Reflections

GARDEN MEDITATION

One definition of gardening: meditation with sweat. The blog that came up with that tidbit may be defunct. But the thought is worth preserving.
Not just gerontologists but most doctors and psychiatrists agree. Working—even casually standing or sitting—in a garden is one of the best things around for our mental health. The connection to the earth acts like a powerful magnet on the human spirit and psyche. We feel part of forces larger than ourselves. It is hard to be lonely or self-centered in a garden.
Gardening engages all the senses. Our hands instinctively reach out and touch. What child hasn’t spontaneously raided a neighbor’s garden to share the beauty with a Mom or Dad? Adults may feel no such freedom. But as we walk through a garden, we feel a subtle kinship with the leaves and stems brushing at our feet and ankles.
Folk wisdom has it that if we listen closely, we can hear a garden growing. We certainly can hear the voice of the wind as it stirs the buds and blossoms. And we can pick up the steadying rhythm of our own heartbeat as we contemplate that feast for the eyes spreading out before us. Spring’s brilliant array of greens are tell-tale signs new life is coming. In Summer’s rich palette, we experience the garden in its prime. The subtle transformation to the subdued golds and purples of Fall calms us in the middle of our hectic days.
Weeding in the garden after the rain last weekend, I found myself unwilling to pull up a random mint that had strayed into a bed of astilbe. The distinct herbal scent of that interloper wafted over the bed and graced my hands with its presence. Taste, you say? Even the most die-hard veggie hater among us has at one time or another wondered why that carrot or pea pod or pole bean tastes so much better right from the plant than on a plate.
Touch, hearing, sight, smell and taste. Of all the senses, smell they say is the first and last we recognize. As I write this column, I still smile at that unexpected encounter with the mint.
It is no accident that the sacred books from many religious traditions describe the Divinity as walking in a garden. Stories of Allah and the Creator God in the Old and New Testament depict such experiences. Meditating Buddha statues are among the most popular of garden statuary and NextTag boasts of four thousand-plus Buddha bird feeders online. I personally positioned a Saint Francis in the pocket garden between my house and car—an icon of peace and calm, even headed for the expressway.
Meditation with sweat. As a gardener, I especially like to think of my time in the garden that way. We speak of “working” in a garden. Maybe we ought to think of it more like a quiet prayer.