Gardening as meditation

As creators of reality, most of us have found something in life that helps us feel the essence of ourselves. Something that makes us feel alive and connected, comforted, inspired. When life becomes confusing, uncertain, or fearful, we turn to our meditation, be it music, art, fishing, or dance, to help us return to a state of normalcy. For me, it’s about growing plants. All my life I have enjoyed gardening. It is my meditation. I’ve always been fascinated by the miracle of nature that can take a tiny seed and turn it into a mango tree, or a tomato plant, or a giant sequoia. As a gardener, I feel part of that miraculous process, as I strive to create the environment that allows this process to work.

Early in my gardening hobby, I decided to go organic as my goal has always been to be part of the natural process rather than to believe that humanity has discovered a better way. The use of synthetic pesticides and herbicides has been shown to degrade our environment and has turned productive and fertile farms into wasteland and contaminated our drinking water, rivers and lakes. Although I have no scientific evidence, I believe that foods grown with these synthetic pesticides and herbicides contain small amounts of toxins and can affect our long-term health. More importantly, for me, using nature’s methods requires me to learn the natural process, helping me get closer to nature, my nature, and at the same time improving the health of our planet.

For those who believe that life is nothing more than an accident, take a good look at your garden. There is a definite order to things. Have you ever noticed that stress makes fruit trees produce more fruit? I learned this in 2001 when the World Trade Center was attacked on September 11. Immediately after that event, the postal service stopped shipping large boxes as ordered by the federal government. At the time he was operating an organic tree farm and nursery in Guam. He had ordered several California fruit tree seedlings before 9/11, which were hung up by the postal service. Six weeks later my box of fruit tree seedlings arrived. Each little seedling, about a foot tall, had produced a bunch of tiny fruit. It is as if these trees are trying to reproduce before they die. I later learned that emphasizing adult trees can induce reproduction and increase yield.

I have also been fascinated by grafts and air layers. I once grafted five different varieties of lemons onto a tree and all of these varieties survived. The layers of air, for those who do not know, is a method of propagation that consists of removing a piece of branch from a tree and wrapping it in plastic and peat until it produces roots. Cut below the root ball and plant. It will grow into a productive tree in just one to two years. Nature is truly amazing.

For me, there is nothing more comforting, relaxing, more meditative than sitting on the ground in my garden. working the earth with my hands, smelling the plants and herbs as they reach for the sun, feeling the vitality of the life around me. I know others feel the same when they play music, go out to sea, paint on a canvas, or sing in the shower. We all have our meditations that bring us closer to our inner being.

Meditation is more than sitting in a lotus position, breathing slowly, looking at a candle to calm the mind. For me, meditation is the process of aligning my outer self with my inner self. My outer self is the character that I “think” I am. My inner self is the creator of that character and the part of me that experiences the totality of my creation. When you do something that you love, you know that you are closer to your inner self, as the source and essence of your inner self is love.