A Moving Meditation

It’s hot, it’s very hot. 32°c to be precise. The cats are laid out on the cool hall floor. And what am I doing? I’m sitting in the hottest part of the garden, deadheading the petunias!

After a busy working week, I look forward to a relaxing weekend, sitting in my lounger, reading or occasionally listening to a podcast, whilst surrounded by my gorgeous garden (if I may say so myself!). But no, what do I end up doing? Relaxing for five minutes before leaping out of my chair, ‘just to do this one thing’ and then finding it’s an hour and a half later, and half the day has gone already.

So, this Saturday, I made sure that all the jobs were done so that I would be able to relax all day Sunday. And what happens? I’m sitting on the patio with my cup of tea at 10.30am with nothing to do, the whole gloriously sunny day ahead of me, and I’m bored!

I felt slightly vindicated recently when I read that Alan Titchmarsh’s missus has much the same problem with her hubster as David has with me.  AT nailed it though when he opined that pottering about in his garden was what he liked most about gardening. Not the heavy lifting, but the gentle, repetitive stuff. Having the time to take your time.

Take, for example, pinching out the side shoots on your cordon tomatoes, training and tying in your climbers or snipping off your faded flowers. What’s going on in your head? A whole lot of random thoughts, almost like white noise, nothing of consequence, I’ll bet. In fact, just as in yoga when you are concentrating on a pose, or in this case, hand eye coordination, you are experiencing a moving meditation.  

In moving meditation, your body is active, but your mind is calm and centred. Relaxation for me isn’t about resting my body, it’s about quietening my mind. And that, my friends, in my opinion, is why gardening is good for you!

Love, Caroline x