Recording and Listening Blog

April 1, 2015

My all-time favorite Recording and Listening experience, especially at this time of the year, is walking with the Mentor outside.

It is a treat to put on my walking shoes, slide my recorder into my pocket, and take off walking. The first thing I usually do when stepping outside is take a big, deep, breath and look up at the sky. We spend so much time confined in boxes— rooms, offices, homes, cars — that it feels really good to consciously experience and appreciate the spaciousness and lack of confinement outside.

It feels good to open up to the senses: to smell the air, the plants, and whatever else might be wafting about; notice the colors and shapes of the trees and various plants; feel the breeze on the skin and feet on the ground; and tune in to the sounds of the birds, the insects, and the breeze rustling in the trees.

Bringing awareness to my surroundings and senses in this way always leads to an experience of thisherenow and a feeling of connection and belonging, no matter what was going on before heading outside for a walk. It feels good to move the body and enjoy the blessings of the beauty and mystery of Life. This experience is very conducive to Recording and Listening.

Sometimes I describe into the recorder what I am seeing and feeling as I walk along and the Mentor joins in and we enjoy the walk together. Sometimes we pick something to focus on during the walk —like how many different birds we hear or how many things we see that are round.

Other times we talk about something that is going on and do some process exploration. Sometimes we do a two-handed recording, in which I talk about a situation and ask if the Mentor will weigh in on it when I put the recorder in the other hand.

I haven’t found any kind of recording that I do at any other time that I can’t do with the mentor on a walk, and I really enjoy Recording and Listening when I am walking because I love being outdoors and feel relaxed and comfortable.

Gassho.
 

  • Schedule a “Morning with the Mentor” walk for yourself and record about your senses, try the two-handed exercise, or see what arises that inspires you to Record and Listen.

     

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