An Overview of the Practice of Nature Resonance Medicine
01 Introduction and explanation
Nature resonance was born out of a dream and a desire to help people connect with their original, indigenous, primordial being. From this work arises the development of a synergy between inner and outer awareness. In this activity, we realise that we are part of nature too, walking ecosystems. Nature made us, and we cannot be separated from this, despite the attempts of the reductionist culture we find ourselves in to convince us of this.
Re-enchantment with nature
The process begins with ourselves, and by working through our breath, we become aware of how we share the air with other beings around us; we also share the water, the soil, the sun, and everything with our environment.
The order in which these activities are engaged is carefully chosen to progress the state of consciousness in a deliberate fashion and should not be changed.
02 Facilitating this work
A facilitator’s course is currently being developed, as our decade of experience with practising Nature Connection with the Nature Resonance Medicine process has shown that words on paper are not suitable substitutes for learning through an embodied, live practice facilitated, either in person or online, by a trained Nature Resonance Medicine facilitator.
We are aware that each of the exercises here is a healing modality in its own right, and the facilitators’ course will explore each in depth.
03 Opening ceremony
Acknowledging that Nature and Life are sacred. Finding a way to honour the Circle of Life in a way that suits you, the directions, the seasons, and the elements, or whatever feels right for you.
For example:
We gather in gratitude with love arising.
We focus on the East, the land of the rising sun, the beautiful spirit of air, wisdom, and love; we bow to you.
We focus on the South, the land of the noonday sun, the beautiful spirit of fire, passion, and power; we bow to you.
We focus on the West, the land of the setting sun, the beautiful spirit of the earth, healthy manifestation and being; we bow to you.
We focus on the North, the land of the broad night sky, the beautiful spirit of water, understanding, and surrender; we bow to you.
We return to the centre, the land of spirit, ether, vitality, clarity and source.
All in the lower world, the middle world and the upper world. The ancients and ancestors, the brothers and sisters, the sun, the moon, the stars and the planets, and all through the multiverse in service with the one.
We thank you and honour you, beautiful spirits of love.
Nature Resonance Medicine – Becoming aware of the present moment in time and space.
04 Connecting with Self
Breathing
Bring your attention to your breathing. Notice the rate and depth. Take 3 or 4 breaths, noticing the rhythm of your breath. By placing your hands on your lower abdomen, you can encourage your breath to move down to meet your hands. There is no need to force the breathing rate to slow down or deepen; just become aware of it.
Breathing in through the nose allows your breath to slow to a calm rhythm.
Place your hands over your heart space and focus on how the heart calms as your breathing relaxes. This helps to release tensions in the body.
As one breathes in this manner, the breath slows down to a more natural rhythm, focusing awareness on the breathing and releasing tension. Deepen the practice of understanding the breath and allow yourself to breathe naturally.
Nature Resonance Medicine – Becoming aware of the Breath of Life
Embodiment
Scanning the whole body to notice tensions and encourage them to relax consciously.
Continuing to breathe, we will work through the body, noticing tensions and encouraging them to relax. There is no need to force this. If an area feels tense, focus on the tension with the in-breath and relax it with the out-breath, but do not worry if some tensions are not ready to let go.
Move your awareness to the muscles of your body, really feel them, and notice what it is like to be a muscle. Do the same with your organs when you relax your abdomen. The body really appreciates the attention, and with practice, you will be able to feel the energies of the life force moving with your attention, regenerating and revitalising your body.
Starting with the head. If you wish, place your hands on the scalp and breathe out, allowing it to relax. Now, move your focus to your forehead, your eyes, and the muscles around your eyes, and let your eyes clear of all the visual input you experience. The ears and all the sounds we are bombarded with. The cheeks, the nose, the mouth and the jaw. You may want to stretch your jaw and find yourself yawning or sighing with the release of tension. Now, please focus on the brain and encourage it to allow the thoughts to relax.
Moving down to the neck, how are the joints of the spine, the muscles, the throat and the vocal cords? If you need to stretch the head forward, backwards, or from side to side, out to the shoulders, and possibly include a few shrugs or rotations. Working down the arms to the wrists and hands, you may want to shake out some of the tension. And become aware of the energy centres in the palms of the hand, which allow our heart energy to flow into the world.
Coming back up to the shoulders and working down the back from the neck to the end of the tailbone. Working down the front of the body, checking in with the pectoral muscles, the diaphragm again, and the abdominal muscles.
Now, focus on the pelvic cradle, extending out to the hips, and then the backside muscles. Focus on the legs- the thigh muscles, the knee joints, the shins, the calves, the ankles. Checking in with the feet - how are the tops of the feet, what about the heels, the arches, the balls, and then the toes? Become aware of the energy centres in the soles of the feet that allow our energy to flow down to the Earth and the Earth's energy to flow up and fill us.
Finally, take a few breaths as you move your focus back up the body to see if any tensions are ready to relax.
Then open your eyes and refocus on the circle or your current location.
Nature Resonance Medicine – Becoming aware of one's own body and connection with the earth.
Innocence
Remember a time when you were a small child out in nature and enchanted, maybe by the clouds, the songs of the birds, some beautiful flowers, a rock pool, a babbling brook, some butterflies or a patch of moss. The way a small child can allow themselves to gaze with awe and wonder and see things with the eyes that look into the imaginal realm.
Nature Resonance Medicine – Becoming aware of the Innocence
Rise and stretch
When we stand up to prepare for the movement activities, a good stretch will help bring awareness to our suppleness.
05 Becoming Present in the World
Movement
Slow-moving awareness.
Walk normally around the place at your normal, brisk speed for a minute and then carefully slow down to half your speed for a minute. Slow down again to half that speed for a minute and move your arms slowly too. Reflect on the movements you see around you, like the breezes in the leaves, the swaying branches, and the waves on the shore.
Now return to one's normal, brisk speed and note the difference in your perceptions of your environment. Walking normally around the place at a brisk speed for a minute and then carefully slowing down to half one's normal speed for a minute. Then slow down again to half that speed for a minute, and then half it again. So, it is 1, then 1/2, and then 1/4, and then 1/8 speeds. Notice what is happening to one's perception, both of oneself and of one's surroundings.
Find your relaxed, erect poise. Find your balance and put all your weight into one leg.
Nature Resonance Medicine – Becoming aware of movement and its effect on the perception of one's surroundings
Balance
Slowly raise the other foot, but keep the toe in contact with the ground for balance.
Become aware of one's balance and slowly decide where to place this foot, lift it fully, take a step and place it on the earth. Place the heel down first and roll the foot down into the group, making full contact.
Now very slowly, shift your weight from the bearing foot to the one you have just placed down until all your weight is shifted over to this foot.
Now repeat the same exercise with the other foot.
Repeat this several times and experiment with placing your foot in front of you, behind you, or to the side.
Notice whether you also wish to move your arms in this exercise. Notice whether the balance is better in one leg than the other. Notice what happens to your senses and perceptions of the world around you.
After a few steps, stop.
Being Still
Stand still, pick an object or plant, and concentrate your focus on it; let your awareness absorb everything about the thing you have chosen to focus on. Do not attempt to describe it in any way; focus your attention on it and become aware of it for a few minutes.
Nature Resonance Medicine – Becoming aware of stillness and of one's surroundings
The Senses
Experiencing the senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste in various ways and taking a few minutes with each sense exercise.
Look around and see what you see.
Listen carefully, and close your eyes as you do this.
Touch something, a stone, a plant, or your skin, and notice the qualities you experience.
With an aromatic plant, rub the leaf between your fingers and smell it.
Taste the plant when you know what it is and that it is safe to eat.
In fact, touch, smell, and taste can all be experienced with some leaves of plants.
Really notice what you are experiencing and note and express your thoughts and feelings. Consider how they function and how they draw the outer world into us. Share with the group what one sensed, developing ways to describe them.
Some ideas......
Sight - colour, texture, movement, light and shadow, vitality-what else?
Sounds - nearby and further away- birds and different ones, insects, the wind, water flowing, the breeze through trees, waves-what else?
Touch - hot and cold, texture, sharp and smooth, furry, moisture-what else?
Smell - rain on soil, soil, leaves, flowers-what else?
Taste - green, woody, bitter, sour, sweet, salty, umami, chalky, pleasant, challenging-what else?
Other senses-balance, time, proprioception, interoception
Now, concentrate on each of them in turn and notice how they are within us. Each of them may be imagined within us, even for a fleeting moment. Again, take a few minutes with each sense and share with the group or note what you imagined.
This opens the door to inner qualities; in that way, we may learn to sense the inner world of Nature around us.
Nature Resonance Medicine – Becoming aware of our perceptions
06 Entering Relationship
Resonance
Feeling perception is not typically included in the conventional list of senses, but it is a most valuable one when engaged in this work. Sometimes, when we engage our senses while working with a plant or examining its medicine, we find that information comes from another sense—the sense of the heart. We get a sense of emotional tone since the heart is the organ of emotional perception and our emotional memories. The impressions we receive through our heart perception may be more of a gestalt rather than a left-brain style lecture on therapeutics from the plant (although the information does sometimes arrive in that form). As we receive impressions, emotions or memories, or impressions of animals, colours, or whatever arrives, it is good to note these down and see what they signify to you. We can also feel where the plant’s energy, its medicine, enters our body and where it moves to.
Tree Resonance
Have a walkabout and see if there is a tree that is inviting you to communicate. Ask its permission to do this exercise. It can be easier to perceive the heart field of another being if one spreads one's arms out wide and focuses one's gaze (although some people find it easier to work with their eyes closed).
Be aware that we are all responsible for setting the tone of our heart field and only allowing out what is beneficial and healthful for the being we are working with. As one becomes more fluent, one can try this exercise with another person but work with a tree initially.
Stand 30 metres away from the tree and then slowly move forward. Notice when one perceives the tree's energy- this may be felt as warmth, relaxation, or a nice fuzzy feeling. Often one finds oneself sighing (a relieved sigh), smiling, feeling a warm flush to the cheeks or similar. See how close it feels comfortable for yourself and the tree to approach. If the tree is ok with it, you can come close and hug the tree if you so wish.
Heart Resonance
Our hearts have a robust electromagnetic resonance, allowing us to perceive and transmit to other beings. Our hearts can feel and transmit at least 3 metres; trees have much larger heart fields even though their hearts are not physically the same as those of animals.
The exercise:
Two people stand about 15M or 20M apart, the resonator and the perceiver. Both open their arms and spread them wide, opening the heart field to each other. The resonator then sets the tone of their heart, projects the outer boundary of their heart field to a particular place somewhere between the two people and also selects the inner boundary closer to themselves, which is the one that they do not wish to be crossed.
The perceiver slowly approaches the resonator with their arms open, trying to feel when they enter the resonator's outer limit to their heart field. They indicate when they do, and they are now entering the heart field of the resonator, and the resonator should feel this, too, with their heart perceptions.
When the perceiver gets to the closer boundary, they should feel a threshold they do not wish to cross and indicate this to the resonator.
They then reverse roles and do the exercise again.
Loving Appreciation
With the conscious sensory acuity that you have become aware of and with your heart field perception now conscious, allow yourself to wander and a plant to call you. Give the plant some loving appreciation- in words or non-verbally, as you notice its strength, beauty, its character and meaning. Approach with a willingness to listen, to sense and feel what the plant has to communicate and give them plenty of appreciation and attention. Admire the plant's being and let appreciation and love flow freely from you towards it. You may wish to verbalise it and tell it what you love about it, or even sing, hum or tone to it. Plants really do like this, and it’s well known that plants treated in this manner grow better and more abundantly.
When you have finished, thank them and move away. Some people find that they may perceive more if they draw the plant or scribble down their impressions. Impressions may come as a sense, as words, as a memory, an emotional tone, or a colour. By having your innocent child present with you in this process, we transition from a reductive, left-brain mentality to a more heart-centred, whole-body capacity to perceive, appreciate, and utilise the language of the imaginal realm.
Nature Resonance Medicine - Becoming aware of loving the nature around us.
Wandering
Using awareness of the breath and the body scan to focus the inner consciousness and become aware of oneself from the inside, feel the tone, frequency, and hum of the various parts of oneself. Ask your inner innocence to come now and facilitate this connection in pure simplicity. By breathing slowly, relaxing and moving slowly, focus on being present. Become aware of one's thoughts and emotions, and gradually develop acceptance, allowing oneself to be present in the moment.
Now, wander around using your senses and make yourself aware and available to the natural beings around you, including plants, insects, animals, and elements. See which plant wants to connect with you. In connection, practice receptivity and realise that there is no set way to receive the resonance from the plants; it may be non-verbal, such as impressions, memories, or inspirations, or a mixture of all these things and more.
The main point is to be in stillness and listen with all of one's awareness. Contemplating the shape, colour, and movement of the plant is a great way to move into a coherent resonance.
Nature Resonance Medicine - Becoming aware of being available to the beings around us.
Connecting
Accept the invitation to connect. It may be very subtle or not. Just let yourself play this game and move into a receptive frame of being, gently listening with all your senses, inner and outer. Accept what impression may come in whatever shape or form, and respond if you wish. Ask questions, too, which is very important, and shape meaningful questions for both parties.
Nature Resonance Medicine – Becoming aware of the communications
07 Closing
Feed back
Form a comfortable circle and give feedback in a round-robin way or make some notes for yourself.
Closing Ceremony
When you are finished, prepare to close the circle just as you opened it, giving thanks for the generosity of Life. Check your boundaries are appropriately set for the activity you are moving on to.