This was lead by Laura Mayo, the Senior Minister of Covenant Church and is active in Houston interfaith work.
First we practiced some centering breathing using the “Breathing Square Technique,” wherein you breathe in while drawing one side of the square with your finger, hold your breath, breathe out while drawing another side of the square with your finger, hold your breath, and repeat until you’ve drawn a square in the air.
We then began to consider how during fall, nature lets go: the trees let go of leaves, the grasses let go of growth, the sticks and pine cones let go and fall to the ground. We spoke of things we might need to release by following nature’s example and letting it fall: a grudge, a burden, a hurt feeling, a resentment. And then I told this story:
I recently had the privilege of taking a walk on the Camino de Santiago. During the walk, after we had made our way around an enormous puddle - actually it was really more like a pond - we scaled the stone fence to one side to try and skirt the last of the water. Once we all made it to the other side, one of my walking partners, Tonya, mentioned that the experience made her think of a story, which she shared with us.
“A senior monk and a junior monk were traveling together. At one point, they came to a river with a strong current. As the monks were preparing to cross the river, they saw a woman also attempting to cross. The woman asked if they could help her cross to the other side. The woman had many packages.
The two monks glanced at one another and then, without a word, the older monk picked up the woman, and the younger monk gathered all the packages.
As they were crossing the river the woman complained and groused without stopping: worried about her packages, afraid the monk would drop her, convinced the monks they were not doing a good job.
The monks carried her and her packages across the river, placed her gently on the other side, and returned her packages to her.
The monks proceeded on their journey. They walked an hour and then two. They walked another hour and finally the younger monk burst out, “I cannot believe that woman was so rude. We carried her across the river. She did not get wet at all. None of her packages got wet. We were soaked through but she stayed perfectly dry but she was complaining the whole time. How could she be so inconsiderate? She didn’t even thank us.
The older monk waited until the younger finished and then gently replied: “Brother, I set her down on the other side of the river, why are you still carrying her?””
We moved into the Lorraine Cherry Nature Preserve to walk and were encouraged to notice what nature is releasing and as we did so to consider what we need to let go or put down: forgiveness we need to offer, grace we need to extend to ourselves and others, resentment to let go of, comparisons to release.
After walking individually for 20 minutes, we returned to our discussion and shared with the group about our experiences. Many observations were made but one that seemed particularly insightful was the noticing of a stick that was no longer attached to the tree but had gotten caught up in some vines. This was compared with the things we have tried to release, and tried to put down but that get stuck in us. Sometimes it takes extra work like a strong wind, to help us put down something particularly painful.
