Ideas For A Soothing Meditation Garden

A meditation garden is somewhere particularly conducive to concentration and peacefulness. Hopefully it’s somewhere you can be fairly sure you’ll be able to enjoy nature at its best, without fear of disturbance by electronic equipment, telephones, and other trappings of a busy daily life.

With any luck, the area will be enclosed and will contain flowers, grass and trees, providing a protective natural surrounding. A meditation garden doesn’t have to be overflowing with greenery and wildlife, however. In fact, in some traditional-style meditation gardens (particularly of the Japanese variety), a few trees, rocks and sand is all there will be.

Ideally, the only noise will be the sounds of nature, perhaps some gentle meditation music and/or meditation bells. As the meditation garden is outdoors, there is most likely not going to be any kind of aromatherapy, incense, or other kinds of scent used. The only props on the scene will be basic meditation tools such as a chair, maybe candles, and possibly a blanket for keeping warm.

Your personal meditation garden could be a natural area of wildlife, and not really a planned garden at all. For example, a forest is a great place to have a meditation ‘garden’. There, you’ll have nature all around you, and the only other sound could be the song of the birds. Similarly, the beach, or a coastal cliff or bay, can make ideal spots for sitting amongst nature and contemplating its beauty.

Not everyone is lucky enough to have access to their very own forest or beach, of course, or even much of a green park nearby. In addition to that, even for those who have these areas in the vicinity, they’re not private, and there’s the possibility of disturbance from other people, children, dogs and so on. If this is your situation, then don’t worry – you can still create a meditation garden of sorts, but you’ll need some creativity!

A quiet shed, or back yard is not a bad place to start, if you can be fairly sure you won’t be disturbed. An even better (and more outdoor) venue for a meditation garden would be a pretty patio. The more spacious patios give a sense of space and freedom, but as long as you have room to sit down, you can create your own meditation garden in your mind.

Many people say that the most calming natural attribute in a meditation garden, or natural peaceful place, is a waterfall. It sounds a little odd to claim that - because a waterfall is noisy – but, believe it or not, it actually helps. That’s because the noise is not a ‘noisy noise’ but more of a calming, soothing natural sound. The urban interpretation of a waterfall is of course the electric or motor water-feature. Most people are able to lay their hands on one of these, even if no natural water feature is available nearby. A simple pond is also one way of incorporating water into your meditation garden.