EXPLORING OUR VALUES THROUGH POETRY
A Tapestry of Faith Program for Youth
WORKSHOP 3: KEENLY OBSERVING NATURE
BY KAREN HARRIS
© Copyright 2008 Unitarian Universalist Association.
Published to the Web on 9/29/2014 6:48:36 PM PST.
This program and additional resources are available on the UUA.org web site at
www.uua.org/religiouseducation/curricula/tapestryfaith.
WORKSHOP OVERVIEW
INTRODUCTION
Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
— Rachel Carson
Today's workshop asks participants about their spiritual connections to nature. Consider whether you might want to hold part of today's entire workshop outside to accentuate the natural theme. In today's busy world, it can be especially difficult for youth to find time to explore nature. Feel free to extend the workshop, if possible, or abbreviate some activities if you feel participants would benefit from just spending time outdoors and observing nature.
GOALS
This workshop will:
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Participants will:
WORKSHOP-AT-A-GLANCE
ACTIVITY | MINUTES |
Opening | 5 |
Activity 1: Loving Nature | 10 |
Activity 2: A Sensory Meditation | 40 |
Faith in Action: The Gift of a Garden | |
Closing | 5 |
Alternate Activity 1: UUs and Nature | 10 |
Alternate Activity 2: Nature Music | 10 |
SPIRITUAL PREPARATION
Since the subject of today's workshop is nature, why not spend a little time outdoors preparing for the workshop? What do you like to do outdoors? Do you garden or hike? Do you enjoy picnics or football games? Does a thunderstorm give you a thrill? While outdoors, reflect upon important moments of your spiritual life that may have involved the natural world. Are there places or seasons that make you feel more connected to the earth than others? Is this because of a past experience?
You can ponder these questions or simply enjoy being outside, being part of the earth that sustains us all. Blessed be!
WORKSHOP PLAN
OPENING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Use the Opening designed by your group or the one provided below.
Gather around the chalice. As a volunteer lights the chalice, ask the group to focus on the word "nature" in silence. After about fifteen seconds invite participants to speak freely into the space a word or two that they associate with the word "nature." When everyone who wishes to speak has had a chance to do so, close by saying, "May the space we create here today be wide enough to hold all our individual ideas and deep enough to allow those ideas to grow, to fruit, and to provide seeds for new beginnings."
Introduce today's workshop by saying,
Simplicity and miracles: they coexist regularly and profoundly in the natural world. Yet how often do we rush past what is beautiful in order to get where we are going? Poetry has a long tradition of looking to nature for solace, inspiration, and perspective. This workshop encourages us to make joyous connections between ourselves and the natural world, to recognize the inherent wonder that all creatures, including ourselves, can inspire, and to slow down enough to notice.
ACTIVITY 1: LOVING NATURE (15 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants read, hear, and discuss a poem about nature.
Use one of these questions to lead a warm-up discussion:
Distribute copies of Handout 1, "A Nature-Lover Passes." Invite two volunteers to read the poem aloud. Allow about thirty seconds of silence after each reading.
Use these questions to lead a "What do we have here?" discussion about the poem:
Lead a "What's the big idea?" discussion. Use these questions:
ACTIVITY 2: A SENSORY MEDITATION (40 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants will use their senses to meditate on or experience the natural world.
Distribute a sheet of newsprint and marker to each participant. Have participants put these items aside for the moment. Guide them through the following observation experience. It is written as a meditation and can be done indoors. If you prefer, you may take participants outdoors for this activity. If you do, instead of imagining a place, lead youth to an area where they can walk about and explore while still within range of your voice.
For the meditation, ask participants to close their eyes. Let them know you will lead them in the following guided meditation. Use a voice that is calm, but not too quiet.
Say,
Close your eyes and bring to mind a spot in the natural world that you love and know very well.
Wait about thirty seconds. Then say,
When you have a place in mind, picture yourself fully there, if you have not done so already. Imagine that you are walking around slowly. Notice how your feet feel on the ground.
Wait about fifteen seconds. Then say,
Now find a spot in your imagined place to sit or stand. Settle in.
Take a deep breath in... and out. You have arrived, safely and calmly, in this beautiful place you know so well.
Wait about fifteen seconds. Then say,
Look around. What do you see?
Wait about thirty seconds. Then say,
Look closely at something that catches your eye, perhaps something you've never looked so closely at before... Touch it gently if you can and if you want to, or just observe it keenly and closely.
Pause. Then say,
What is its shape? Its texture? How does it function in its surroundings?
Pause. Then say,
Once again, inhale deeply... and exhale. When you inhale again, gently notice any scents, strong or subtle.
Wait about fifteen seconds. Then say,
Continue to breathe... and continue to notice elements of your surroundings. What does your body feel like in this place? Do you feel warmth or cold on your face? Wet or dry? Wind or stillness? Are you relaxed?
Allow another minute or two to pass. Then guide the youth out of the meditation by saying,
On your next breath, begin to come back to the here and now. In a minute, we will open our eyes while keeping our special place firmly in our mind's eye and in our senses.
Wait about thirty seconds. Then say,
Open your eyes gently.
As participants open their eyes, say,
On your newsprint, complete the statements I am about to give you about the place you visited in the meditation. Do not write the sentence starter itself.
Slowly read the sentence starters to the group, allowing time after each for participants to think and write.
Direct participants to read the lines they wrote, silently to themselves. Ask them to evaluate whether the lines capture the magic this particular place holds for them.
Invite volunteers to read aloud the lines on their newsprint, in order. Volunteers may wish to name the place afterward, or other participants may wish to guess.
Explain to participants that poets are often keen observers who use all of their senses, as the group has just done in the guided meditation. A person can use poetry to communicate a place, a feeling, a moment, or a sensory experience to another person. The sensory observations that participants gathered in meditation and wrote on their newsprint might sound like a raw kind of poetry.
Use these questions to lead a discussion:
Invite participants, now or independently, to continue crafting their raw poems into finished poems. Suggest that they copy the raw poems into their journals.
CLOSING (5 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Description of Activity
Use the Closing designed by your group or the one provided below.
Recite together Reading 712 from Singing the Living Tradition:
Do not be conformed to this world,
But be transformed by the renewing of your minds.
— Romans 12
Extinguish the chalice.
FAITH IN ACTION: THE GIFT OF A GARDEN
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
In this activity, participants design and build a community butterfly garden.
Ask participants if they have ever watched a butterfly flit from plant to plant. What was that experience like? A popular elementary school activity involves raising caterpillars into butterflies. Ask participants if they have had that experience.
Then say, in your own words,
Many people enjoy watching butterflies. Some people plant butterfly gardens specifically to attract butterflies. Butterfly gardens are very popular. Does anyone know where a butterfly garden exists, or has anyone seen one? Do you think creating a butterfly garden for others to enjoy would be a good use of our time?
Give the group an overview of what is involved, including costs and the possible need to fund-raise or seek donations. Refer to Leader Resource 1, Butterfly Garden. (Leader Resource 1 is written for creating a garden in a local school, but can apply to any site.) If participants express interest, ask what could be gained by building such a garden. Write youths' answers on newsprint. If the list does not include "sharing the beauty and wonder of the natural world," suggest it as a possible goal.
Once the group has decided that building the garden is a worthwhile endeavor, brainstorm places to which they would like to give such a gift. Narrow the list down to two or three specific places, by either reaching consensus or voting. Rank the choices and decide who will make contact and offer the gift of the garden. The person in charge of contacting potential recipients should approach the first-choice place first, the second-choice place second, and so on.
Set up a timetable on newsprint. The timetable needs to be specific for your project and should include target dates and/or timeframes for at least the following tasks: meeting with the owners of the garden space for further planning; designing the garden; estimating costs, required hours of labor, and tools/materials needed; receiving the funds to purchase materials; purchasing materials, including plants; planting the garden; and at least one follow-up visit to the garden. You might also need to schedule fundraising. If others will be maintaining the garden, make sure they will be available either during planting or during a follow-up visit to receive instructions. You can give Handout 1, Tips for Care of Your Butterfly Garden, to anyone who will be maintaining the space.
The North American Butterfly Association (at www.naba.org/pubs/bgh.html) sells guides to butterflies that are region-specific, and they are good sources for gardening.
Including All Participants
Outdoor spaces can vary widely in accessibility. Accessibility to the butterfly garden is necessary for both your group and everyone who wants to enjoy it. Oklahoma State University has an online guide (at agrability.okstate.edu/Resources/Gardening/accessible_gardening_tips.pdf) by Carol Cross for making gardens accessible not only to those visiting the gardens, but also to the gardener. It includes information on raised flowerbeds, which you might consider adding to provide gardening space for people using wheelchairs.
LEADER REFLECTION AND PLANNING
Review today's workshop with your co-leader. How did the writing proceed? Was there enough time for participants to write and share fully? What worked well and what activities need adjustment? How do the answers to these questions affect future workshops?
TAKING IT HOME
Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
— Rachel Carson
DURING TODAY'S WORKSHOP...
We read the poem "A Nature-Lover Passes" and discussed some of our connections to nature. We used our thoughts from a sensory meditation as the foundation for a poem about nature.
REFLECTION QUESTION:
Where in nature do you feel most spiritually connected and why?
EXPLORE THE TOPICS FURTHER WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS...
Li chun Spring Begins February 5
Yu shui The Rains February 19
Jing zhe Insects Awaken March 5
Chun fen Vernal Equinox March 20
Ch'ing ming Clear and Bright April 5
Gu yu Grain Rains April 20
Li xia Summer Begins May 5
Xiao man Grain in Bud May 21
Mang zhong Grain in Ear June 6
Xia zhu Summer Solstice June 21
Xiao shu Small Heat July 7
Da shu Great Heat July 23
Li qiu Autumn Begins August 7
Chu shu Heat Ebbs August 23
Bai lu White Dew September 8
Qiu fen Autumnal Equinox September 23
Han lu Cold Dew October 8
Shuang jiang Frost Descends October 23
Li dong Winter Begins November 7
Xiao xue Small Snow November 22
Da xue Great Snow December 7
Dong zhi Winter Solstice December 21
Xiao han Small Cold January 6
Da han Great Cold January 26
Source of translations: Barnett, Raymond, Ph.D. Relax, You're Already at Home: Everyday Taoist Habits for a Richer Life (New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Penguin Books, 2004).
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 1: UUS AND NATURE (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
Participants discover the wealth of material available to UUs on the topic of nature.
Look through the catalogs or websites of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) Bookstore, Skinner House Books, and Beacon Press. Explain that Skinner House is an imprint of the UUA and Beacon Press is an independent publisher that is a department of the UUA. The UUA Bookstore carries books by Beacon, Skinner House, and other publishers. Ask participants to search for books about nature. They will find non-fiction books about the environment, meditation and poetry anthologies, and children's books about the natural world.
Consider turning this activity into a game. Award points to the individual or team for each nature reference found. The winner gets to pick the snack for the next workshop. If using the activity as a game, make sure you have catalogs evenly distributed.
After the activity, discuss the following:
Including All Participants
If using the computer for this activity, also have a few catalogs available. It can be difficult for a group to view everything on a small screen and you want to keep everything accessible.
ALTERNATE ACTIVITY 2: NATURE MUSIC (10 MINUTES)
Materials for Activity
Preparation for Activity
Description of Activity
The group explores popular songs to discern their different characterizations of nature.
Invite the group to think of songs that deal in some way with nature. Examples are Julian Lennon's "Saltwater," the Beatles' "Here Comes the Sun," "Beautiful Day" by Ziggy Marley, "Big Sky" by the Kinks, and John Denver's "Rocky Mountain High."
Lead a discussion to investigate how different popular songs speak to the human experience of the natural world. As participants suggest or sing songs they know, ask:
EXPLORING OUR VALUES THROUGH POETRY: WORKSHOP 3:
HANDOUT 1: A NATURE-LOVER PASSES
Daniel Henderson (1880-1955)
In certain parts of Great Britain, where families commonly kept beehives, people believed the first thing you should do when a relative dies is to tell the bees.
BEES, go tell the things he treasured —
Oak and grass and violet —
That although his life was measured
He is with them yet!
Tell the wild rose and the clover
That the earth has made him over!
Tell the lilting, loitering stream
He is sharer of its dream!
Whisper to the April wood
Of his blending in its mood!
Tell the wind his spirit flows
In whatever path it blows!
Tell the thrush it draws its art
From the rapture of his heart!
Bees, to his green shelter bring
All of earth's bright gossiping:
Tales of feather, flower, or fur;
Sap upmounting; wings astir!
Now we may no more attend him,
Bid his loved wild things befriend him!
EXPLORING OUR VALUES THROUGH POETRY: WORKSHOP 3:
HANDOUT 2: TIPS ON CARING FOR YOUR BUTTERFLY GARDEN
From the Gulf Coast Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Welcome to your butterfly garden! The garden needs you to take care of it. Here are a few easy ways to care for your garden:
A good book to help you identify the butterflies in your garden is The National Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Butterflies by Robert M. Pyle (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1995).
Enjoy!
EXPLORING OUR VALUES THROUGH POETRY: WORKSHOP 3:
LEADER RESOURCE 1: BUTTERFLY GARDEN INSTRUCTIONS
Adapted from instructions provided by Elizabeth Waldorf and the Gulf Coast Unitarian Universalist Fellowship (GCUUF), Gulfport, MS.
These instructions are the steps taken by the GCUUF when they created a butterfly garden for a local elementary school. You may use these instructions or follow instructions from other sources (see Find Out More). You will need to tailor the plan for your region and climate. The GCUUF built a U-shaped garden about fourteen feet long and three feet wide. They used ten sacks of topsoil, ten bags of composted manure, and two bales of peat moss. They planted about twenty kinds of plants, including a border of monkey grass (Lirope), and placed a birdbath at soil level. They mulched with more than ten bags of shredded bark. Six adults and four children tilled and planted the garden in about two hours. Because half the plants were donated, the total cost was about ninety-five dollars.
TIPS FOR ESTABLISHING A BUTTERFLY GARDEN
PRELIMINARIES AND PLANNING
PLANTING
UTILIZATION
MAINTENANCE
FIND OUT MORE
Many poets, such as Robert Frost, Wendell Berry, May Sarton, and Walt Whitman, are noted for their nature poetry, and you can find many anthologies of nature poems. One such anthology is Poetry for the Earth, edited by Sara Dunn and Alan Scholefield (New York: Ballantine Books, 1992).
The River of Words website has suggestions on how to write a good poem by Robert Hass (at www.riverofwords.org/youth/hass.html) and Lawrence Ferlinghetti (at www.riverofwords.org/youth/ferlinghetti.html).
Xerces Society, in association with the Smithsonian Institute, Butterfly Gardening: Creating Summer Magic in Your Garden (San Francisco: Sierra Club Books, 1998).
A web search for "butterfly gardens" will turn up many results. Here are a couple:
The Butterfly Website (at butterflywebsite.com/articles/constructlist.cfm?type=butterflygardening)
Monarch Watch (at www.monarchwatch.org/garden/guide.htm)