To me,
Trees are amazing.
In my front yard,
There is this really old tree,
Something like more than a hundred years old.
And it just stands there.
Its branches up to the sky,
It's about 30 meters high,
The leaves rustling in the wind.
And impressive roots going deep and wide.
And every time in my life when I'm feeling not so well because I'm sad or frustrated or simply tired,
I know what to do.
I bring my attention back to my tree.
And I realize it has been standing there for so many years.
It has seen and heard and experienced so many things.
And it is still here.
Not rigidly fighting her environment,
But moving along,
Depending on the winds that blow,
Depending on the sun that is shining.
Deeply rooted in the earth,
Connected to the earth.
Do you know that trees are connected underground,
Not just with their roots,
But between the roots of trees.
There is this beautiful network of fungus,
It's called mycelium.
And these are tiny threads with which the trees correspond with each other.
They share nutrition,
They share water,
They share information.
If a tree in a forest serves as the dinner for some kind of bug,
Through the mycelium network it gives this information to the other trees,
Who can then protect themselves from the attack of those bugs.
Whenever you want to relax,
Connect with yourself and with nature,
It is wonderful to walk in a forest,
To experience the trees around you.
But even when you live in a city and you do not have a forest close by,
You can walk up to any tree in your surroundings,
Yes,
Also that little tree in the middle of the city,
And you can connect to this tree.
And I know,
It might sound a little bit hippy-dippy,
But when it comes to self-gentleness,
It is about allowing yourself to be who you are.
It is about allowing yourself to fulfill needs that you have.
And in this quickly rushing world,
Where so many things are expected from us in our jobs,
Our families,
Our societies,
As parents,
As children of older parents,
We have to do so many things,
And it is sometimes really hard to stay close to ourselves.
And really,
Trees can help us with this.
So I am going to take you on a small visualization journey,
Where you will connect with that beautiful grounding feeling of being a tree.
So sit comfortably,
Lie down comfortably,
Or stand up comfortably,
All is well.
Gently close your eyes.
Let your hands be relaxed in your lap,
And if you are standing up,
Just let them hang next to your body.
And now bring your attention to your feet.
Your feet on the ground.
Feel the touch points under your feet,
Where they touch the ground.
You can even take off your shoes if you want to really properly feel how your feet are connecting with the ground below you.
Now imagine that from your feet,
Roots are shooting into the earth.
They are shooting in deeply,
Widely,
Creating this firm basis for you to know that this is your grounding connection with the earth.
And what you can do is to imagine those roots sprouting from your feet,
That they are growing all the way down to this beautiful,
Fiery core of planet earth.
And when your roots touch that core,
You can feel the energy of the earth reaching into the roots,
All the way up,
Through the roots,
All the way up,
Into your feet.
And from your feet they go up,
Into your calves,
Your knees,
Your thighs,
Your buttock,
Filling your belly,
The back,
The front of your body,
Into your shoulders,
Your arms.
This energy is shooting out of your fingers and up through your head,
Like a fountain out of the crown of your head.
Now just feel this energy,
This beautiful earth energy flowing.
You can give it a color,
Like the fiery orange color that the core of the earth has,
But you can also make it green,
The loving power of mother earth.
Whatever color you choose,
Just imagine how it is flowing up all the way through your roots into your body,
Grounding you,
Supporting you.
Because mother earth is supporting you.
When you think about that,
How our earth is spinning at enormous speeds around our sun,
Through space.
It is beautiful to know that mother earth is here just to carry you,
To support you,
To feed you.
This is the knowledge of a tree,
A tree who roots deep and gets everything she needs from the earth,
Gets everything she needs from the sun.
So while you're sitting or standing,
Connected to the earth,
Imagine that you're now growing branches.
You can even put your hands up in the sky like these are the two main branches from your tree feeling.
You can lift your head up to the sky and feel the warmth of the sun on your face,
On your crown.
The crown that you have just like a tree and you feel now the wind.
The wind is kindly blowing,
Making you slowly move from left to right,
Moving all your branches,
Making the leaves rustle.
It is good to be a tree,
Standing in the sun,
Being caressed by the wind,
Connected,
Grounded,
Supported by this beautiful planet earth.
And when you realize that this connection with planet earth is connecting you with all other beings,
Just like the trees are connected through these invisible wires below the earth,
It is worthwhile to be aware that when you are grounded,
You're not only connected to who you are,
But also with the world at large.
Now enjoy this feeling for a moment,
Being this tree,
Just being here and now.
No worries about the future,
No doubts about the past,
Just being here right now,
Bathing in the sun,
Supported,
Seen,
Valued,
Worthy,
Simply because you are.
When you progress in your day afterwards,
Try to keep a bit of this feeling,
Of that beautiful,
Calming,
Grounding energy of trees.
Let this feeling be with you for the rest of the day.
And whether you're going to sleep now,
Or you're going to be really active,
It doesn't matter.
You have just grounded yourself within,
Using the innate wisdom of trees for your benefit.
Thank you so much for meditating with me.
In gratitude and with love,
Until tomorrow.
