06:32

Breathing With The Trees ~ Entering The Nondual Breath

by Hans van Veen

rating.1a6a70b7
Rated
4.7
Group
Type
Activity
Meditation
Suitable for
Everyone
Plays
1.3k

Is it a coincidence that the Buddha became enlightened while sitting under a tree? Trees are not just our fellow earthlings, they are also deeply connected to us in an ancient symbiosis of breath. Here you are invited on a brief visualization meditation, where we connect with this natural nonduality of our breathing. We recognize that our in-breath is the outbreath of plants, trees... in a way, of the world itself, and our inner Wind becomes the outer. Listening to calming forest sounds, we can relax into connectedness and wholeness, and feel the essence of belonging, inclusion, and being at home on this planet, where we are interwoven spiritually, mentally, and physiologically with the natural world around us. Dedicated to our old friends, the Trees. image: Ales Krivec audio: BurghRecords

Transcript

So get comfortable in a position for a few minutes of meditation.

Have your spine straight and allow some slowing down even for a short meditation.

Connect with your breath.

Just see how your body is feeling and breathing right now without changing it.

And what I would like to offer you for this brief session is to connect to breathing in a special way,

In a certain specific way.

Preferably you are able to see a tree from where you are and if not you can imagine a tree.

And if you don't like that you can also do it without a tree,

But with the outer world itself.

So as you're slowing down and feeling your body relax wherever it can right now,

I'd like to invite you to imagine that when you inhale that's the exhalation of the trees,

That's the exhalation of the world into you.

And when you exhale you can see that as the world's inhalation,

It's the inhalation of the tree.

And as you relax more and more perhaps you notice your breathing becomes a little bit longer,

A little bit deeper.

You really have this sense of the breath flowing into you is the exhalation,

The exhale of the tree of the world,

Which it is.

And when you exhale you're giving breath back to the world.

You're having an interchange with the trees or a specific tree that you're seeing or imagining.

It's quite wonderful to realize that our exhalation,

This used up breath,

Is actually the life force of the tree.

We're really in symbiosis with the trees on this planet.

Of course there are also plants,

Other types of plants.

I just like the image of the tree specifically.

And so this way of breathing is a way of connecting to that symbiosis,

This non-dual togetherness with the plants on this planet.

We typically,

I'm assuming anyway,

Speaking for myself,

But we typically don't really identify with the plants on this planet as part of our interbeing.

Of course on a conceptual level yes,

But typically when you hear people speak about interbeing it's about mostly other humans or other mammals.

But isn't it cool to also see,

Wow,

This breath that I give is actually the life for the plants,

For the trees,

For the planet.

And it goes even farther I would say than interconnection.

It's just we're part of the same fabric of this planet and our breath is a gift from the trees that we give right back in the way that they most enjoy it.

So stay here for a bit in silence breathing like this for about half a minute more.

4.7 (230)

Recent Reviews

Susan

January 28, 2026

Beautiful. Enjoyed and will repeat with the trees I steward (when the current 🥶 🇨🇦 🌡️ eases!) 🙏🏼

Debra

January 21, 2026

Loved this!

Philip

January 6, 2026

I agree with this non duality idea!!

Julie

December 2, 2025

Perfect meditation after my Celtic tree oracle reading. Thank you 🙏

Mat

November 30, 2025

Unique. Could connect with a tree closeby . O

Barbara

November 22, 2025

Loved the birds

Katy

October 12, 2025

That was a very cool connection! Thank you!

Kathleen

July 27, 2025

I had a favorite tree growing up in my backyard. She was lower to the ground and her branches would reach close to the ground making a natural fort for me to play in. I imagined myself laying under her branches and breathing in concert together. What a wonderful feeling to connect again with my favorite tree. Thank you for this moment

Michelle

July 12, 2025

Thank you 😊 🌲

Yvonne

July 10, 2025

LOVED the feeling of connection 💚🙏

More from Hans van Veen

Related Meditations

Loading...

Related Teachers

Loading...
© 2026 Hans van Veen. All rights reserved. All copyright in this work remains with the original creator. No part of this material may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

How can we help?

Sleep better
Reduce stress or anxiety
Meditation
Spirituality
Something else