“The Land is the real teacher. All we need as students is Mindfulness.” - Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweet Grass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and The Teachings of Plants.
Dr. Robin Wall Kimmerer’s words often are echoed by Forest and Nature School practices and pedagogy. The children explore Nature intuitively with all their senses and nurture a strong bond with the Land as their teacher.
The children and, their partners in learning, the educators decided to embark on a mindfulness walk on this bright Winter day, focusing their five senses on each detail that spoke to them. The group walked silently through the woods taking quiet and mindful steps.
It was inspiring to observe each person’s unique response to the richness of colours, textures, sounds, and movements surrounding us in the winter landscape. Each person would stop at times and observe a leaf, a footprint in the snow, an intricate pattern on a tree, a soft tuft of grass dancing in the wind with a lovingly quizzical expression. A group would stop here or there to observe the majestic canopy above us.
As a conclusion to our mindfulness walk the group gathered to offer their observations, inquiries, and ideas.
“I saw a Winter Parrot, it was here in winter, and it was sooo colourful, and it was so noisy, and it was so big, and it flew up above us!” - some explorers shared with enthusiasm. This observation was a perfect example of a personal relationship forming with the living being through creation of a personal story and an imaginative name. The children had a chance to form a relationship, compose a story, and contemplate their understandings.
After some time passed, our inquiry lead us to researching the birdsong we heard, and we discovered that our Winter Parrot has many names: Pileated Woodpecker, and Dryocopus pileatus (common name is an exact translation:). We were able to listen to our Winter Parrot again and again using technology. The children described the unique ways Winter Parrot moved, the powerful song they heard, and the beautiful colours they saw.
The children offered stories about other observations such as the sounds of “crunching snow” under our boots. The children discovered tunnels “little animals dug in the snow”, footprints that told stories of the lives of “Squirrels, Cayotes, and large wild cats” that shared the forest with us.
In our busy lives, mindfulness practices help us slow down, help us internalize our learning, help us understand others and ourselves, help us contemplate ideas, form understandings that are free of pressure and stress.
Learning with a sense of wonder in a stress free environment helps us understand the intricacies and complexities of the world. Please give yourself time, take mindful walks and tell us about your discoveries.
Éva
