A Hidden World is Waiting to Be Discovered...
“The mountain says you live in a particular place. Though it’s a small area, just a square mile or two, it took me many trips to even start to learn its secrets. Here there are blueberries, and here there are bigger blueberries ... You pass a hundred different plants along the trail—I know maybe twenty of them. One could spend a lifetime learning a small range of mountains, and once upon a time people did.”
—Bill McKibben
“Sit Spot” is a practice of cultivating a deeper relationship with a place and the beings who live there, simply by showing up: spending time and being attentive.
The practice of Sit Spot invites us to cultivate regularity and ritual, as well nurture patience and inner peace by being still and “uni-tasking” rather than multitasking. We practice mindfulness in nature, being in the present moment, just as it is, just as we are.
Because we're in the living, ever-changing world outdoors, this practice is often anything but quiet and still, however! We awaken all of our senses and allow ourselves to be captivated by the activity of this world, the patterns of wind, birds, light, plants, and more.
We can discover a “secret world” unfolding in plain view… if we only pay attention.
In this self-paced course, four weekly modules include…
13 bite-sized teaching videos to offer accessible instruction to support you in cultivating the Sit Spot practice. You'll be introduced to the latest scientific research on the benefits of spending time in nature, delving into important related topics, such as sensory anesthesia, species loneliness, and reciprocity. You'll benefit from all that I've learned and read as a Certified Mindful Outdoor Guide.
Sit Spot practice invitations that help you progress through selecting your sit spot location, establishing your routine, opening your senses, and deepening connection. These invitations are supported by guided meditation recordings.
Reflective writing prompts to explore, deepen, and document what you're noticing, experiencing, and feeling.
Curated resource collections of books, articles, and blog posts so that you can explore the week's topics more deeply AND continue your learning after the month of the course ends.
This self-paced course takes place within the Flourish and Bloom community membership platform. When you join with a paid monthly or annual membership, you get immediate access to the Sit Spot course AND all of the other resources, courses, and events on the platform! Read about all that’s included with Flourish & Bloom Membership.
Monthly memberships start at $12.99. You’re welcome to discontinue your membership after you conclude this course (it is designed to take one month) or stay in this community for support in your mindfulness practice, free monthly events and more! 🌿
With regular Sit Spot practice, you’ll be rewarded in so many ways:
Physical Health:
Breathing in fresh air and the essential oils from plants and trees, receiving natural light in our eyes and on our skin, looking into the distance rather than toward four walls, all have research-backed benefits on our physical well being.
Mental & Emotional Health:
Getting a change of scene and a broader view can help to refresh our spirits and can jolt us out of rumination and other stale or confining thought patterns. By moving from directed-attention toward screens or other highly focused activities toward the freedom and curiosity-guided “fascination attention,” we refresh ourselves and recover from mental fatigue.
Spirituality:
Spending time and attention outdoors helps us to remember and feel our belonging to the world that we are a part of, kinship with all beings who belong to this place. There's something indescribably nourishing about this deep sense of interconnection and the mutually supportive relationships with other beings in our lives, beyond the human ones.