In the shamanic point of view, every thing and every living being has and is a spirit. We can communicate, learn from, and live in partnership with these spirits. They have access to information that we who live in a human body do not. The scope of our knowing is often limited by our human perspective, worries, fears, concerns and judgements.

Communicating with our unseen guidance, we can better understand the spiritual aspects of challenges and illnesses in our lives, receive wisdom and healing, heal relationship issues, and learn to live more effectively in this world in body mind and spirit.

The Spirit world is on a different energetic wavelength than our normal day to day human activity. A relaxed and receptive state of mind is required for tuning in to spirit. When we slow brain wave frequency, we come into attunement with the spirit world. Shamanic practitioners and students deliberately slow their brain waves and enter into a trance state by listening to repetitive drumming. Shamanic journeying is an example of this. Meditating and spending time in nature also help you relax and slow down.

To connect more deeply to spirit, even if you haven’t formally learned how to do shamanic journeys, I offer a few ideas to help you expand your spectrum of awareness to include connecting with a nature spirit.

This begins like mindfulness meditation, but takes you a step beyond meditation into direct communication with spirit. Choose a nature object, a leaf, stone, shell, flower, a fruit, berry, even a tiny radish sprout or small raisin. Find one that you will enjoy exploring through your senses.

Create or find a quiet place without a to-do list, the news, distractions like your phone or easy entertainment, TV in the background, etc. Your quiet place might be outside in a beautiful natural area, a park, leaning against a tree, your yard, or in a peaceful room or mindfully decorated corner inside your home.

Tune your awareness from your head/mind/brain and into your heart. Let those never ending thoughts float by in your head without giving them attention. (If they’re important, you can get back to them later) This will help your brain slow down. Lay your palms on the center of your chest and allow your awareness to move down from your brain/mind/head to center in your heart. Feel your breath moving in and out, your chest rising and falling. Hear the sound of your breath. Focus on your sensations of touch, smell, sound, sight hearing. Allow yourself to let go of any tension in your body.

Now pick up the object you chose earlier. Take time to experience it with all your senses, letting all judgments go. Absorb the information you receive about its texture, scent, color, shape, form. Does it make a sound when you touch it? If this is something edible, savor the taste. How does it feel on your tongue? Allow all of your awareness to be focused on this one thing. Experience it as though you were a curious young child seeing touching and exploring this interesting thing for the first time.

Now get a feel for this object’s energy. How does it feel in your hands? Do you enjoy holding it, or want to put it down immediately? You may receive subtle sensations that can’t be translated into words. Pay attention to them. As you keep your awareness at your heart, you may begin to get impressions from the object. These would be very subtle at first, and may come through any of your senses plus your sixth sense of knowing.

Ask the spirit of the object for a message and pay attention to what information comes through your being. Messages from spirit can come in many forms and can be very simple and direct. Often they come in symbolic form – showing you pictures, images, sounds, feelings, emotions, or other sensations that you then can interpret for yourself.

You can ask the spirit of your nature object questions, such as – What you can I learn from you? What advice do you have for me? Please show me what I need to know about you. How can I thank you for speaking with me? Add any other simple question you might want to ask. Pay attention to everything that comes through for you.

If your ego mind demands attention and makes judgements about what you’re doing, (for example: “This is stupid.” “I don’t have time for this.” “I can’t do this.”) try to imagine an image of the thoughts evaporating – cool steam dissolving them, fog enveloping them, an ocean wave washing them away, wind blowing… whatever image works best for you. Return your awareness to your heart and allow yourself to notice the sensations and spirit messages coming through.

When you’re ready to leave your meditation, disengage by thanking the spirit of the object for what you received, and let it know your time together is over for now. Set it down or take it back outside. Send a blessing and gratitude for sharing its wisdom with you.

Now is the time to write down any messages you received before you return to normal everyday concerns and tasks. You may forget them otherwise. Next, come back into your body by tapping your cheekbones, the center of your chest, collar bones or rubbing & massaging your feet to ground yourself and bring your awareness back into your body and your mind back into everyday life.

In this way, you can learn to connect with the spirits of nature and receive their advice, love, and deepen your awareness of what is possible in life.

photo credits: Featured photo by petr sidorov on Unsplash; photo of feather by Evie S. on Unsplash