Let’s saunter — a slow meandering from here to wherever the paths calls. Who knows where a saunter might lead? You may be asking, what is a saunter? A saunter for Robert A. Johnson is “to walk on the earth with reverence for its holiness.”
As I read this quote, I smiled. To saunter is to live contemplatively. Being contemplative is living in alignment with the Spirit. Each moment is spent focusing our attention on however and wherever the sacred shines. Let’s see how we saunter through the four aspects of self: body, mind, heart, and spirit.
Sauntering with the Body
To saunter physically is to walk loose limbed. Putting one foot in front of the other. Roll from heel to toe placing all our weight on our forward foot before lifting the one in the back. Ongoing sauntering returns our center of balance to our core.
Walking like this raises awareness of where we hold tension and what is not in alignment in our physical body. Through sauntering we rediscover the rhythm of our connection to the sacred. This flowing movement reminds us that our body is a vessel of the sacred.
Sauntering with the Mind
Yes, we can saunter with your mind! Another word for this kind of sauntering is non-attachment. We attend to what is going on in our mind — words, images, noisiness — while not holding on to the dandelion fluff of reaction.
Sauntering is an engaged state of mind. It’s about not pushing away or holding onto our monologue. We watch as the fluff floats in our mind’s current. It lazily spins higher and higher, further and further away from our core. Through mindful sauntering we see the real in our life and live within that real.
Sauntering with the Heart
Our heart beats with emotions. Sauntering with our heart, we feel emotions poignantly, honestly, raw. Slipping into an emotion we feel it percolating; we are aware without judgment of our feelings.
Within the saunter, an emotion is what it is — no more, no less. We acknowledge, feel, and surrender into the emotion. This non-attachment is freeing. To saunter is to rest within the 90-seconds life span of emotion. Being with the emotion as it enters our body, travels through the nervous system, and exits. And, yes, that takes about 90-seconds when we don’t hold on to an emotion!
Sauntering with the Spirit
Our spirit saunter-twines through the other aspects of our being — body, mind, and heart. This twining of spirit makes us whole. Our spirit, our sacred spark, touches all four aspects making us aware of our wounds. It ignites our core fire sealing the cracks of our woundedness.
To spirit saunter is to connect our sacred spark to the All Spark. This connection threads through our being and then crosses our aura and saunter-twines with the energy of others and that of creation. In the spirit saunter, we recognize the sacred spark inherent in all.
This saunter with the spirit (small s and capital S) brings us to wholeness — body, mind, spirit, and heart. The cool part? The more we saunter, the more healing we bring to our self and the world.
Won’t you join me in the saunter? Be contemplative as you engage the whole of your life. You don’t have to accomplish all in this moment. To saunter, to live contemplative, happens one step at a time.
Van is a professional speaker & author who weaves inner wisdom into all she touches. Her books are available @ www.wildefyrpress.com. Her most recent book, As Natural As Breathing: Being Intuitive, is available on Amazon. Contact Vanessa for life coaching, intuitive consultations, keynotes, and programs.
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Thank you so much for this lesson! Relaxing into awareness and connection with all life and all love, I will saunter with my whole being today!
ReplyDeleteYes, Van - these words are beautiful and the thoughts will go
ReplyDeletewith me today and the days to come.Thank You!