Sit Spot Practices Using ISOMA
This is a companion piece to the Sit Spot post, as well offering some applications of the ISOMA post.
This post, more than anything, is meant to help boost your own creativity in how you might make your Sit Spot meaningful to you. There are tons of little practices you can do at your Sit Spot. The most important thing to remember is that we only do a little bit, and much more of this is about courting that wonderful state of being. You may notice that each one of these practices will end with an invitation to drop the project, let it coast, and just be. We’re taking that important wisdom from the Tao Te Ching: “when your work is done, retire. That is the way of the sage.” Retire means to let the soft animal of your body do the driving. Just be along for the ride.
This being state is where your deepest intelligence of your whole being gets to do its magic, and you get to notice it and enjoy it. You will inevitably notice that other creatures in the natural world respond to you very differently as you change your state. You will notice that you notice different things when you are more in the being state, and that your senses actually do change in quality. You might get curious about what else there is to discover, how this is changing you in your everyday life, and what this is doing for your relationships over time.
The Practices
I suggest making each of these your own or getting inspired and trying something new. If you find something you like, and want to share it, please let me know. The meaning channel practice of making your Sit Spot meaningful to you can be a great place to start. Orientation and the 5 senses are also a “bread and butter” practice to come back to again and again. Including a practice of thanks will always nourish. Including the sensation channel and image channel in whatever way works for you will truly deepen your experience at the Sit Spot and in your everyday life.
Image Channel
Wide Angle Mind
I’ll write a whole post on this one of these days. For now, while at your Sit Spot (or anywhere else for that matter), bring your awareness to the bigness of the place. While still oriented through the 5 senses, include an awareness of a bird’s eye view of where you are in the place. Have your mind go big and wide. You can play with making it bigger and including the nearby mountains, the movement of the weather and where the wind is coming from, the direction of the sea or of Mt. Baker. Let your awareness be wide and big while you are still oriented.
Then let the practice coast and retire all effort.
After Image
Use your sense of sight to get to know one object (a cone, a flower, a feather, a leaf, etc.) Stare at it for longer than usual and wonder at it. Then close your eyes and see if you can still see the object in your mind’s eye. Wander it and turn it over in your mind’s eye. You can also do this with the landscape or with groups of objects. When you open your eyes again and look at the object, try to step out of the performance/critical mind. There is no success. Notice what details you had missed. You can do multiple rounds.
Then let the practice coast and retire all effort.
Eidetic Games
When you are looking at something or a part of the landscape, let your mind’s eye “see” what is on the other side (the part that you can’t see with your sense of sight.) If you are looking at a big rock, as you look at it, “see” what the other side looks like. “See” it from underneath. The analytical mind is totally right when it says this is impossible and that it’s your imagination. Yes! And it has value. You may find that you really start to pay attention to things and map the world in very different ways if you keep this practice up. It can be fun and enlivening.
Then let the practice coast and retire all effort.
Sensation Channel
Active Body Scan
While you are out at your Sit Spot, become still at times. Try to scan your whole body for physical sensations while your eyes are open and you remain oriented. If you notice something pleasant, notice where your body registers the pleasantness. Just for a moment and let it pass. If it works for you notice when the sensations in your body are just like the nature all around you. They arise and pass and you don’t really control them. They just are.
Then let the practice coast and retire all effort.
Mirror Animals
We have mirror neurons- biological communication transmitters that cause the cells in our own bodies to mimic what we are observing. If you watch someone swing a stick, mirror neurons will help your own muscles to figure out how to act out the same thing. It is how we learn so much of what we learn, especially in early development. That being the case, when you see another animal (especially a mammal) move, your own motor neurons will fire. You can actually feel in your body what it is like to be a squirrel bounding up a tree. You can feel the way your body flaps its wings. The way the human psyche/biology works, you can even feel yourself as a tree bending in the wind. Give it a try and see what the result is for you.
Then let the practice coast and retire all effort.
Listen with Your Body
If your body is feeling sensitive enough and your mind happens to be quiet enough, then you might find that you can listen with your body sensations. Literally, this means feeling the sensations in your body when sound waves hit them. In the right conditions, you can listen with your whole body. If it doesn’t work for you, just smile and do something else. Then maybe come back to this sometime when you are feeling at ease or curious about it.
Then let the practice coast and retire all effort.
Orientation Channel
The Five Senses
Take some time while at your sit spot to practice letting your five senses open up. With sight, you can practice expanding your peripheral vision and letting it go very wide. With sound, you can wiggle the insides of your ears back and forth, then listen for the quietest or the farthest sound in 4 directions. With smell, you can remind yourself that the air is a substance full of information; imagine your nose long and sensitive as a dog’s and then just notice the subtle differences in the smell of the air. You can also start smelling things at your sit spot. With taste, of course, learn what’s edible and try it! But you can also taste the air as it swirls in your mouth with each breath. If it helps you to enjoy the experience, you can bring your favorite beverage with you and really lean into tasting it as if for the first time. With touch, you can feel the atmosphere and all of its quality. You can also close your eyes and explore the ground or a nearby plant.
Then let the practice coast and retire all effort.
Stillness
Try for at least one minute of total stillness every time you are at your sit spot. Find a comfortable position and a place that you’d like to look toward, and then let your entire body be still. Even the eyes. Let the eyes go soft and the vision wide. It can be helpful to just imagine you are a rock or a tree. Then notice all that is moving around you. Keep the attention outside while you are doing this. Just total stillness and orientation. Occasionally, you can try this for longer periods of time. You may find some real value to this practice.
Then let the practice coast and retire all effort.
Go a New Way
This is great for the Sit Spot, but it’s also great for your everyday life. The practice is simple. Go a new way. Try to take a new path or a different direction, or even the same path in a different way. You can look up or walk backwards or crawl through a game trail. I’ll bet that the bushes that the mind says are impassable are actually not that bad to walk through… and if you take that new way, you may even discover that the bushes are their own little ecosystem.
Then let the practice coast and retire all effort.
Meaning Channel
Make the Sit Spot Meaningful to You
This may mean you consider it a contemplative practice. It may mean that you tap into the kind of relationship you always wanted to have with Nature. It may mean that it is where you become a kid again. It may mean that this is where you practice your survival and thriving skills. It may mean that this is where you get to slowly learn about plants or birds or yourself in your own natural way. Whatever it is, the invitation is to find the way to make this entire practice have real, enlivening meaning for you.
Nature as a Mirror
If you have a question about Life or about yourself or about your relationships, you can actually ask it while you are in your sit spot. After you ask it, pay attention. The more you lean into this and really pay attention, the more you will see. Notice the first, quick answer, and then wait and keep paying attention. You will inevitably find some wisdom.
Then let the practice coast and retire all effort.
Ecology and Other Beings
There is so much psychological and spiritual knowledge around connecting with nature. Enjoy whatever works for you. For this practice, you get ground yourself in simplicity and direct experience by just really noticing and learning about the actual place that you are in. If you spend time in your sit spot and get to know the individual birds that live around you or the raccoon that visits your yard, you will being to develop some direct understanding and personal stories about these beings. You learn their calls and their quirks. You learn what they eat, where they sleep, and how they nest. The become complex individuals that you have a relationship with.
You can research and learn a little bit each week about something at your Sit Spot. It will deeply enrich your experience.
Affect Channel
Thanks
The practice of giving thanks is, for me, one of the most transformative practices of my entire life. Truly. If you go to your sit spot and make a practice of giving thanks to all the living beings there in whatever way works for you, you will find that this practice will transform you over time. It is often subtle. But after many years of doing this, I’m convinced it is one of the most nutritious things we can do. If you can feel comfortable enough with it, saying is out loud tends to be more powerful.
Then let the practice coast and retire all effort.
Metta, Prayer, Kindness, or Good Wishes
Sending Loving Kindness (metta), prayers, or good wishes to the place itself can be a wonderful moment. Orient and let the place in. Then see if there is any part of you that wishes something good for the place or for any being living there. Then practice saying the words in your mind or out loud. If you feel any emotion in your body (which won’t always happen), just let it be a part without having to feed it or fight it. Then send it out.
Then let the practice coast and retire all effort.
Heartsing
The heart singing is a wonderful life practice when the time is right. You can practice it right there in your sit spot. It’s so simple there. Just use orientation, notice where you are, and ask, “what makes my heart sing about this place right now?” Then notice how the heart, mind, and/or place respond. Again, you might not notice something every time, but with this simple practice you will begin to tune up your awareness for this vitalizing state of being.
Then let the practice coast and retire all effort.
May you enjoy these practices. If any of them don’t work for you, just set them aside and invite what does. Thanks and be well!
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