The Wandering Mind

Forest Painting Autumn Trees by Karen Arnold

Roughly four years ago I was introduced to a guided meditation in one of my psychology classes. The goal of the meditation was for us to focus on our breathing and to create our own perception of what we could feel. For example, my professor told me to think of a tree. Students would describe what type of tree they saw in their meditation. Some saw big trees, small trees, palm trees, burned trees, trees with green leaves, brown leaves, no leaves, etc. The point of the meditation was to identify why we were seeing the tree the way it was in our vision. This was expanded upon with a bridge we crossed, a cave, a door, and eventually, what was behind that door. The students focused on their breathing and would be prompted to sense the forest. We were asked if we could feel, hear, taste, smell, or see anything in the forest. Students were able to identify at least one or two senses while in this meditation. 

For the last three and a half years now I have been working in the clinical mental field where I work with teenagers ranging from 12-18 with mental illness. In individual sessions and groups sessions, I have presented a form of this meditation as a coping skill for my clients when dealing with substance abuse, grief, anger, depression, and anxiety. The method and goal are somewhat complicated but let me try to explain. 

Psychologist, Sigmund Freud, believed that the human mind is separated into two parts, the conscious and the unconscious. Freud believed that consciousness was like an iceberg in the water where our conscious (the ice above water) only scratches the surface of what is really going on in our mind where the unconscious (the ice below water) is so much more. So the question is asked, how do we bring out our unconsciousness? Through this form of meditation, I believe that we can begin to uncover our unconscious to conscious.

With my clients, I began the meditation with simple breathing. I wanted the room to be completely silent so the clients could only hear their breathing. I prompt them to take deeper breaths and to relax their shoulders. They are sitting upright in their chairs and feet are firmly planted on the floor. I encourage them to feel their air circulate through their body from the top of their head, down their arms, down their legs, to the soles of their feet. After this they are in a relaxed mood, eyes closed, and begin to separate themselves from where they are at that moment. I begin to tell them to think of a forest. I then begin the narration.

You are in a forest.

Can you feel the grass and dirt under your feet? Can you look up and see the trees slowly swaying around you? Can you hear the birds chirping off in the distance? You taste the forest air on your tongue? Can you smell the fresh forest air? You look around and notice in front of you a path. You don't know where the path leads but you take a deep breath and begin to walk on this path. While you are walking on this path you see the look around and notice that you could be the only human in this vast forest. You begin to notice the sun is shining and you are glad to be alone for this moment. Your path leads you to a body of rushing water, such as a stream, creek, or river. You come across a bridge. You take a deep breath and cross over the bridge. 

As you walk down this path you begin to notice that the forest is becoming darker. You don't hear the animals anymore. You begin to notice the path is starting to fade. The forest is dark. The forest is silent. The forest is still. You are alone. As you begin to feel the sense of being lost, you come across a cave. You sense that this cave is old and has been here long before you were born and will be here long after you die. You take a deep breath and enter the cave. As you traverse into this cave. You are almost in complete darkness where you cannot see your hands in front of you. You see a dim light deep into the cave.

You begin to follow the light as your eyes adjust. The light is bigger and brighter the closer you approach it and you realize that you find the source of the light. Next to this light, is a door. Why is there a door? What does the door look like? You reach for the doorknob. You take a deep breath. You slowly open that door and you look in. You take a deep breath and look inside. You close the door. You walk out of the cave. You walk through the dark forest. You cross the bridge, You stand in the forest. You take a deep breath. You feel the ground of the room you are actually in. You take a deep breath. You open your eyes.

At this moment, I give the clients a minute to sit in silence. Some clients will laugh, roll their eyes, say they enjoyed it, some say it was a waste of time. I asked them how they felt and the majority of the time, clients can't really explain what they are feeling. I asked them some questions after the meditation. 

1. What senses did you have in the forest?

I asked the clients if they could taste, smell, see, hear, or feel anything in the forest. I also asked them how they felt being in the forest as well. Usual answers are being able to feel, taste, smell the forest. I also get a sense of happiness when they in the forest but become nervous when walking through the dark forest in the cave. 

2. What were your forest, rushing water, and bridge?

This is to help make this world more personal. I didn't describe the forest, bridge, or the water but had them feel in the blanks. Some clients explain that the body of water was a simple stream that they could walk over yet other clients have the Indiana Jones river between two large cliffs. The bridge can range from a fallen tree, cobblestone, wooden, rope bridge, and for some, no bridge at all and they hopped over the stream.

3. How did the dark forest make you feel?

Clients tend to describe the forest as good and bad. Many clients prefer this due to knowing that they are alone. Other clients begin to a sense of dread not knowing where they need to go next. I use the dark forest to make the clients have the sense of nothingness. To be where someone hasn't been before raising the question if they should be in that dark forest. This also builds up the cave. 

4. What was your cave?

Clients usually describe the cave as either being really big where it echoed or really small to the point they had to crawl. I asked this question as stepping out of their comfort zone. Where they are going into the complete darkness they are beginning to separate themselves from the forest. In odd terms, they are leaving the imaginary forest to tread further from reality. That some inception level weird.

5. What were your light and door?

This comes back to world building for the clients. The light could be a candle, torch, lamp, street light, and orb. The door could be a big wooden door, a hidden wall, a piece of wood covering a hole. This is the drum roll. Clients describe reaching for the door as incredibly stressful due to not knowing what to expect on the other side. 

6. What is behind the door?

This is the most important question. I want this door to be the door to the clients unconscious. I have had the clients creating this entire world to their image which will help them create what they will see behind that door. This is where things get deep with my clients because what is behind that door may be what is what they truly want, what they need, or what they need to overcome. Answers have ranged from seeing a family member, home, a loved on that passed away, prison, themselves, someone who has hurt them, money, darkness, etc. The answers are endless and very rarely do we get the same answer.

7. Why did you see this?

This is where we begin to discuss why we saw what we saw. This can be incredibly insightful for the clients to reflect on what they saw. It could be simple as a client seeing their mother because they miss their mother, or reliving a traumatic event they admit they haven't moved past.

8. Do you want to continue to meditate like this?

Many clients express that this meditation is great and that they would want to continue this type of meditation. Some clients struggled to focus and explain that this meditation didn't really interest them. Some clients aren't ready to face what they saw behind the door but admit that this could be a good coping skill for the residential unit.

I usually end the group by explaining that the forest they have created was theirs to keep. That they could do whatever they wanted to their forest, rather be changing the seasons, changing the bridge, cave, rushing water, and if they ever want to go back to that door. I encouraged them to create new paths in their forests and to find what else is in their forest. All I tell them to do is to focus on the breathing exercise we started with so they could go into their forest. Clients have described their mediation after the group as a good way to help them forget about being in the organization. Clients describe the forest leading to the beach, climbing the trees to seeing mountains, and even exploring the forest with a friend or loved one from their past.

In conclusion, This meditation is powerful with bringing our unconscious to our consciousness. What we experienced together was truly amazing. Seeing teenagers uncover their unconsciousness is a feat that adults may never achieve. I encouraged anyone to try this type of meditation and let me know what they find. I will go to my personal forest from time to time as a break from reality. It is truly unbelievable what I have found.