Regardless of the size of your home, you need a space for relaxing and dream building. This should be a quiet corner where you allow your mind to drift. If possible, it should be a site where you refuse to take your cell phone and too distant to be disturbed by the chime of a doorbell. To design such a space, read our meditation garden ideas below and learn how to create a meditation garden around wicker furniture.
Essentials of the Meditation Garden
Most designers consider a water feature as essential for a meditation garden. The stream, fountain, pond or waterfall creates soothing sounds that help to block the noises of the world around you. Some visitors to these gardens find the statuary as an ideal focus point. By adding lush green plants and comfortable seating to the water feature, you can create an ideal meditation garden. Such gardens help you to reduce stress while raising your consciousness.
Types of Meditation Gardens
There are many types of meditation. Certain forms appeal to certain people. In a similar manner, people have different needs in a meditation garden. However, the space must be comfortable and make one feel safe in order to benefit from meditation. Simple lined wicker furniture can provide the comfortable seating to enhance one’s experience.
A Place Free of Distractions
The meditation garden should be free of distractions, yet rich in sensory experiences. Trees, shrubs or plants provide eye appeal, soothing sounds and aromatic scents to help calm the nerves. In areas where the background is visually confusing a wicker screen provides a barrier to help visitors keep their focus.
A Calming Place
The sensations experienced in the meditation garden should be calming. In addition to the sounds created by the water feature, one might experience the sounds of the wind rustling through plants or the delicate clatter created by bamboo. Crushing herbs or blossoms underfoot helps to lightly stimulate the olfactory senses. Designers want to avoid the bold and distracting visual effects in favor of muted colors. The natural look of wicker continues this theme.
Plan for the Overall Experience
As a visitor enters the garden the entire experience should be pleasant. The noise of traffic is masked. The plants offer visual interest, shade and increase the oxygen supply. Natural lighting allows the eyes to relax. The overall experience should be inviting for one to sit and relax.
Created for Healing
Design meditation gardens for healing and relaxing. Create them to be low maintenance and small. Choose wicker furniture that dries quickly if there is an afternoon shower yet is light in weight when the time comes to store it away during the winter.
Sources of Inspiration
Look to Zen or temple gardens in designing your own meditation garden. There are many features you may be able to include in your plan.
– Natural pieces reinforce the look of the garden’s immediate surroundings. Include the gnarled remnants of a weathered stump as a part of the design.
– A bed of sand, gravel or rocks that you can groom with a rake to create practically any design suggested by your imagination.
– Landscape with existing trees. You might be able to groom the existing trees into interesting shapes, depending on their size.
– Pathways, labyrinths, and gently curving plant beds. Be sure to include an occasional wicker stool, bench or chair on which you may choose to sit and contemplate.
Benefits of Wicker Furniture
The natural materials used in wicker furniture make them an excellent choice when planning your meditation garden. You will find meditation chairs that are ideal for use in a simple tea house as well as other furnishings that can enhance your meditation experience. Wicker baskets and crates are ideal for storing tools for tending the garden as well as yoga mats and other materials you use when meditating.
Create a meditation garden around wicker furniture and you will have a place to relax at the end of a stressful day. Try to spend a few minutes in the garden daily. The calming sounds, sights and smells help you to refocus your energy and better enjoy life.