Have you ever just been raw and naked in nature?
Yes I mean, literally naked?
To experience the rawness of life around you?
So many of us never really consider the wonder of nature or life.
Most of us are living from one day to the next, being woken up by a loud sound. With one eye closed and your hand trying to reach the snooze button on your alarm.
Everyday, we try to find a reason why we should wake up to a new day. And then only to have to do it all over again the next.
With little motivation or none at all trying to step out of your bed, dragging yourself to the bathroom to do your daily morning routine, getting coffee to wake you up. You probably are checking your phone, emails… while trying to get a cab or get on your car.
You then hurry to go to your job or to school or wherever you need to be right in that moment.
Does this sound familiar?
Always on the go, not enough time to eat, or rushing to eat anything, the first thing you find.
And then you come home, after a long, busy day and you just want to sleep, sleep until the same routine returns all over again.
How long is it going to take until you remember who you were before you started to feel ‘safe’ under all these walls and shells that started covering you from the truth, from what is out there waiting for you?
“Come forth into the light of things. Let nature be your teacher.” – W. Wordsworth
We have suddenly forgotten what it’s like to feel and to just be.
To be real. To be raw. To be in Nature.
There’s a way of thinking that if you’re still, you’re not doing anything, therefore wasting time.
It’s not true, we have forgotten to make time for ourselves, to simply be as if we were young again running around the trees, barefoot on the grass without worrying where we need to go in 10 minutes.
By becoming raw and naked with nature, it’s undoing every layer that’s been created to protect you from your own vulnerability. You are able to open and feel more from life.
Little by little we start building these walls up for ourselves. And before we know it we are completely under a rock hiding away the way we truly want to express ourselves.
We give less and less time to ourselves about our emotions.
We ignore when we need to face something that’s being risen up, instead we choose to cover it, again and again.
It’s time to open up again. It’s time to get naked on every level, open yourself by spending time with nature.
Find balance between your life and nature
There are ways to balance this lifestyle, between work and yourself.
On your days of, take that time to go out into nature. Spend time in green spaces by going to a park.
The beach.
Or maybe even after coming home instead of going straight into bed, take a moment, just a moment to look at the stars and the moon.
Take in the infinite vast sky and embody it in your body.
When you are in nature, breathe in and feel the wind, or even the sunlight during the day against your skin.
“Research has shown that spending time in nature has been associated with decreased levels of mental illness, with the strongest links to reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety, in addition to increased self-esteem” – Preston
Once you have arrived in the place you chose in nature, I suggest to put away your electronics.
Simply just observe the nature all around you, how it’s making you feel, all of the colors you’re seeing. And if you listen carefully, it’s never fully silent … birds chirping, the wind moving through the trees, ocean.
Let go of anything else that isn’t there in that moment.
Not what you need to do tomorrow, or in a month or what you did yesterday or a year ago, but just in that exact moment where you are, is all you need to observe.
Teachings from Nature
There are some important lessons we can learn from nature, and one of them is stillness.
If you carefully observe flowers, watch the stillness they hold, the trees, also.
There’s no need for them to move around, just like you in that moment, you don’t need to move around.
“Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness.” – Eckhart Tolle
Taking action
Taking only 10-30 minutes a day in nature if you have a very occupied schedule, will help you enough to relax, and unwind.
Want to live a life that is raw and naked? Read Yogi Aaron’s story, Autobiography Of A Naked Yogi.
Seeing the sunrise or the sunset or just reading a book under the trees.
Be nowhere else but that moment.
The practice of being present will start to make a shift for yourself because you’re no longer being trapped by time, instead you’re making time.
This practice can even begin to create inspiration and creativity for you, to help you with your day, or night.
A sense of freshness and relaxation will flow.
Challenge yourself every day to just spend some time outdoors. As a result, you will start to create huge changes in your life.
One day you can just wake up early to see the sunrise or the stars at midnight!
I am lucky and grateful enough to now be in Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica, because it is it’s rich in nature. Furthermore, this experience of nature has allowed has awakened my spirit.
Nature has opened me up to a universe of infinite possibilities.
So, I challenge you
The next time you have free time, instead of grabbing your electronics, go outside. Grab your favorite book, your yoga mat or just a towel and allow yourself to relax, to get naked and raw with nature.
Some ways you can connect back to nature:
- Going to a national park
- Walking your pet
- Swimming in the ocean
- Going to the beach
- Surfing
- Watching the sunrise/sunset
- Paddleboarding
- Stargazing
- Garden
- Hiking
- Reading a book by the lake/water near you
- Hug a tree!
- & Much more.. get creative and take the time to create something new for yourself!
