Hello, and welcome to the lecture for the meditation on nature. Today I'm out near Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge, which is not too far from where I live. And I'm hoping that I can turn you on to this ultimate mindfulness meditation. I was born with a very deep spiritual connection to nature. And that was enhanced by my father, who took me out duck hunting as a small child. Now, if you've never been duck hunting, what you do is you go out in the morning before sunrise, and you sit a duck blind and you wait, and you wait, and you wait.

And so as a small child, it was like the ultimate Zen Meditation because I got to see nature in ways unbelievable. So as you settle into the rhythm of nature, which is always in motion, but never in a hurry, I saw things like the sunrise through the fog. I saw ice form and then melted. When I saw the colors of autumn change, I would see the angle of light change through the day. And this whole natural setting to me became very magical. And I was so inspired by the early duck hunting trips, I went on with my father, that I wanted to earn a master's degree in geology, as I got older in the hopes that I could work in the wilderness.

And I did get to work in the wilderness because I spent nine years as a mineral exploration geologists, and two of those summers were incredible. So what we would do is I worked in northern Alaska and northern Canada, up near the Arctic Ocean. And what we would do each day is it I would get dropped off by a helicopter in this vast wilderness. And I spend the day hiking around looking for precious minerals. And at the end of the day, we get picked up by a helicopter. And so what I learned from those early experiences as a child and then later as a geologist, is that nature is alive.

I mean, everything is alive. The rocks are alive. The ground is alive. The trees are alive. Plants are alive, the skies alive, the animals alive, the wind is alive, everything is alive. And when you slow down and tune into that unhurried motion of constant activity, it becomes very apparent that behind the veil of this 3d world, there is a presence, or an energy or a spirit that is bringing this entire 3d world to life.

So if you slow down and listen and tune into this presence, you will find out that it will always let you know that it knows that you are there. And so what will happen is they'll start to interact with you. And so for me, what I noticed is I would start to have these really unusual encounters with wildlife to the point where they're actually very meaningful, and I begin to start to understand the meaning behind animal totems. So that may not happen for you and it may not happen for everyone, but it may be something just as simple as the sun breaking through the clouds are seeing a beautiful flower in an open meadow. So the task that I'm taking on today is to try to open up your world and open up your mind and your experiences to experience this living presence behind nature in only five minutes.

So I'm going to ask you to do if you can, so I'm going to ask you to find a place where you can do this meditation away from people. Now I know that may be difficult if you live in a city, but all cities have parks and all cities have skyline, and all cities have sky. So what happens with people when we imprint ourselves in our society on top of nature's is that the spirit of nature tends to hide itself beneath the surface. And we can't experience it due to our distractions and our unawareness. But if you go to someplace where there are no people are there very few people, this presence will make itself known again, and all you need to do is slow down to the rhythm of this unheard constant motion. So you can do this meditation, sitting or walking, it doesn't really matter.

But I will ask that as you do this meditation that you keep your eyes open, and begin to sink into the awareness of this increment. Presence. So without any further talking from me, let's go to this really incredible meditation. I'll see you there.