Spiritual Landscaping
For me, the purpose of landscaping isn’t to conform to a particular aesthetic. Instead, for me, the purpose of landscaping is:
to be a spiritual prayer that connects us to Nature and allows us to feel the primal and ancient connection with the Earth. Especially in this Age of Technology where we are so distant from Nature, we need practices that physically connect us to the Earth.
to allow us to be guardians of the Ecosystem who ensure biodiversity and safety for all of the creatures who are part of our larger family of life.
Spiritual Raking
For me, raking is an expression of my mindfulness practice, while raking I try to:
Connect with Nature (by mindfully focusing on all the beauty around me)
Generate a genuine feeling of deep spiritual care and devotion for the Earth. It is like brushing the hair of a loved one.
Experience it as a prayer that brings peace and a feeling of unity and oneness with the Earth and also where I synchorize with the cyclical chant of Life and Death in the changing seasons.
Exercise where I sometimes add weights to the rake to make it more difficult.
Step 1: Wearing an Outfit to Generate a Sacred Feeling
The first step of my journey into raking is putting on an outfit. I believe that outfits can have the power to change a person's state of mind especially if the clothing has meaning and if done with deliberation. To channel deep shamanistic type vibes, I wear a gorgeous hooded piece made by my girlfriend, Elizabeth. I am also wearing a loin cloth made in collaboration with Elizabeth. Both of these clothing items have ritualistic meaning because they were first worn during my Cock-Revealing Ceremony which I will describe more in a future post. I am also wearing shorts that I designed and my mother knitted. It is hard to see in this picture but it has a tail which represents the animalistic feelings of being one with the Earth. I am holding a rake with 2 ankle weights to give me a good pump while raking. These cloths help me get into the zone and remind me that the process of raking is about connecting with Nature.
Step 2: Cleaning the Ancestor Area
The ancestor area was created by my mother and is made of cool smooth flat rocks that make a large rectangle on the Earth. I think it is important to have sacred areas, inside and outside our homes, which remind us of the cycles of Life and Death and the dance of Energy. On one side are special rocks that we have collected throughout our journeys across the world and they represent our ancestors and our love ones who have passed away. We begin the process of raking by devotionally cleaning the ancestor area which also puts us into a meditative and reverent state of mind.
Step 3: Creating sacred smoke using sage and leaves from our yard.
We then create a sacred smoke by using my bee smoker. I fill it with sage from my Mother's herb garden along with different leaves that are on my yard, mostly maple, oak and catalpa. In the process I have a chance to deeply admire the leaves, their feel and can say a final goodbye to them as Winter approaches.
Step 4: Walking and Singing Philosophy with Sacred Smoke
As we walk around the yard, I spread sacred smoke as my Mother sings. On this day, my mother chose to sing 2 different songs/shlokas. You can listen to my mother singing and interpreting the songs in the video at the bottom. As an overview, she sings:
Kabir's Doha which is about a conversation between a tree and its falling leaf where the leaf laments that it will fall away from the tree and they will never meet again. The tree says that it is the nature of the universe. This song is relevant because the leaves are falling to the Earth right now and because it reminds us of the cycles of Life and Death.
Bhaja Govindam which, among other things, talks about how day becomes night and how dawn turns to dusk and how autumn eventually brings spring...everything is changing but the nature of the mind doesn't change where it continues to chatter and loop thoughts. The Bhaja Govindam shares some solutions such as pranayama (mindful breathing), prathyahara (withdrawal from senses), prayer, meditation, analyzing impermanence, and being immersed and mindful in whatever you are doing to stay connected within the consciousness.
Step 5: Raking with mindfulness
As I rake, I try to free my mind and feel a oneness with nature that fills me with gratitude. I do this by focusing on my senses. I feel the crisp autumn air through the fading warmth of the sun. I try to focus on my breathing and try to synchronize it with every stroke of the rake. I see backlit leaves illuminated by sunshine, bright greens and yellows and dapples of shadows and edges of leaves with a crispy brownness against a brilliant blue sky. And I rake and I rake and I rake. And then I see an entire tree of shimmering red and it takes my breath away. And the leaves talk to me as the wind runs through the trees and across my face as I feel unrestrained awe. And I rake and I rake and I rake. And then from high above, leaves fly and float and gently rain down upon me and I am in ecstasy. And I rake and I rake and I rake. And then upon the ground I find mind boggling treasures like parachute seeds of the milkweed. Look how it glitters in the sun and wind. And I love saying ‘hi’ to all the insects and creatures in my yard. I try to generate a rhythm and cadence to my raking. As I rake, I imagine that I am gently and devotionally brushing away the dead leaves from the Earth. I remind myself of the intimacy of raking because it allows me to visit every square inch of my yard!
Step 6: Raking for exercise
Raking is great exercise and a great reason to be outside. If you read some of the literature on exercise, there is discussion on how to incentivize and gamify exercise in the gym to motivate people. Raking is built into our natural reward system. You have a goal and when you finish it, you feel good. By strapping on some ankle weights to the bottom of the rake, you can see that I get great activation of my back and shoulders, along with my triceps, biceps and forearms. Because of the full range of motion, it recruits many muscles, it is a wonderful exercise. I get a great pump and burn from it. In addition to the weights, raking has an aerobic exercise component to it as well.