Sara Lewis
Embodying Microcosms
Begin by travelling to the plant index. Slowly move your awareness across the page, imagining that you are encountering new sentient beings, possibly new friends. Allow yourself to encounter the tapestry of color, shape, and lifeforms. With open awareness, notice if you become particularly drawn to one plant. Offer an embodied or visualized bow, extending welcome as you meet the energetic mandala of the visual image. Entering through the gate of vision, see if you can invite your other senses along: what might you smell as you gaze into the image, what sounds enter your awareness, what is your somatic, felt sense of the plant-teacher’s world? Decide how long to rest in awareness with the plant’s image, and then click to learn more about the specificity of the plant’s history and culture. After reading, return to the image, end with an embodied or visualized bow.
Sara Lewis, PhD, LCSW, Associate Professor of Contemplative Psychotherapy and Buddhist Psychology, and Director of Training and Research for Psychedelic Studies, Naropa University
