress and reacquaint yourself with that from which you've come and at one time knew so well. Sharpen your primal senses and join the realm of "larger than just you." Become an explorer of your past and a discoverer of your future. Nestle yourself into the bosom of Mother Earth and lean into the soft contours of her calling. Let go. Trust. Breathe it all in - the sights, the sounds, the smells, the deep sense of belonging, and allow yourself to come home to the nature that is you.Sweet, soft, restorative dreams!
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Pam Bell is a Life Coach, Hypnotherapist, Meditation Teacher, Writer and Artists. To learn more about Life Coaching and/or to read more of her musings, go to: http://www.desertmoonrising.com
