The Sit Spot Sensory Inventory
A key first step in increasing your connection with nature is to become more aware of the most important tools that you have, your senses. This Sit Spot Sensory Inventory Activity can help you with this.
It often helps to start this activity by taking a few moments to relax and briefly focusing on your breathing. Close your eyes and feel yourself relax. Notice how what you are sitting on feels. Is it hard or soft? Take a long, deep breath in through your nose, and then breathe out through your mouth. Notice the quiet moment between the in-breath and the out-breath, the pause. Repeat this cycle of breathing 6 to 8 times, focusing on the pause between each inhalation and exhalation. ‘Finding the Pause’ can help to clear your mind, calm your autonomic nervous system and help you connect with how you’re feeling now, in the present moment.
Start by trying to practice your Sit Spot Sensory Inventory for 5 to 10 minutes each time and gradually build up to about 20 minutes, ideally every day. Once you have become more proficient at practicing your Sit Spot for longer you can focus more on the senses and activities that give you the most pleasure and that you enjoy the most.
Sight
Even if your Sit Spot is somewhere that is quite familiar to you, take some time to really look around and allow yourself time to notice things that you might not have noticed before. How has what you see changed since the last time you practiced your Sit Spot? Notice what is still and what is moving. Focus on what is straight ahead of you, but notice what you can see in your peripheral vision.
Sound
Next notice what you can hear. Many people find it easier to concentrate on their other senses when they close their eyes, so feel free to do this if you want to and it feels comfortable to do so, whilst you listen to what you can hear around you. Do you hear animals or birds? Do you hear the wind rustling the leaves? Notice the closest sounds and the sounds furthest away? What is the faintest sound that you can hear? Try slowly moving your head from one side to the other and back again and see if this changes the sounds that you can hear. Notice how the sounds of your breathing combines with the sounds of nature.
Smell
Either with your eyes open or closed, or your gaze lowered, take a couple of deep breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth and really take in the scents all around you. Perhaps turn your head from side to side to see can you pick up any subtle smells in the air. What does the air feel like in your nostrils? Can you identify any particular smells? If there is anything natural nearby your Sit Spot that you can pick up and smell that appeals to you, such as leaf litter that you can scrunch up, then do so, but ideally try not to disturb or pick anything living. Smells are one of the senses most closely related to memory. What feelings or emotions do these smells create?
Touch and Feeling
Next move your attention to the sense of touch and feeling. How does the breeze feel if there is one? What does the ground feel like under your feet? Do the parts of your body that are covered in clothes feel different to those exposed to the air?
Repeat this cycle for as long as you want. Explore which senses bring you the most pleasure and focus on them. Feel free to sit and explore all your senses at the same time if you wish. Try to practice your Sit Spot daily, or a least three or four times per week. Here is some advice about choosing a Sit Spot location.
