Learning the language of nature

We all come from hunter gatherers. We have all the equipment to survive as they survived but we have lost the experience and the brain patterning that made their senses strong.

It should come as no surprise that we can survive better in our modern high pressure, time starved world if we learn and practise some of the skills of our ancestors. Our senses are the bridges to deep relaxation, increased creativity and intuition and where better to learn how to revitalise our senses than in nature. Who better then, to teach us than our co-inhabitors of earth, the animals and the birds.
Movement
For most of us, walking is a head down, heel first, leaning forward movement. In the animal world, no creatures walk like that, as having your head down means you cannot see opportunity or danger. Heel first damages your heels and knees and jars your back and leaning forward means you trip and fall if you lift your eyes. Our ancestors wouldn't have walked like this.

Try walking like the fox. Keeping your eyes up and your spine straight and all your weight on one foot, lift the other foot and move it forward slightly less than your normal stride. Relax the moving foot and place the outside of it down gently, feeling the surface, then, if clear, roll the rest of the foot to the ground and then transfer the weight. You should always be able to lift and replace the moving foot before you transfer the weight, if the ground is uneven.

This method of walking will feel strange at first, because you are using your thigh muscles rather than your calves, but persevere and you will feel the benefits physically and emotionally as you move in a more natural way. Lipan Apaches could run 300 miles without stopping using this gait!
Seeing
For most of us seeing is a focused activity. We look around intensely, first at one point and then at another but by doing this we miss most of what is happening around us. Animals and birds do not see like this and neither did our ancestors. They would focus when they needed to but for 90% of the time they would use wide angle vision. The natural world is full of opportunities and dangers. Focus all the time and you miss out.

Why don't you try using Owl eyes? Allow your eyes to defocus then move your arms out wide by your sides and behind you. Slowly bring them forward while staying unfocussed until you can see your fingers moving at the peripheral of your vision. For most of us that is nearly a 180% angle of vision. Try the same exercise with your fingers above and below your head. Again when you move the hands forward until you can see the fingers move you will find you have nearly 180% angle of vision. Although you cannot see detail quite as well you have wide angle of vision and your eyes are better able to spot movement. Only then do you focus to see what is causing the movement. Now try fox-walking and owl eyes together. You will be surprised how much more you notice and because you are not walking in your old way you will not trip up. That is why I taught fox walking first! Fox walking in wide vision takes you quickly into an Alpha brainwave state. It is a great way to relax and meditate.
Hearing
Watch your cat or your dog or your horse when it is listening to the sounds of nature. It's ears can move to face the sound it is hearing, giving it a much greater clarity and accuracy than humans.

Try using deer ears. Cup your hands behind your ears and move them forward towards a sound and you will increase the clarity and accuracy of your hearing. You will also be surprised by sounds you did not hear while in normal hearing mode.

Have you ever wondered how animals seem to be able to easily avoid human beings? It is simple: the birds tell them. All birds have five voices that are easy to identify. Four are baseline voices when the bird is relaxed and feeling safe.
These are:

1. Their song - all birds have a song they sing. When they sing it they are marking the boundaries of their territory or attracting a mate or just being joyful. Native Americans used to teach their children that when you stop a bird singing you are interrupting an action of worship.

2. Their call - Birds call out to their partners or other birds of their species to say 'Are you OK?' 'Yes, I'm OK', 'Any danger?', 'Nope, all clear' etc.

3. Male aggression - this voice may sound like an alarm call but there is no danger around. It is just two males strutting their stuff, showing off to their women and protecting their turf. You will know it is male aggression because other birds will be singing or calling, which they would not do if real danger threatened.

4. Feed me - the voices of hungry young birds are very similar to hungry young human beings.

5. The fifth voice is the alarm call - the noise a bird makes when it is threatened. Alarms calls are usually short, sharp and loud, and everything in nature is tuned into them. As soon as you set off a bird's alarm call every animal in the vicinity freezes, listens and then creeps away and hides.

It takes about 20 minutes of you sitting quietly and still in nature for baseline behaviour to re-establish itself. That means that some people will never ever experience baseline in nature.

Bird alarms are also a great way for you to extend your awareness of nature. When you are sitting quietly, bird alarms will alert you to what is going on around you. Observation of the height to which a bird will fly when alarmed will also tell you whether it is a weasel, a cat, a fox or another human that has caused the alarm.
Smelling, Tasting and Touching
Working with our senses of smell, taste and touch in nature will also increase our enjoyment of our natural environment and provide great ways to relax and meditate. Feel the different textures in nature. Allow the wind and rain to touch your skin. Pick up leaves and grasses and earth and delight in the subtle smells. Taste berries and lime leaves and grasses and enjoy the sweet and sour.

Bringing It Together Using our senses in nature in the ways described above will open a new awareness to what is alive and vibrant around us. Acting as tourists in our own land allows us to rediscover its beauty and contrasts. Take a different route home. Break some of the patterns in your life and you will be amazed by the new and exciting things you notice around you.

The more your awareness of your surroundings grows, the greater the awareness of your inner world will be. You will begin to get insights into your actions and reactions in life. You will start to slow down, relax and become more creative. And strangest of all, as you develop your five senses, you will find your sixth sense becoming a more powerful tool, with more problems solved through intuition, more breakthrough ideas and a better feel for decision making. Go on.

Get out in nature. Lose your mind and come to your senses!

Author: David Hill