What Is Mindfulness?
Mindfulness is our natural ability to be conscious and aware. To be mindful requires that we are fully attendant to where we are, what we’re doing and what’s happening.
In our ever accelerating, media-deluged existence, focusing on the moment becomes increasingly difficult. For most, there is little reprieve from bustling work places, home chores, children’s activities, and constant movement.
–The Benefits Of Mindfulness
Beyond the implicit objective to simply slow down and ‘unwind’ mindfulness and meditation have been shown in scientific studies to reduce stress and anxiety .
Being able to focus our senses and breathing on our environment puts us in tune with our physical surroundings and contributes to a feeling of peace and well being.
Practicing Mindfulness In Your Garden
One of the easiest ways to create an environment in which to slow down and practice mindfulness is to construct and maintain a garden. The act of turning the soil, planting, weeding and watering are opportunities to focus both mentally and physically on the task. To feel the perspiration on your forehead, the labored breathing of your effort and the satisfying ache of tired muscles.
The Japanese Zen Garden
Gardens can take many forms but the most deliberate style intended to promote mindfulness is the Japanese Zen garden. The typical Zen garden is a dry landscape with very few plants and no water included in the garden design.
Following the aesthetic simplicity and design principles of the art of Zen, a Japanese Zen garden is a peaceful, unique space that demonstrates order and harmony with nature.
The natural elements of sand, gravel, stones and wood are used to emphasize the garden’s connection to the natural world. Man-made elements include bridges, lanterns, and an enclosing perimeter wall or fence.
A Japanese Zen garden achieves harmony with nature through the principle of ‘shizen’ which is the absence of invention and ‘kanso’ which means simplicity. The intent is to work with the existing topography and to alter as little as possible to achieve order in the landscape.
–Landscaping For A Zen Garden
Your landscape design can include a gardening space to help you make mindfulness a part of your lifestyle. All unnecessary elements are removed and there is no dominant feature. Consistent with the intent that a Zen garden be one with nature and represent the natural world, design elements and plants are placed asymmetrically.
Rock landscaping — solitary rocks and boulders, are placed in expanses of smooth raked gravel to represent mountains and the ocean. These gardens become an even more important sustainability choice in arid climes because they require little to no watering. Empty spaces are integral to a Japanese Zen garden. The successful Zen garden is almost always a silent place to encourage quiet reflection and mindfulness.
With the burgeoning popularity of contemporary home design Japanese Zen gardens have become the natural landscape choice for the surrounding property. The austerity of these landscapes match perfectly with the open concept, Spartan appearance and design simplicity of the modern home. Building materials of raw concrete, and natural wood beams blend harmoniously with the sand and gravel elements of the garden.
Landscaping For Mindfulness
Although Japanese Zen gardens are specifically designed to elicit a contemplative and quieted state more traditional gardens can do so as well if some of the underlying principles of Zen design are followed.
Most traditional gardens provide unmistakable visual expressivity but the feelings of peace and serenity are sometimes lacking. These landscapes typically include mass plantings, abundant varieties, numerous colours, water features and plant choices that provide year round interest.
However, contrary to the intention to create winter interest for example in a traditional garden, the dormant stalks of grasses and the leafless branches of trees against a white backdrop of snow is one of the most peaceful and beautiful scenes I know.
Simple changes to your planned landscape can encourage mindful reflection and awareness consistent with Zen principles.
- Reduce the number of species in your planting plan.
- Opt for a more monochromatic palette. Green being the natural ‘field’ colour anchoring the overall palette with only one to three overlying ‘accent’ colours. Unless you are deliberately planting an English garden style with its inherent wildness and unkempt natural appearance the overuse of colour can be unsettling. This is especially important in a more confined space where abundant variety and colour can overwhelm. Generally, the smaller the space the fewer the colours.
- Add order to your plantings. Although this may seem counterintuitive to the concept of ‘shizen’, remember, we are deliberately planting. We are introducing plant material rather than working with what already exists. Regularity and order to the placement of plant material creates a calming effect.
- Limit the number of materials in the overall landscape and use only natural materials. If a patio is part of the landscape and you opt for a manufactured stone product, try to choose one that looks like natural stone. Similarly, choose un-dyed mulches both for their appearance but also because some dyes can be toxic to certain plants.
By applying a Zen approach to traditional garden design you can develop both a visually impressive and calming outdoor environment. One that is often sorely needed in our busy lives.
