Midweek Gentle Turning Practice: Speaking with Plants (part 2)
Happy Wednesday! As part of your Weaver subscription to This Isn’t it, I’m bringing you a 5- minute gentle turning practice for your midweek. You get a prompt for a meditative activity for disengaging from the powerarchy and connecting more closely with yourself and your surroundings. You may find it helpful to have a journal at hand, but it’s certainly not required. I hope these practices of body and heart bring you peace and connection in the middle of whatever storm is blowing around you at the moment.
If you want to catch up on past midweek turning points, you can check them out here.
In last week’s turnaround, we did an imaginative exercise about the intelligence of plants and their experience of being. We sat with the idea that plants are intelligent and aware. This week’s turnaround practice is about mutual awareness with plants. (Want to learn more about plant intelligence and awareness? Check out the books at the bottom of this post.)
Remember this: since plants have all of the same senses we do (and probably more), they are aware of US in their own plant way.
Sit with that for a minute more. Plants are aware. Of us.
They may actually know more about us than most of us know about them. No, really. Some researchers complain about human “plant blindness” in our present culture. Many people simply don’t notice plants. Like, at all. They could walk by a dandelion or a tree and simply not notice it exists because they are so focused on the humans and human artifacts around them. On the other hand, if plants are aware, it’s hard to imagine they are that ignorant of humans and our ways. I suspect our presence and impact on the world is hard to ignore.
Take another pause. Plants know something about you. Let that sink in again. Plants know you. Maybe they have wisdom to offer.
Now for a little activity. Find a plant near you, if you haven’t already. Maybe you have a favorite houseplant. Maybe there’s a tree outside. You don’t necessarily have to be in the same space with the plant. If you can see a tree, it can see you.
Imagine a story about YOUR day from the PLANT’s perspective. It might help to make it funny. What do you do that might seem weird or nonsensical to a plant? What does a plant think about clothes? What might a plant tell its plant children about you if it made up a bedtime story? Jot down a few sentences if you like, or just keep the story in your heart.
Bonus activity: Share your story with a family member or friend.
Thanks so much for subscribing! It really means the world to me to be on this journey together. If you enjoyed this midweek change of mind, please forward to a friend! It’s a free gift—they can read or listen to the meditation in the forwarded email even if they’re not a subscriber.
If a friend forwarded this to you and you want to learn more, check out my site. I unravel the domination mindset that permeates western culture to reveal healthier life ways and deeper connection to ourselves and our world.
Wishing you a week of meaningful moments,
P.S. Want to learn more about plant intelligence or awareness? Here are some of my favorite books on the topic, all written for non-scientists:
The Mind of Plants: Narratives of Vegetal Intelligence, a collection of essays and poems edited by John C. Ryan, Patrícia Vieira, and Monica Gagliano
The Light Eaters: How the Unseen World of Plant Intelligence Offers a New Understanding of Life on Earth by Zoe Schlanger
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate--Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben
Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest by Suzanne Simard