Sit Spot: Eco-Therapy Practice for Deeper Connection
Is there a place that makes you feel at home or allows you to reconnect to yourself? Maybe there’s a special nook in a couch, a coffee shop, or a spot in your community that you frequent and find yourself feeling a sense of belonging, connection, or rest. Maybe there’s a trail or neighborhood walking route that you find yourself drawn towards. There is something beautiful about having a place where you feel connected and able to engage from a place of curiosity, calm, or openness.
A sit spot practice is a place similar to the ones above that allows you to deepen your connection to the natural world around you, to yourself, and to a reciprocal relationship with the Earth. Below is more information about sit spot practices and an invitation of ways to begin this practice in your own life.
A sit spot can be anywhere that is accessible for you to go to connect with the natural world.
If you have access to trails and open space nearby, these could be great spaces to pick a spot. The spot is anywhere you can sit or be still for a few minutes and observe and connect to the world around you.
If open space and trails are not as accessible, you could pick a place in a neighborhood park, your backyard, a common outdoor space where you live or work, a place on a neighborhood walk.
If you are able to be outdoors, that is great! If that isn’t possible, you can also pick a viewpoint out of a window or a spot where you can connect to a natural being inside your home, like a pet or a house plant.
Once you have found your sit spot, the invitation is to regularly go to this place for at least a few minutes each day or a few times a week.
See if you can bring curiosity with you about the natural beings, the place, and how you feel as you arrive in this place time after time. If going for a few times a week feels like a barrier to starting, try starting with a few minutes once a week.
The first time you go to your sit spot, the invitation could be to engage with all of your senses and begin to feel into this place.
What catches your attention with your sight?
What sounds exist?
What smells do you sense?
Are there any tastes of note?
What do you feel as you are in this place (temperature, textures, internal awareness)?
As you start engaging with your sit spot more regularly, some questions to ponder may be:
Who is here (plants, animals, natural beings)?
What relationships exist here?
Who am I curious about getting to know more deeply here?
How could I engage more deeply with this place?
As you begin to learn more about who is in your sit spot, you could bring further curiosity over time:
What may I be able to learn from the beings here?
What do I observe in their relationships that could inform me of my own?
How do I feel connected here? Is there anything inhibiting my connection to this place and how could I approach this?
The sit spot is a place to deepen connection with the place and other beings as they shift and change over time as well. As you go each time, see what is different and what is the same.
How does who is here change as the seasons shift?
What do I notice about the rhythms of this place in different season?
How do I notice shifts in my own rhythms throughout the season?
What may I be able to learn from this place about change and adapting?
These questions are all examples from my own life and are not exhaustive. You can bring a journal to track your experiences and connection to the place over time if that feels helpful.
The goal of a sit spot is to deepen your own connection to a natural place and the natural beings who live there, to learn from them and to deepen your own care for them and the interconnectedness you feel with them.
If you have wondered how to feel a deeper connection to the rest of the natural world, have felt like nature connectedness is a privilege only for some people, and/or feel like you don’t have time to engage with nature, I encourage you to try out a sit spot practice and see what you notice. It is incredible how much spending a few minutes with a place each day or each week can deepen your awareness and connection to yourself and the Earth around you.