Roots And Breath Outdoors

A simple wooden bench beneath redwoods can teach more about mindfulness than a stack of books. Sean Fargo shares how years as a Buddhist monk distilled into one essential practice: sit at the base of a tree, feel your breath, and let nature lead. From Thai forests to a Berkeley backyard, he traces the quiet power of practicing outdoors and explains why fresh air, shifting light, and the textures of the world sharpen attention and soften judgment.

We explore a practical, element-based approach—earth, fire, air, water, and space—that makes awareness tangible. You’ll hear how to work with sun on the skin, breeze on the face, and the honest feedback of uneven ground. Sean offers simple ways to start today: eyes open or closed, sitting in a park, or taking a slow walk while sensing heel, ball, toe. For teachers, he maps out how to guide groups off Zoom and into parks, trails, and campgrounds, where presence becomes easier and distractions become part of the practice instead of problems to fix.

If you’ve wondered whether public meditation looks strange, this conversation offers permission and a plan. We talk about building resilience by staying with both pleasant and unpleasant conditions, noticing judgments, and returning to raw sensation. By the end, you’ll have a clear, friendly roadmap for bringing your practice outdoors—alone, with friends, or with a class—and a renewed trust that nature is a steady mentor when we show up to listen.

Subscribe for more grounded guidance, share this episode with someone who loves the outdoors, and tell us in the comments: where in nature do you practice mindfulness?

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Episode Transcript

SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Hey everyone, Sean Fargo here with Mindfulness
Exercises.
I just wanted to share that youknow a lot of people ask me what
it was like being a Buddhistmonk.
And quite frankly, most of mytime was spent just like this,
sitting at the base of a tree.
It was very simple.

(00:22):
Here in my backyard, my wife andI live in a home in Berkeley,
California, where there's theseredwood trees in the backyard.
And I don't know if you can seeit, but they're kind of like
growing from the same place atthe bottom.
And one of the major reasons whywe moved here is because these

(00:43):
trees.
And so we put a bench here thatwas generously bought for by my
wife's aunt.
She bought it for our daughter afew years ago when she was born.
So this is my daughter's bench.
And so it's just really nice tosit back here at the root of a

(01:03):
tree, kind of doing what I wasdoing for a couple of years as a
monk.
You know, as a monk, ourteachers would say, you know,
even if we don't teach you athing about mindfulness or
Buddhism or any of thatrhetoric, you'll learn
everything you need to know bysitting at the root of a tree,

(01:27):
kind of sensing into yourbreath, move in and out of the
body, observing your thoughts,sensing your experience with
less and less judgment and moreand more wakefulness.
And so that's mostly what I did.
I just found a tree somewhere inthe forest, and I would live in

(01:47):
different forests in uhthroughout Thailand, in
Northeast Thailand, in CentralThailand, Northern California,
and I would just sit at the baseof a tree and meditate.
And I think that's somethingthat's not really encouraged
much in the West to practiceoutside.

(02:09):
You know, most of us will sit ona cushion inside and we'll have
like our spot inside our housethat's quiet and we'll meditate
there, which is great.
But not all of us consider justwalking outside and meditating.
I admit, you know, especially inplaces like the United States,
it might look a little weird tobe closing your eyes outside by

(02:32):
a tree, but who cares?
We can sit at a local park, wecan sit at a beach, we can sit
in our backyard, we can gocamping and just practice
mindfulness outside.
We can have our eyes open orclosed, it doesn't really

(02:53):
matter, as long as we're sensinginto our moment-to-moment
experience without judging it.
And and so, you know, as we'resitting out here, we can sense
into the sensations of the sunon our skin, the breeze on our
skin, sense into thetemperature, whether it's cool
or warm, we can notice ourreactivity or judgments of it

(03:17):
being hot or cold.
And can we just be with theactual sensations and the skin
and the flesh and the boneswithout judgment and just kind
of being with it moment tomoment?
Can we notice the thoughts thatarise?
The elements of the body, sosensing into the earth element

(03:42):
of skin and bone and flesh,hair?
Can we sense into the fireelement of temperature or lack
thereof?
Can we sense into the airelement of the breath moving in
and out of the body?
Can we sense into liquid elementor the water element of blood in

(04:08):
our body and saliva and urineand tears?
Can we sense into space insideus?
And then can we sense into theelements outside us of the earth
element, water element, fireelement, wind element, space

(04:28):
element?
So we're we're sensing into theelements of nature both inside
us and outside us.
And you know, as mindfulnessteachers, can we encourage
people to practice outside, tofind the roots of a tree to sit

(04:49):
at?
Maybe you can do mindful walkingoutside and practice sensing
into the bottoms of our feet aswe walk on a trail.
You know, we can lead sessionsat a local park or a campground,
we can lead retreats at acampground, or do a long day

(05:10):
long at a park.
So we're not confined to theinternet as mindfulness
teachers, we're not confined toboardrooms or libraries or
community centers or offices.
We can take groups of people orindividuals outside to practice

(05:31):
mindfulness.
This is where most people havebeen practicing mindfulness for
thousands of years is outside,not on Zoom, not inside offices
or anything like that.
It's outside.
And so, you know, myencouragement to everyone is to
find what works for you.

(05:54):
You know, where in nature do youpractice mindfulness?
I'd love to hear, you know,where you practice mindfulness.
So please write a comment in thecomment section where your
favorite places in nature are topractice mindfulness or to teach
mindfulness.
And I'm sure we'll get someinteresting answers and
hopefully, you know, inspire allof us to take our mindfulness

(06:17):
practice outdoors.
So those are my thoughts for theday.
Hope all of you are doing well.
Whether you know it's abeautiful day or not, you know,
it's always fun to practiceoutside and just being with what
is, whether we like it or not,whether it's pleasant or not,
can we be with it withoutjudgment?

(06:38):
And just kind of staying withour experience as it arises.
You know, if it's unpleasant,we'll probably learn a lot and
build resilience.
If it's pleasant, then we had agreat time, right?
So thanks again for forlistening, and I hope you all
are doing well.
Take good care.