For as long as I can remember, I have loved spending time outside. As a young kid, I used to sit under a large coniferous tree in our front yard. I still remember the feeling of being surrounded by this vast being, hidden in another world under their branches. In high school and college one of the things I loved about being on the cross country team was running on trails through the woods, the crisp fall air against my skin, the leaves crunching under foot. I worked seasonal jobs as a young adult, traveling the country, sleeping outside, and feeling awestruck as I explored the world around me. I knew that being outside felt good, even before I had words to describe being grounded or having a settled nervous system. I felt the benefit of being connected to Mother Earth.

More recently, I have been exploring a deeper, more personal relationship with the land and the more-than-human world. Through readings and personal experiences, I am learning about and practicing being in reciprocal relationship with the beings of this earth and the earth herself. Not simply receiving, but giving. What might I have to offer? What happens if I pause to listen more? What if I consider that in the same way I benefit from being outside, the beings around me could benefit from my presence?

This post and video are an invitation to consider your own relationship to the land. May this be the planting of a seed. Or the watering of a seed that has already been planted. May you consider Robin Wall Kimmerer’s words, “What does the earth ask from us?”

As I deepen my reciprocal relationship with the land, there seems to be a mutual benefit. This relationship nourishes and sustains me in uncertain times. It helps me have a broader perspective and keeps me from being lost in the human dramas of fear and chaos. My sense of the land and the creatures of this earth is that they get something from the exchange too. They want to be related to, want to be seen and known, respected. In listening, in conversing, in seeing them, there is healing, on both sides. We are not as separate from the earth as we might believe ourselves to be.

Sources that have informed my perspective:

• The work of Robin Wall Kimmerer, including her book Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants

• We Are the Middle of Forever: Indigenous Voices from Turtle Island on the Changing Earth edited by Dahr Jamail and Stan Rushworth

• Becoming Kin: An Indigenous Call to Unforgetting the Past and Reimagining Our Future by Patty Krawec

• If Women Rose Rooted: A Life-Changing Journey to Authenticity and Belonging by Sharon Blackie

Katherine Grigg, MPC, RSMT, offers a holistic approach to healing with roots in somatics, body psychotherapy, spirituality and mindful movement. Her practice is in Montague, MA, where she sees clients in-person and virtually. Specializing in working with women, members of the LGBTQIA2S+ community, adolescents and spiritual seekers. Contact her for more information.