Today we will be exploring sensory listening and its roots.
Sensory listening is a gateway to a deeper connection to nature and your natural self,
Your soul self.
To understand how to bring sensory listening into your daily practice and life,
It needs a little context.
Grounding is a common word in spiritual communities which is based in science.
The surface of the earth has a negative charge but the ionosphere has a positive charge.
This positive charge is created in a number of ways.
Cosmic rays stream towards the planet and they knock electrons off air molecules which turn them positive.
Strong winds and dust in the atmosphere create friction and static that releases positive ions.
High humidity increases positive ions as do lightning storms and pollution such as dust increases the number of positive ions.
Electrical devices have their own electromagnetic fields that increase the positive ions in the ionosphere.
Now the natural negative ionic state of the earth is in a constant dance with these streams of positive ions.
Every day we move through a soup of negative and positive ions.
When we are exposed to more positive ions than negative,
It begins to impact the body and mind.
Mentally it can lead to irritability and anxiety.
Physically it can induce fatigue,
Nausea,
Headaches,
Inflammation and it can reduce your concentration.
Now this feeling of being subpar is a fast track to shutting down access to your inner wisdom.
A foggy brain and less than well body cuts off your ability to hear your inner voice.
Negative ions on the other hand reduce inflammation and anxiety,
Clear your mind and improve your mood.
Hence we have the phrase a breath of fresh air because it clears your mind and awakens your senses.
Getting away from pollutants and excessive positive ions inside your home or office or city is an instant reset.
Not long after the industrial revolution took hold in the UK,
Doctors began prescribing sea air and therapies to cure a host of illnesses.
Today scientists have a better understanding of how the sea cures.
The air above seawater is full of negative ions which helps to release serotonin and dopamine,
Lifting our moods.
And the colours and rhythmic sounds are also very relaxing and reduce cortisol.
Should you head to the forests and the woods you will get a bath of negative ions to reduce your cortisol and adrenaline,
As well as an injection of phytoncides which will boost your immune system.
If you throw off your gardening gloves and get your hands in the soil you will receive a serotonin boost from the mycobacterium in the earth.
Perhaps that's why children who are allowed to indulge in mucky play are often so happy.
And simply kicking off your shoes and walking barefoot on the ground connects you directly to the negative ions of the earth and rebalances your electromagnetic field.
Grounding is solid science for health and when we feel healthy we have better access to our soul selves and our inner wisdom.
This makes it possible to make changes to how we are guided and how we live.
Positive change begins with our connection to the natural world.
Years ago I worked for an environmental charity that had a pioneering project with a doctor.
Instead of prescribing medication for anxiety and depression for example,
He would prescribe time in nature and the charity I worked for would facilitate practical conservation activities to engage patients with the natural world.
Those patients would gain something while they were giving something.
This reciprocation is a vital principle of life.
Grounding is good for our health but it's a one-way street.
It's taking,
Not giving.
Our economic models are based on extraction,
Consumption and taking from the natural world as if it is a divine right.
If that permeates our relationship with nature where we only value it for what it gives us,
Then we aren't really benefiting from our time in nature and the earth most definitely isn't.
This is what led me in my work with entrepreneurs to find a different kind of relationship with nature and the planet.
One where reciprocity was at the heart.
And what I'm working towards is a dynamic where businesses are active participants in the ecosystems both giving and receiving,
Contributing to the well-being of planet people and economies.
And that begins with our individual relationship to the earth and it has to take grounding to another level which is anchoring.
The universe is fractal in nature.
Our bodies are these complex webs of energetic systems.
If we scale it up or down the same is true of our organs and cells and the entire earth that we live on.
The energetic systems are communication channels through which energy,
Intention and action flow.
Instead of passively grounding we can anchor our energy and intention into the earth's energy systems.
The earth has a highly complex energy system above ground which is in constant motion and transition.
Weather,
Moon cycle seasons and more bring dynamic change.
This is a reflection of the balancing act that's happening below ground.
Changes above ground are reflections of changing energy within the earth as it tries to maintain planetary balance.
Within the earth are webs of energy lines and these emerge from the center of the earth.
They come through the creation realms into a web that crisscrosses the globe.
These emerge through key points that are linked.
Back in the early 1900s Alfred Watkins coined the term ley lines.
He wasn't a spiritual man but he did come to view his discovery of the lines linking sacred sites as tapping into ancestral memory.
And whilst he may have considered these lines to be navigational in a very conventional sense,
They are perhaps more a response to the underlying energy of the land and where it emerges from the earth into a place.
This network of emergencies creates a topside grid of energy lines.
The concept of energy flows is part of our heritage,
It's just not part of our conscious engagement with nature.
But we can change that through anchoring.
Whilst there is a primary grid there is also a web like veins or tree roots that spread out from main arteries down to these tiny capillaries so that everywhere is connected to the energy system of the planet.
And it's why I say that businesses emerge from the place they are birthed because there is a deep primal connection to the land.
Dropping your awareness into the land below the surface level expressions of nature takes you to the life forces and that opens up a deeper conversation.
And then you can drop your intention to live,
Work and act in harmony with that energy right down into that energy grid and that anchors your energy into the energy systems of the earth.
And from that flows a natural participation,
A reciprocity,
What I call the breath of life.
And as part of earth's energy you can't act outside it without harming yourself.
Now this brings a whole new impetus to creativity,
It opens up an entirely new dynamic for businesses and it brings a different level of awareness to life.
Anchoring is a process of listening and intention that goes deeper in the connection to the workings of life rather than the expressions.
Now to make the most of this it's important to up our listening skills using all of our senses.
Sensory listening is an awakening.
We have constructed a world that is so mentally directed that our inherent body wisdom has been dialed down.
We have an innate ability to interpret the world through our senses.
But it is one we are losing.
The more we interface with life through technology,
The less texture there is to our lives and the more rapidly we lose that inner wisdom.
Dogs are wonderful role models for sensory awareness.
They have acute hearing and smell and they investigate the world nose first,
Making decisions based on the clues they pick up.
They are so good at this that they have been trained to track and create drugs,
Explosives and cancer.
They can pick up on subtle body changes and alert owners to impending medical episodes,
Not to mention their ability to read emotions and respond accordingly.
There are plants in the UK that are quite feared because of their toxicity.
One of those is hemlock and many people confuse this with the widely present and edible cow parsley.
I grew up with horses and always knew what was cow parsley and what wasn't,
Not because I knew how to botanically identify them,
But because the horses knew and showed me.
Now science would probably tell you that their knowing is a learned behaviour passed down through generations,
But I can't square that with what I've observed.
Horses are exceptionally adept at choosing what to eat and what to avoid or spit out,
Even when it is new to them.
And they use their senses to work it out.
There are definitely behavioural aspects that are passed on through the generations,
Such as knowing how to access grass in snow.
But when it comes to eating,
That's innate sensory ability.
They read the plant through their senses and they know if it is safe or not.
In summer you will often find horses and cows gingerly eating a thistle to support their liver.
They know what they need,
Not because they've analysed and researched,
But because they listen to their senses.
As I wander the fields and lanes in spring and summer in particular,
I often use upon the changing waves of plant that seem the same and I wonder how visible the changes that I see really are to others.
In early spring in the UK we have an explosion of yellow in the form of dandelions and that season is pretty short,
But those fluffy mounds of yellow,
They never disappear from the grass all summer.
All through the season there are waves of botanical headaches that follow.
Hawkweeds,
Hawkbits,
Hawksbeads,
South thistles,
They perpetuate yellow stars in the grass.
They can be notoriously difficult to tell apart,
But that's if we are looking only with our eyes.
Our ancestors were in the land so much more than we are today and they will have recognised many of the plants in other ways.
Smell,
Sound,
Texture,
Habit,
Time,
Behaviour,
Environment,
Community,
These would all have been signs that were naturally understood.
If we begin to listen with our senses then a new language becomes available that speaks directly to our DNA and opens up a conversation with the soul of the earth.
We can begin to understand the intention and the expression of the planet's life force.
The reality is that we cannot grasp the scale of the earth's intricately interwoven systems intellectually.
We can't understand how life works at a global level unless we listen to the earth itself.
Mapping,
Deconstructing,
Analysing,
Scientifically dissecting and reforming,
It helps us to understand the detail,
But not how a planet maintains its health and how it comes into balance.
That can only be achieved by listening to the earth.
To understand how to move forward in partnership with the planet and to thrive,
We can ground,
We can anchor and then we can explore the world with our senses.
Every life form is an expression of the earth.
It is an individual within the whole.
It has a shape,
A colour,
A texture,
A movement,
A sound that speaks of its purpose and function.
And we can learn so much about nature by looking at its structure and that's been the focus of scientific inquiry for centuries now.
But why is a cuckoo flower pale pink?
And why does the orange-tipped butterfly lay bright orange eggs upon it?
Is that practical?
Or is it artistic expression?
Zoom out from the plant and you will find its community,
A sea of colour,
Yellows,
Whites,
Pinks,
Blues and a plethora of shapes,
Sizes and habits.
Nature is an expression of soul through its complexity.
It is a gateway for each of us to understand the soul of the earth and its purpose within the universe and thus our own purpose within this grand scheme.
Instead of being an observer,
It's a way to reconnect to the whole as a being of nature,
An expression of the earth.
The conversation begins with paying attention to the smells,
Sounds,
Temperature changes,
Textures and feelings we have in the natural world.
It deepens when we spend conscious time in a space that calls us,
Listening to the heartbeat of the earth and the songs of the individual beings within a place.
This takes us deeper into the energy flow of the planet and the connection to all life and deeper still into a conversation with the earth itself.
It is a primal reset.
It's where restoration begins and it's not out there,
It's already within.
I'd like to share a practice with you that you can do anywhere to deepen your listening and reclaim memory in the present.
Find a comfortable position and close your eyes.
Take a deep breath.
Listen to the sounds around you.
Listen for the subtle quiet sounds and the texture of all the sounds together.
Feel the temperature of the air on your skin.
Explore the sense in the air and begin to take your awareness inwards to your sense of self.
Draw your energy downwards to your feet or root so you can feel the ground beneath you and the vibrations of the energy.
Visualizing the bustle of life and the networks of energy within the top layers of soil.
Microfilaments spreading out through the soil,
Reaching down into the air,
Inviting you into a deeper conversation.
Drawing you down into the earth.
As you travel,
Listen with your senses,
The feel of the experience upon your skin,
The messages within your body.
Sounds,
Sights,
Smells,
Textures,
Light.
Feel the flow of energy around you and explore how your body is responding.
You have a million conversations going on simultaneously,
But they're in harmony.
They're making perfect sense to your inner sage.
It is one voice,
A heartbeat emerging from below,
Pulses of energy and pure intention rising into expression.
Formless,
Yet known,
And you're sinking down towards the beating heart of the earth,
Immersing yourself in intention that pulses through you,
Awakening the wisdom in your DNA.
You're listening,
Rebalancing,
Resetting.
No words are needed.
Your cells understand.
When you're ready,
You can begin to float back up to your body.
As you come into your body,
You can look at nature again with fresh eyes and understanding,
Seeing that expression of spirit in form,
Intention in motion.
And you can look at yourself with renewed insight,
A being of nature,
Form,
And spirit in harmony.
Truth emerging from you into expression,
Ancient wisdom in your cells,
Guiding you forward into the future.
Thank you for listening,
And I hope to welcome you again.
Thank you for listening,
And I hope to welcome you again soon.
