Episode Summary: What does it mean to stay present with what we're feeling, especially when life is difficult?
In this solo episode of ROOTED, Susan shares a personal reflection on grief and guides listeners through Pleasures of Presence, a sensory nature connection practice that invites us to slow down, notice what's here, and reconnect with ourselves and the living world.
SHOW NOTES
In the span of three weekends, I lost my dog, a longtime friend, and my father.
I'm not sharing those stories today, but those losses are the honest reason for this episode.
As I've been navigating grief, I've noticed how many ways there are to step away from difficult feelings. Some are obvious, and others are quieter. I've been looking for ways to stay with what's here rather than check out or numb out.
One practice I keep returning to is called Pleasures of Presence.
I first encountered it during my forest therapy guide training with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs. The practice moves through our senses, our bodies, and our hearts, inviting us to notice our experience without needing to change it.
In this episode, I guide you through a version of the practice I wrote during that training.
While grief brought me back to it, Pleasures of Presence isn't only for difficult seasons. It's an opportunity to reconnect with our own human nature through our relationship with the rest of nature.
Our senses are one of the ways we belong to a place.
When we slow down enough to feel the air on our skin, hear the sounds around us, or notice our own heartbeat, we may remember that we're not observing the natural world from outside it.
We are part of it.
You don't need to be outdoors or in a forest to participate. Wherever you are is a good place to begin.
Nothing needs to be wrong. Nothing needs to be fixed.
Just an invitation to notice what it's like to be here, right now.
Key Themes
Presence without fixing: Making space for our experience without needing to change it.
Grief and connection: Finding ways to remain present during difficult seasons.
Our senses as a doorway: Exploring how sensory awareness connects us to our surroundings.
We are nature: Remembering that we are participants in the living world, not separate observers.
Belonging to place: Noticing the relationship between our bodies and the environments we inhabit.
Key Takeaways
Rather than offering lessons or answers, this episode invites a few observations:
Presence doesn't require us to feel differently. We can notice what's here without asking our experience to become something else.
Nature connection doesn't require a special destination. A window, a chair, the air on our skin, and the sounds around us can all become opportunities for connection.
Our senses connect us to the world. Through touch, sound, smell, taste, and awareness of our bodies, we experience our relationship with the places we inhabit.
There is no single right way to participate. We can arrive curious, tired, joyful, grieving, or somewhere in between.
“Our senses are how we belong to a place.”
Resources Mentioned
Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs
Forest therapy guide training and nature connection practices.
Reflection Prompt:
What becomes possible when we allow ourselves to be present with what's here, without needing anything to change?
Prefer to read? The full transcript is below.
-
Walk with SMB: Pleasures of Presence
Full Transcript
An Invitation to Be Present
Susan:
Welcome to ROOTED, a podcast about nature and wellbeing. I'm Susan Morgan Bailey.
Today I'm walking solo. No guest, just a practice I've been leaning on, and I'd like to share it with you.
In the span of three weekends, I lost my dog, a longtime friend, and my father.
I'm not going to tell each of those stories today. I'm naming them because they're the honest reason for this episode.
What I've noticed is how many ways there are to step away from a feeling. Some are obvious, and some are quiet.
I'm still listening to music here and there. I'm having plenty of really good conversations with friends and family, and I'm grateful for them.
And alongside all of that, I've been looking for a way to stay with what's here rather than check out or numb out.
What I keep coming back to is a practice called Pleasures of Presence.
It comes from my Forest Therapy Guide Training with the Association of Nature and Forest Therapy Guides and Programs. And the script that I will share with you is one I wrote as part of that training.
It moves through the senses and then the body and the heart.
It doesn't ask grief to go anywhere or become anything. It's how I've been finding my way back to center these days.
Grief is what's bringing me back to this practice right now. But Pleasures of Presence isn't only for hard seasons.
It's a way of reconnecting with our own human nature through connection with the rest of nature.
Because our senses are how we belong to a place.
When we slow down enough to feel the air on our skin, to hear the farthest sound, to notice our own heartbeat, we remember we're not looking at the natural world from outside it.
We are part of it.
You can come to it curious, tired, joyful, or somewhere in between.
Nothing has to be wrong for the pleasures of your presence to be worth your time.
I'm recording this at my desk with the window cracked open beside me, and that's okay.
Wherever you are is a good place.
If you can be near a window or outdoors, great.
Wherever you land, I encourage you to sit, stand, or lie down and close your eyes or let your gaze soften toward the floor.
Take what feels right from what I share and leave the rest.
And of course, if you are driving or doing anything that needs your eyes, this one will keep for another time.
Walk with me.
Arriving in This Place
Susan:
Wherever you are, find a way of being here that works for your body.
Sitting, standing, or lying down.
Before you close your eyes, take a look around.
See where you are.
Whenever you're ready, let your eyes close or rest them in a soft gaze toward the floor.
Let your body settle into this place.
Feel where the chair, the floor, or the ground holds your weight.
Notice the sensation of your breathing, just as it is.
Maybe you can feel where your body moves as the breath comes and goes.
Noticing Through the Senses
Susan:
Feel the air on your skin.
Which parts of you are touching the air, and which parts are under your clothing?
Perhaps hold your hands out and feel the air moving through your fingers.
Check in with where your body meets the earth.
Your feet, your seat, your back.
What does that contact feel like?
Turn your attention to your ears.
Listen for the sound farthest from you.
Now the closest sound.
What's the quietest sound you can find?
Sometimes it's interesting to listen for whether this place and space you are in has a rhythm.
Let the sounds fade into the background and turn your attention to your nose and the air moving through it.
See if you can catch the scent of the air.
You might even tilt your head back to help.
You might wiggle or scrunch up your nose the way an animal sniffs the air.
See what happens.
Maybe bring your hands to your face.
What's there to smell?
Staying with the air in your nose, notice what's happening in your mouth.
Your tongue, your lips, the insides of your cheeks.
Try breathing in as if you're sipping the air through a straw.
What does the air taste like?
Listening to the Body
Susan:
Bring your attention to your body.
Notice any small shifts or movements it wants to make as it settles.
Now widen your attention to include your whole body at once.
Head, arms, torso, legs, feet, and the edge of your skin where the air begins.
Is your body asking for something?
A stretch, a shift?
Go ahead and give it that.
Noticing the Heart
Susan:
Rest a hand or both hands over your heart.
Feel the warmth and weight of your hand on your chest.
See if you can feel your heartbeat.
In your chest or through your fingertips.
What's it like to have a heart here in this place?
And if your heart feels like it's leaning or reaching toward anything, notice that.
Keeping your eyes closed, feel the directions around you with your whole body.
Is there one you feel drawn toward?
Feel free to turn that way or just lean toward it.
Returning to the World Around You
Susan:
Take time opening your eyes slowly, like the coming of dawn.
Soft focus first, then full focus.
Look up toward the sky or the ceiling.
Then down toward the ground or floor.
What does this place look like?
Maybe everything you're seeing is seeing you too.
Take a moment to notice what you're noticing.
Thank you for spending time being present with me.
