Finding Nature through Sit Spotting
Sit spotting and meditation are similar in that they both involve sitting still and concentrating. With meditation, your focus is turned inward while with sit spotting it is turned outward towards the world. With regular practice sit spotting can bring positive changes to your life.
How to do sit spotting
Select an outdoor place near your home, such as your backyard or a neighborhood park. Find a comfortable spot and visit it daily or at least a few times a week. Visit your spot every season and at different times of the day and night to see how it changes. Sit there for 5 to 20 minutes and observe your surroundings with all of your senses.
See: Let your eyes slowly roam over the view picking out colors, the movement of leaves, grass, and insects, and shades of light and dark. See your surroundings as if you were a painter.
Listen with the mind of a sound engineer
There are four sound qualities: pitch, duration, intensity, and timbre. Of these the most interesting is timber, which is the character, texture, or color of a sound. I invite you to spend a sit spotting session focused solely on listening to timber. You’ll be fascinated.
Begin by closing your eyes. In your mind, slide the “volume” and “high‒low” faders down. What’s left is texture. Let it rise. Name the first sound you catch: papery, metallic, syrupy, gritty. Language pins the subtle stuff in place.
Work in layers. Nearest sounds—your coat shifting, a pigeon’s wing—feel intimate and detailed. Mid-range footsteps form a steady middle lane. Farther off, traffic hums like sand on velvet. Shift focus among layers as if soloing tracks on a mixing board.
Choose one recurring sound and follow its shape for a minute. A sparrow’s chirp may stay the same pitch, yet its timbre flips from airy to raspy as the bird turns. Notice those micro-shifts; they’re the fingerprints of the living world.
Smell
Humans can catch far more nuance than we realize, yet researchers tell us every aroma we encounter belongs to just ten families: fragrant, woody, minty, sweet, chemical, popcorn-like, lemony, fruity, pungent, and decayed.
When you slip into your sit-spot, close your eyes, let your shoulders drop, and breathe deeply through the nose. Feel each scent roll across your awareness. Is that first note honey-sweet or blossom-fragrant? Does a damp wooden beam exhale a mellow, woody musk? Perhaps a sharp pang of exhaust cuts in—bright, chemical, almost lemon. Capture these impressions in a “scent journal,” layering vivid adjectives, memories, even colors. The richer your description, the sharper your olfactory map becomes..
Touch: Our fingerprints, particularly the swirling grooves, are a key component of touch, allowing us to better detect vibrations and changes in texture. Close your eyes and gently touch the grass, rocks, and plants. What texture do I feel? Is it warm or cool, hard or soft? Use other parts of your body too. What textures am I feeling under my feet?
Location: I’d like to add another sense that's not really a true sense; and that is your sense of direction or location. As you sit in your favorite place can you point to true north? Where is the sun? Can you point to your house, your work, or your school? Which direction is the wind blowing?
City spotting
Doing sit spotting in a green area is ideal. The farther into the forest you go, the higher up the mountain you climb, the deeper connection you can make with nature. But for most us city dwellers woodlands are usually a bit more than a 20-minute walk away. The next best thing is a park or a green space. If the wilds are not easily reachable the best alternative is your neighbourhood.
I used to take the train to work and would go to one particular bench at the station. I’d sit there quietly every morning, and while commuters rushed past me I’d lose myself in a different sense each time. One day I’d focus on the sounds of the station, the next on the smells around me, and on another day I’d listen to the sounds and noises enveloping me.
So, instead of paying attention to birds, insects, animals, and plants you can tune into the vibrancy of the city around you. I called it city spotting.
One day, as I sat at the station, I focused on the sounds. At first, it was overwhelming: the screech of train brakes, the hum of engines, the murmur of conversations, and the clatter of footsteps on the platform. But as I sat there, I began to discern layers within the cacophony. I heard the rhythmic announcements of arrivals and departures, the distant honk of car horns, and the occasional laughter from a group of friends. Beneath it all, there was a faint, almost musical quality to the chaos—a symphony of the urban environment.
The next time, I focused on the smells. The station was a potpourri of scents. There was the unmistakable aroma of freshly brewed coffee from a nearby kiosk, mingling with the faint scent of newspaper ink. I caught whiffs of perfume as people hurried past, and the earthy smell of rain on concrete lingered from an earlier shower. Occasionally, the pungent scent of diesel from a departing train would fill the air, blending with the sweet, yeasty aroma of pastries from a nearby bakery. Each smell told a story, adding depth to my experience of the city.
City spotting allowed me to connect with my urban environment in a new way. It transformed the mundane routine of my commute into a mindful practice, revealing the hidden beauty and complexity of the city. By tuning into the sensory details around me, I found a sense of peace and presence, even in the midst of the hustle and bustle.
I’m Dr. Rodger Douglas, DMH, a South African-born homeopath now based in Osaka, Japan. With a psychology degree from Nelson Mandela University and a diploma from the Hahnemann College of Heilkunst, I specialize in holistic care for fibromyalgia. I serve clients by phone or video across the US, Canada, the UK, and beyond, shipping remedies directly from Japan.