Click here to join our daily meditations to support establishing a regular sitting practice.

Search Sangha Live

Mindfulness in Nature:
Cultivating Embodied Awareness

Live Online Course

With Mark Coleman

June 1st, 2021 - June 14th, 2021

Join us in exploring both our inner and outer nature, by practicing presence in the outdoors.

Many ancient wisdom teachings, including those of the Buddha, ask humans to pay attention to the richness of life on our planet, to offer gratitude for all that we receive, and to care for all living things. And yet, while the earth calls for our attention, our focus is lost in digital screens and indoor living. As a result, we feel deeply disconnected, distracted, and dulled. We also fail to respond wisely as the earth and its species suffer greatly.

The good news? We can reawaken our sensory awareness by stepping out into any natural setting and skillfully expanding our field of our attention. Through meditation in the natural world, we can open our minds and hearts, and form a deeper connection with all living things.

Mark Coleman Teaching

World-renowned meditation teacher, Mark Coleman, will be leading this month-long, nature-based mindfulness course. Mark is an “inner and outer explorer,” author, senior meditation teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center, founder of Awake in the Wild, and co-director of Mindfulness Training Institute, who has led mindful wilderness retreats around the world for twenty years.

A new weekly, themed “module” of this course will begin every Tuesday. With each module launch you’ll receive 3 new lesson, exercise, and assignment videos (approx. 45-60 mins total). The modules will conclude with LIVE interactive Q&A sessions with Mark on Sundays — see schedule below. All interactive sessions will be recorded and posted in the days afterwards, for those who are unable attend live.

Sign up for “Mindfulness in Nature,” and learn how to use nature-based mindfulness practice to live in greater harmony with yourself and the world around you.

Intimacy with nature can help us to feel more alive, connected, joyful, and loving.

By taking the time to meditate outside, we can…

Awaken our senses.
Through practicing sensory awareness by focusing on sight, sound, taste, touch, smell, we can cultivate an intimate relationship with the present moment. By meditating on our immediate felt experience, we begin to feel more enlivened and embodied; more awake and alive.

Feel a greater sense of connection.
When we practice mindful awareness in nature, we re-establish a rich intimacy with the world around us, and we feel more inter-connected with the intricate web of life. We feel viscerally we are of the earth not on the earth. We remember that we are innately whole.

Access radiant qualities of the heart and mind.
The joy of listening to morning bird-song. The delightful smell of a blooming flower. The awe of witnessing a butterfly emerge from a chrysalis. These wonders of nature can help us to find balance, and build resilience; to offset habitual negativity bias; and, to navigate the high stress of our times.

Open to deeper dimensions of love for the earth and all its species.
Mindfulness in nature can help us to tap into grief as we behold the loss and destruction of the earth’s eco-systems. This tenderness can be used to motivate us to become more active, loving stewards and protectors of the earth.

Module 1: Coming to our Senses

Mindfulness In Nature

Since most people spend 90-95% of the time indoors, our species is becoming sensorily deprived.

In our first module, Mark will guide us through shifting away from the trance of habitual thinking into full, embodied awareness.

We’ll learn how paying attention to sound, sight, taste, smell and touch can open us up to the beautiful, changing tapestry of experience; and how this grounding sensory awareness meditation practice is effortless, and always available to us.

Module 2: Exploring Our Elemental Nature

Daily Practice In Nature

The pandemic has exacerbated our common feelings of isolation and separateness. By meditating on the elements of life, we can rediscover our profound inter-connection and dispel the myth of separation.

In this module, Mark will lead us in investigating the natural elements and our relationship to them. For example, with something as simple as breathing, we remember that we inhale oxygen freely given from the trees, grasses and plankton, and as we exhale and release carbon, we are giving back to the cycle of life.

Mindfulness In Nature

“Not only does nature support awareness, she offers a doorway to insight and understanding.”

-Mark Coleman, From Suffering to Peace

Module 3: Enjoying Awe & Wonder

Mindfulness In Nature

In a world so often full of suffering, deliberately turning our awareness to beauty can reconnect us to our lightness of being. In this module, Mark will help us to turn to what gladdens our heart in the outdoor world — as easy as stepping out into our yard and noticing what’s happening around us.

No matter the difficulties we face on a daily basis, when we stop to listen to birdsong, feel the kiss of the breeze, or gaze up at the infinite night sky, we can experience profound, uplifting feelings of joy and peace.

Module 4: Protecting What We Love

Mindfulness In Nature

As we deepen contact with the natural world through a mindful awareness, often what arises is Solostalgia: the grief and loss felt when some part of nature is harmed. As we become more intimate with nature, our hearts open. When that which we love is suffering (as our species and eco-systems are), the natural response is to care.

During our final week together, Mark will help us pay attention to the mix of strong emotions that arise when we contemplate the ecological crisis. We’ll also supportively sense into what action and movement want to arise to care and protect all species and the earth herself.

Live Online Course Details

Mark Coleman

Pre-Recorded Video Teachings

Filmed in high definition, 50-60 minutes of video lessons from Mark each week will keep you engaged as you tune in through body, mind and heart.

Guided Meditations

Whether you have little or lots of meditation experience, Mark will help you to strengthen your skillset through a variety of nature-based mindfulness exercises.

Wise Relationship To Our Experience

Community Forums

Your online meeting spot to connect with your coursemates, post thoughts and questions, and find support.

Seated Meditation

4 Live Video Q&A Sessions

Each Sunday, join Mark live to discuss our present experiences as a collective, to ask our teacher questions, and receive direct, insightful feedback.

Schedule

Photo - Alarm Clock - Schedule

Dates & Times

Course launch: 1 June (no meeting)
Interactive 1: 6 June (LIVE 60 minutes)
Interactive 2: 13 June (LIVE 60 minutes)
Interactive 3: 20 June (LIVE 60 minutes)
Interactive 4: 27 June (LIVE 60 minutes)
Note: Interactives will be recorded
for those who cannot attend

About Mark Coleman

Mark Coleman Profile Photo

Mark is an inner and outer explorer, who has devotedly studied mindfulness meditation practices for three decades. He is passionate about sharing the power of meditation and has taught mindfulness workshops and meditation retreats in six continents for the past twenty years.  Mark is a senior meditation teacher at Spirit Rock Meditation Center and has taught there since 2000. Mark holds a MA in Clinical Psychology and draws on his extensive experience in working with people as a therapist and coach.

Through the Mindfulness Training Institute Mark leads Professional Mindfulness Teacher Trainings in the US and UK annually.  Mark likes to share the fruits of meditation to wider audiences and founded The Mindfulness Institute, where he has brought mindfulness training programs to companies and the nonprofit sector across North America and Europe. Mark is a trainer for  the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute, developed at Google and teaches on their teacher trainings.

Mark is an unabashed nature lover and, through his organization Awake in the Wild, he shares his passion for integrating meditation and nature. He leads wilderness meditation retreats from Alaska to Peru, taking people on inner and outdoor adventures. Through Awake in the Wild, Mark also leads year-long meditation-in-nature teacher trainings in the US.

Mark is the author of From Suffering to Peace: The True Promise of Mindfulness, Make Peace with Your Mind: How Mindfulness and Compassion Can Help Free You from the Inner Critic and Awake in the Wild: Mindfulness in Nature as a Path of Self-Discovery. 

Mark lives in Marin County, California (U.S.) and enjoys spending his free time hiking, biking and kayaking.