Notice the Light
Where are you seeing contrasts in darkness and light? What is it like if you shift your focus to dark instead of light areas? What about color and shapes? How do things change if you squint your eyes?

What’s in Motion
Take 5-10 minutes to notice what is visibly in motion. In silence, look up high, look down low, look at objects up close, and gaze at your surroundings in the distance, simply noticing what is in motion. If your attention becomes distracted, gently bring it back to noticing what is visibly in motion.

Sit Spot
Find a place to sit or rest—on a rock, on a bench, on the ground—and simply sit for 20 or so minutes and observe the plants, animals, birds, insects, sand, and water. What do you notice?

Metaphors
Our daily lives are full of metaphors: the root of a problem, tree of life, branches of unity, fruits of our labor, tree of knowledge, forest lungs. What other metaphors can you think of as you look around you?

Watching Water
Take several moments—as much time as you are able—to gaze upon the water. Simply watch the water as it moves. What do you notice? How does this make you feel?

Gazing Up a Tree
Stop moving for a moment and gaze in all directions until a particular tree catches your attention. Move toward the tree and when you find a location where you can see it well, find a place to sit or perhaps lean against or near another tree. Take five minutes or so to very slowly gaze up the tree that caught your attention, starting with the roots as far away as they extend, up the trunk of the tree, exploring the branches with your eyes, and taking the full five minutes to gaze ever so slowly to the very top of the tree. What do you notice?

Follow Roots
A tree’s roots extend deep into the earth beneath it, exchanging important information with neighboring trees and bringing water and nutrients into the tree. Gaze upon the root system of a tree in your midst, allowing your gaze to slowly, slowly trace each root from the earth to the tree, and back and forth around the circumference of the tree. What does the word “root” bring to mind? What do you notice as you follow roots?

How is This Like That?
Notice wildlife that catch your eye. Explore their characteristics—smooth, soft, spiky, sharp, slippery, slimy? How does this characteristic relate to something going on in your life? How is this like that?

Consider the Size of Things
Seek out things that are tiny, even microscopic. Notice things that are large and broad. How does the size of objects and the space around you make you feel? Notice representation of the different elements that are in this space: air, space, fire, water, earth. Are there ways in which these elements are represented in your own life?

Finding Life in Death and Decay
Often, we avert our eyes and mind from the deceased. But consider taking a closer look at signs of death and decay in the forest. Use all your senses to see, smell, touch (if it feels safe) and explore such things as deceased insects and animals, forest floor debris, mushrooms, fungi, and plants or leaves with damage. What is happening in these processes? What emotions arise? Is there a message for you here?

Echolocation
Bats use their keen sense of hearing to find a mate and to find food. Sit and close your eyes or lower them to the ground. Imagine that you are a bat. What do you hear within five feet of your body? Within 20 feet? As far as you can hear? How does this make you feel?

Connect our Worlds
Respiration connects our inner world with the outer world. In Latin, “spir” from respiration means “to breathe.” Did you know “spirit” comes from the same root word? Contemplate this as you breathe, exchanging oxygen and carbon dioxide with the trees. How does this make you feel?

4-7-8 Breathing
As you sit or stand in this place, explore the sensation of breathing in the air. Consider trying the 4-7-8 breathing technique: breathe in for the count of four, hold your breath for the count of seven, exhale slowly for the count of eight and repeat this sequence four times. How does this make you feel? What do you notice?

Exploring Earth
If it is an option, consider removing your shoes and socks and being barefoot on the earth. Move as slowly as you can, in silence, noticing the sensation of the ground beneath your feet. If barefoot walking is not comfortable or accessible, consider sitting on or near the ground such that your hands or another body part can come into direct contact with the ground. Notice the texture, temperature, weight, and movement of the earth. What do you notice?

Hero’s Journey
As you walk, pick up a stick as if you were a soldier heading into battle, notice obstacles along your path, and (without harming the wildlife) notice your response to these obstacles. What is it like to make your way along the path in this way? What does it remind you of?

Hug a Tree
Look around, and notice a particular tree that draws your attention, then approach it. Decide what feels right to you, perhaps leaning against it with your back, pressing your hands against it, or wrapping your arms around this tree. Allow yourself to physically interact with this tree in whatever way feels appropriate. Notice the fragrance, the temperature, the texture, any movement or vibration within the tree. Spend as much time as you wish settling into this arrangement. How does this feel? What do you notice?

Thresholds of Connection
A threshold is a starting point, an entrance, a transition from one thing to another. As you walk, notice the point at which the following occurs: a temperature change, a change in light or darkness, stepping over something, a change in trail composition, a change in ambient sound, even a change in intuition such as a threat. What other thresholds do you notice? If you stop and pause at these thresholds of connection, what do you notice?