#Earthschooling365: Day Eighty-Eight
Inner Work Meditation (Heart): As a child my parents took me hiking and camping. When I grew up I traveled the world, often trekking in natural places. I always loved being outdoors so I just assumed I had a strong connection with nature. However, it was not until I started this project that I realized my connection with nature was never as deep as it could have been. Once I started taking the same walk every day, writing about the world around me, taking photos, documenting experiences and getting to know the trail more deeply each day some surprising things happened that had never happened before.
In the past if I saw building happening I didn’t think much of it. Now I actually cried when I saw a section of the trail being built on because I knew the inhabitants of the tree they had just cut down and the den they had dug up. I cried when I saw a deer that had gotten hit on a near-by road – wondering if it was one of “my” deer. I had watched them from the first day they were born to adult-hood. I was even sad when one of my favorite trees was felled after a big storm. After three years the animals, trees and birds on this nature trail had become part of me – and it happened so gradually I didn’t realize it until the first tear.
Today’s inner work is to take that lesson into our own lives. If I can live for more than 40 years thinking I have an amazing connection with nature only to realize I was missing a big part of that relationship – what might I be missing in the human relationships around me? What person or people do you think you know well, have a great relationship with or can’t progress further with. Are you sure? What are some ways you can deepen your connection with them?
Nature Walk Idea (Head): Last week I talked about finding a way you can help nature. I wrote a letter to our city council letting them know that the prairie grasses were getting mowed down on one section of the trail and that the time to let them start growing again was long overdue as these prairie areas were important areas of wildlife habitat. The city council did respond and the problem was solved. It is a great feeling to know you have done something that matters. I encouraged you to write letters or be active in helping nature around you. Today we are going to take that a bit farther. As you walk on your nature trail or nature walk today choose one area that is your favorite (if you have many people on your walk each person can choose a different area) and become a “guardian” of that area. Take a look at that area and think about what you can do to help protect that area. Can you pick up trash? Write to your city council about work that needs to be done? Donate prairie seeds? What else can you do? Start a journal or “main lesson book” for your area and write down at least one thing a week (or one a month) that you do for your area. Try to encourage others to adopt areas as well. Can you imagine what an amazing world it would be if everyone protected their own backyards?
Photography Notes (Hands): For the next few days we are going to practice different ways to hold the camera. Although a large part of a successful photo is lighting, focus, framing and all the other topics we have covered – it is also important not to forget many of the technical aspects – especially in today’s modern world of electronic cameras and “auto-mode” we have become so distant from the technology behind our own cameras. Today’s assignment is to work with your body as an “alternate tripod”. If you are like me you don’t really want to carry around a tripod – or even a monopod – every time you take a walk. Learning to use natural tripods around you is a good skill to practice. For these fungi photos I laid flat on the ground, propped my elbows up, and used my elbows as tripods. This really helped me get the shots of the fungi in the low light of the forest. When using your body as a tripod you can also use different methods and stances. Another favorite stance of mine is to place my legs solidly at shoulder’s stance, steady the camera on my chest and hold my breath. What are some ways you can find to steady your camera with your body today? What works and what doesn’t work? Try the elbow and chest method too.
Verse: Just Checking
Copyright Kristie Burns
Rap-rap, my fingers gently tap
The trunk of the maple tree
Peek-peek through the gap
Are the babies where they should be?
Who-cooks-for-you? my voice softly cries
To the evening breeze up high
My friend the barred owl always replies
If he’s home on his branch in the sky
Sniff-sniff I draw deeply the air
As I pass through woods on the trail
Will I smell the lilac bush fair?
As her delicate perfume I inhale?
*These poems have been created for many purposes – from early childhood circle time verses to inspirational or expressive. They vary from day to day so you may find the way you use them or enjoy them also varies. If you would like to set these poems to music consider our tutorial: Creating Your Ow Waldorf Verses or Finding Your Inner Voice.
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What is #Earthschooling365?
This series takes you through an entire year of our nature walks and is part of our non-profit project #Earthschooling365 at www.Earthschooling.org. The photos and posts in this series are all copyrighted. Please do not share or re-print them. Instead, share the link to this blog with your friends.
Along the way I will be sharing our favorite photo of the day, an inner work meditation for the day, photography assignment/tip for the day, nature walk theme for the day and a short verse for circle time (children) or meditation (teens/adults). We invite you to “walk along with us” this year, take some time to use the inner work meditation, be inspired by the nature walk theme of the day and perhaps even start a photo series of your own. To join the community on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram please tag your photos #Earthschooling365. To receive these inspirations in your e-mail inbox daily please subscribe to our blog alerts HERE. Don’t worry about missing days – you can join us as many days as you want this year!
Every day we will post one day. We will leave up 2 weeks of nature walks at a time. At the end of two weeks each nature walk will be transferred to the Lifetime Member’s Only Blog and will be accessible only to Lifetime Earthschooling Members. If you want to own the entire series without enrolling a an Earthschooling Lifetime Package Member you can purchase the entire series for only $35.00 (for the entire year!)
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Waldorf curriculum
Steiner inner work
Iowa photographer
Free Waldorf curriculum
Nature table
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