The
garden provides us with food, flowers, fragrance, colors and textures. We tend to them with patience and care in
knowing it will return with abundant yields.
The garden can equally serve as a sanctuary for our soul, as a place to
retreat from the world and its worries, creating our own sacred place.
Contemplative
gardens such as the rich tradition of the Zen Buddhist gardens in Japan, nurture
the soul with simplicity for quiet reflection and reprieve. This “place”, this outdoor space of
simplicity, austerity and balance, will allow us to be present to the given
moment as it unfolds and embark on a personal journey; a journey that will
mature and expand as your garden grows.
The act of garden maintenance, such as removing fallen leaves,
maintaining gravel pathways and light pruning becomes a form of meditation,
allowing you and the contemplative garden to become one with the natural
surroundings.
As you
begin to map out different “rooms” of your sanctuary, take time to reflect on
your natural elements, ones that soothe your inner being. Maybe it is a stand of trees that remind you
of your childhood days climbing dogwoods or maples trees. Maybe you recall the love of the ocean or creeks
you visited and you wish to incorporate the sound of tricking water. Remember, a contemplative garden should be
simple, such as a grouping of aromatic lavender next to a bench should assist
in centering your thoughts on a hectic day.
Simple elements that speak to you and your soul are the foundation of
this place, reconnecting you with your inner being.
As a
meandering pathway creates anticipation, so should your contemplative
garden. Your layout should be mindful
and deliberate, a new perspective for each visitor, encouraging visitors to
slow down and observe the features of your space. Process the planning stages slowly, observing
the area in which this sanctuary for your soul will be located. Revisit the area repetitively over a period
of time as you may discover a pre-existing element in a different light that
could be incorporated into your garden, such as a native boulder outcropping or
a fallen limb from a nearby tree.
Embark
on creating your emotional, meditative and transcendent retreat focusing on the
mainstay of your garden, the central core.
It could be a grove of trees providing the central core of energy and
provides shade on a hot day for your spot of reflection and consider what shape
of tree or types of trees have that hold the most significance for you in the
process.
In a
traditional Japanese garden, there was a structure such as a hut or a pergola
at the end of a meandering path where tea was served, but a hut can simply be a
wooden bench nestled under or amongst your grove of trees providing a place to
rest. Incorporating a screen of shrubs
and trees that defines the perimeter of your retreat will create your sacred
realm, a sense of place that is safe and secure.
As in
all garden design, creating the sense of entry is one of the most important
pieces as it identifies a place in which you move from one world to
another. This threshold can be formal
with an archway or stone pillars covered in vegetation or as subtle as a well
manicured meadow between two places, allowing a time to decompress and for
eager anticipation of what awaits in your sanctuary. Creating simple topography changes within the
garden, such as a subtle, rolling berm planted with waterwise fescue grass
creates higher ground, a feeling of clear vision and a fresh perspective. If there is not sufficient space within your
garden to dedicate to this rolling berm, the fallen tree limb or stack of
vertical flat stones will help in creating this sacred mount and as Aristotle
wrote The Soul never thinks without a mental picture.
Resources: Moir Messervy, Julie
The Inward
Garden and Contemplative Gardens
Keane,
Marc P.
Japanese
Garden
Design
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