Join a community discovering how living lightly and deeply through seasonal practices of presence can heal both our scattered attention and our relationship with the living world. Because mending the world begins with mending our capacity to truly see it.
In our hurried world, we have largely forgotten how to see. We move through landscapes like tourists in our own home, registering only the most obvious changes while missing the subtle conversations constantly unfolding around us. Ecological observation is not merely looking—it is a practice of deep witnessing that transforms both observer and observed.
When we commit to truly observing the natural world, we discover that attention itself is a form of participation. The act of sustained, receptive watching creates a relationship. The red-winged blackbird, whose territory you've learned to recognize, begins to acknowledge your presence differently. The oak tree you visit each morning starts to reveal its seasonal moods and the community of creatures it shelters. This is not anthropomorphism but recognition—the development of what Indigenous wisdom keepers call "original instructions," the capacity to listen to the more-than-human world.
In autumn, the natural world offers itself as teacher with particular generosity. The season's changes are dramatic enough to capture our fractured attention while subtle enough to reward careful observation. Migration patterns reveal themselves to the patient watcher. Seed dispersal strategies unfold like ancient dances. The chemistry of leaf colour becomes visible as poetry written across the landscape.
But ecological observation asks more of us than passive watching. It demands that we slow down enough to notice not just what is happening, but how it is happening, and what it might mean for the larger web of relationships we are part of. This kind of attention is an act of love, a form of prayer, and ultimately, a practice of coming home to our place in the living world.
A Resource to Expand Your Understanding
Instructions for Ecological Observation
Foundational Principles
Presence Over Knowledge: While learning the names of plants and animals enriches observation, the primary goal is the experience of presence itself. Come with curiosity rather than the need to identify or categorize.
Process Over Outcome: The value lies in the practice of sustained attention, not in accumulating observations or insights.
Reciprocity: Approach observation as a form of relationship. Consider what you might offer back to the places and beings you observe.
Establishing Your Practice
1. Choose Your Site
Select a location you can visit regularly (daily if possible)
The space should be small enough to know intimately—a single tree, a patch of garden, a corner of a park
Prioritize accessibility over wildness; consistency matters more than pristine nature
2. Create Your Observation Ritual
Arrive with intention, taking a moment to acknowledge your presence in this place
Begin with three conscious breaths, allowing your attention to settle
Set aside any agenda or timeline—let the place set the pace
3. The Five Phases of Observation
Phase 1: The General Survey (5 minutes)
Take in the overall scene without focusing on details
Notice the quality of light, air temperature, sounds, and smells
Observe your own internal state—what are you bringing to this moment?
Phase 2: The Inventory (10-15 minutes)
Systematically notice what lives here: plants, animals, insects, fungi
Note changes since your last visit—what's new, different, absent?
Pay attention to the non-living elements: soil, stones, water, built structures
Phase 3: The Deep Focus (10-20 minutes)
Choose one element that draws your attention
Observe it as if you've never seen anything like it before
Notice colors, textures, movements, relationships to other elements
If your mind wanders, gently return attention to your chosen focus
Phase 4: The Wider Web (5-10 minutes)
Zoom out to observe relationships and interactions
How do the elements you've noticed connect to each other?
What cycles, patterns, or processes can you perceive?
Phase 5: The Integration (5 minutes)
Sit quietly and allow the session to settle
Notice what stands out from your time of observation
Express gratitude to the place and the beings who shared their presence
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-Phronesis-
A way of being in the world that shows concern with one’s life, with the lives of others now & in the future and all ways we touch the world.
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Join a community discovering how living lightly and deeply through seasonal practices of presence can heal both our scattered attention and our relationship with the living world. Because mending the world begins with mending our capacity to truly see it.
