As we begin,
I want to honour and thank all the teachers,
Formal and implicit,
Who have supported and shaped my work in graced moments.
My words are also shaped by a lifelong curiosity about the sacred and the many ways human beings have sought to live in relationship with one another,
With the earth and with mystery.
Nice,
Slowly.
Gently and with warmth towards yourself.
Whatever space you're in.
Whatever mood you're in.
Whatever emotions or physical experiences are here right now.
Just allowing your body to be.
Matching the body B.
Noticing the body.
Has some support right now.
As you settle into your chair,
Your couch,
Your bed.
Your feet on the earth,
Whatever it is for you.
Just allowing yourself in this moment to really feel that support.
Know that you don't have to hold yourself up entirely on your own.
Sense into and feel the support.
Fish on the floor.
Seesh on the chair.
Earth beneath us.
Letting the eyes close over,
If that's okay for you.
Are simply softening the gaze.
And coming to breath.
See if you might notice just right now the breath coming in.
And the breath going out.
Breath coming in.
And breath going out.
Simply letting the breath breathe itself.
As you watch the breath in a way.
Like you might watch the wave on the seashore.
Wave coming in.
Wave going out.
Breath coming in.
Breath going out.
Right now,
In your imagination,
I invite you to bring to mind a tree.
Maybe it's a tree you know well.
An old oak standing in a field.
Maybe a beach in a woodland.
A willow beside a stream.
Or maybe it's a tree you've never seen before.
Just allowing the image of your tree to emerge in its own way.
Notice where your tree is growing.
The earth beneath it.
The sky above.
The lice falling on its branches.
Taking a little time now.
To be in the presence of your tree.
Notice the trunk of your tree.
It's bar.
Its shape.
Its particular character.
Maybe your tree is.
Straight and tall.
Or perhaps it has grown in unexpected directions.
Maybe there are scars where branches have broken.
Are marks left by years of changing weather.
This tree has lived through many seasons.
Sunshine and rain,
Warmth and cold,
Gentle breezes and fierce storms.
And through all of these changing conditions.
Your tree has continued to live its own life.
Now,
Allow yourself to imagine.
That for a little while.
You might experience the world as this tree.
Feel your body becoming rooted.
Your feet,
Your legs.
Your whole lower body resting firmly upon the earth.
Imagine roots reaching gently down into the soil.
Moving through layers of earth.
Finding their way around stones.
Reaching toward water and nourishment.
Some roots reaching deep.
Others spreading wide.
Feel now the strength of this connection.
The earth supporting you.
The earth nourishing you.
You don't have to create this support.
You are already in relationship with it.
And now,
Become aware of your trunk.
Your spine rising gently upwards.
Your body supported,
Yet free to move.
A living connection.
Between earth and sky.
Maybe you might sense something of the quiet strength of this tree.
Not a strength that needs to prove itself.
Simply the strength of being rooted in the life that is yours.
Now imagine your branches reaching outwards.
Some towards the light.
Thumb towards the shelter of other trees.
Some carrying leaves,
Flowers,
Or fruit.
Others perhaps bare.
And notice how the branches respond to the movement of the air.
A gentle breeze comes.
The leaves tremble.
The branches move.
The tree does not need to resist every movement.
It can bend.
It can sway.
It can respond to the wind while remaining rooted in the earth.
Perhaps there is something here for us.
We,
Too,
Are touched by the changing winds of life.
By Joy.
And sorrow.
By love and loss.
By unexpected change.
By things we welcome and things we would never have chosen.
And perhaps like the tree.
We too can learn to remain rooted while allowing ourselves to move with what life brings.
We don't have to be rigid to be strong.
We don't have to control everything to remain present.
Now imagine the seasons passing around your tree.
Spring arrives.
New leaves unfold.
The world grows green.
Summer brings warmth and abundance.
Then awesome comes.
The light changes.
Leaves begin to loosen and fall.
And eventually winter arrives.
The branches stand bare against the sky.
The tree does not remain in summer.
It cannot hold on to every leaf.
There are seasons for growing.
Seasons for flourishing and seasons for letting go.
Maybe there is something in your own life that you are being invited to release.
Not because.
It doesn't matter.
Not because you have stopped caring.
But because holding on so tightly has become exhausting.
If something comes to mind just now.
Maybe you might imagine loosening your grip just a little.
As the leaf loosens from a branch when its time has come.
There's no need to force anything.
Simply allowing the possibility of letting go.
And now,
As you rest here in the presence of your tree.
Remember that it doesn't grow alone.
Beneath the earth,
Its roots shared the soil with countless other living beings.
Fungi,
Microorganisms.
Insects.
The roots of neighbouring plants and trees.
Above the ground,
Its branches offer shelter.
Its leaves exchange gases with the air.
Birds and insects come and go.
Rain falls.
Sunlight arrives.
The tree participates in a vast web of relationships.
It is itself.
And it belongs.
And so do you.
You are part of this same living world.
The air that enters your lungs connects you with the trees and the plants of the earth.
The water within you has travelled through rivers,
Clouds,
Rain and soil.
Your life,
Too,
Is sustained by relationships beyond what you can see.
You are not standing outside the natural world.
You are part of it.
One living being within this great community of life.
Perhaps you might now remember the words of Herman Hesse,
Reflecting on the wisdom of trees.
My strength is trust.
Allowing those words to settle.
My strength is trust.
Not certainty.
Not control.
Not the promise that storms will never come.
Perhaps simply the willingness to live this life as it is unfolding.
To receive what nourishes.
To respond to what changes.
To release what can no longer be held.
To remain open to what is still becoming.
And maybe for the last little while of this meditation.
You can rest in the possibility that you do not have to earn your place within the living world.
You already belong.
There is room here for your joy.
For your sorrow.
Room for your questions.
Room for all that is unfinished.
You are part of this vast and mysterious unfolding of life.
And now gently and slowly.
Begin to come back to an awareness of your own body.
Feel your face.
Your legs.
Your spine.
Notice your breathing again.
Perhaps imagine your tree once more,
Standing in its own place beneath the white sky.
You might offer a quiet word of gratitude for its presence.
For the wisdom it has helped you remember.
For the living Earth that sustains us all.
And perhaps carrying one simple invitation into the rest of your day now.
May I learn to trust a little more.
May I loosen the grip where I can.
May I remember that I belong.
May I learn to trust a little more.
May I loosen my grip where I can.
May I remember that I belong.
Feel once again now the support beneath you.
Notice the sounds around you.
The air against your skin.
And when you are ready.
Gently lifting the gaze or opening the eyes and returning to your own space.
Noticing the space around you.
Nice,
Slowly.
Gently.
And with warmth towards yourself.
