Over the years I've walked the farmlands with the children, I've noticed something about their sensitivity to the land they are on, that's been a privilege to witness.
Most often a game that emerges is very connected to where we are. A bush with a low bouncy branch provides a dragon to climb onto and fly with ... a log becomes a bus or a plane or a spaceship ... a hollow stump becomes a nest or a house ... wild wind and an open paddock a place to run and roar ... still gardens a place to be tender and gentle ... and often the children ‘name’ what is happening through how things feel. They will climb onto the branch, notice the bounce, feel themselves off the ground and as they be in that experience ... it gets named or expressed. This will capture the imagination of another or a call is given, ‘Do you want to fly with me on the dragon?’
Children seem to feel and intuit their environment and create in accordance with it. I've witnessed how they can immerse in an imaginal world together, totally connected to what is in nature and happening around them ... as with the dragon ... and that they can leave that environment ... returning a week, a fortnight or a month later and instantly connect with the same experience and the last moment that happened while they were on this particular piece of land. It's like there has been no time in between and no shift away from what is being felt and experienced in the present moment
In some cases I've had children return a year later to a place that held special memory and the feeling of what they experienced is instantly evoked and alive again and the experience able to continue on.
This can be so finely tuned that they pick up the exact last conversation that was being had in that space ... and continue on, immersing themselves right back into the imaginal world they last entered at this point.
I see this as quite different to how adults can return and remember or reminisce ... children seem to be able to create the experience anew in the present moment from their feeling memory.
I've also seen how they can move easily from one place and time to another and be in accordance with the nature of the place ... and that their sense of time is not linear ... it's always NOW. So as the dragon game comes to it’s own natural completion and they choose to move on ... the next thing that emerges will be connected to the next land they are one and if it’s a place they’ve been to before and the memory stirs, they simple enter what was last happening there ... even if it’s radically different ... from dragons to babies ... from pirates to birds ... from space travel to story telling ... from slaying giants to cake making ... from jungle exploration to a drive in the country ... the transition is easy.
Sometimes, one space can hold a multi-layered experience where several different imaginal experiences can be had at once and the children are able to communicate to each other within this well.
One time I witnessed this at a hollow stump ... which has been a nest and also a spaceship and also a jet and also a big cake and more ... 5 children were playing there one day and having 5 different experiences going on simultaneously. They were all aware of each other and each others experience and moved quite fluidly within that to have their own play. One boy who was flying in a spaceship called, 'I'm flying out now'. He narrated instructions to himself from the control deck about take off. His friend nearby moving fluidly into the space as it emptied and climbing into the same stump which for them was a nest.
At times there can be clashes or glitches ... 'Hey, he won't get off so I can finish my cake ... ' and it would only take a word of encouragement for the space to be made for both things needing to happen to be able to exist. I offer simple things like, 'Can you wait a moment until he takes off and then you can finish the cake.'
Each child will hold a conversation alive with me from the space they are in. I need to hold each reality myself and not cross boundaries. If I talk to the space captain as if he’s not that ... it’s received as a huge disrespect being shown on my part.
Each child will hold a conversation alive with me from the space they are in. I need to hold each reality myself and not cross boundaries. If I talk to the space captain as if he’s not that ... it’s received as a huge disrespect being shown on my part.
I am constantly reminded by how the children are ... of the importance of being aware, co- operative and spontaneously creative and how possible it is to have huge capacity for this.
If the mood of the children and the land they are on don't match then they will often call to move on, or may become agitated trying at play in a space where what they need for expression isn't being met or satisfied.
I've witnessed how tension can break simply with a change to the landscape ... a slight change to where we are, can feel so different, that tensions dissolve and something new can emerge in play that is more necessary for harmony, happiness, well-being and creative expression at that time.
I often get asked ... 'What about the weather?' ... people wondering what we do when it rains, or it's cold or the children need to rest some.
We simply respond appropriately to what is happening. If it's cold we rug up and are active and seek shelter when needed in warm still spaces ... near a stable ... by the open fire in the barn ... under a tree ... where we can face the sun. If it's wet, on go the raincoats and gumboots and we splash when we can and shelter when needed ... a light drizzle is not something to run from, a hood or a moment under a tree can take care of that and when the down pour is big ... it can be fascinating to watch and listen to and to stay ready to emerge and see what happens straight after the rain.
What the children with me and the farm have shown me, is how much of what is needed to nurture our spirit and natural intelligence, is there in the land and provided for by mother nature ... all we need to do, is listen, tune in, cooperate and care.
