A gift from Mother Earth.
The elements of Earth Mother.
The elements of the water and of the sun and moss,
Trees,
Air.
We as human beings and our bodies require a narrow window of the amount of oxygen in the air and the temperature range that we survive at and thrive at and all the different variety of ways that we're supported here on Earth.
We could begin by breathing with trees.
Maybe you have favorite trees or a forest that you go into or a memory,
Felt sense of some connection with trees.
And as we bring that to mind and into our heart and our body,
Imagine that you're nose to nose with the tree or in a forest of trees.
And as you breathe,
They breathe.
As they breathe out,
You breathe in.
Things tend to really become slow when we're breathing with nature.
We could tune into the intelligence of trees.
We know a little bit about that.
We know that they communicate through their root system,
Mycosial networks,
The roots,
The way that some trees will support a tree that's struggling by offering them some of the nourishment from their roots.
There's a vast field of cooperation among trees.
And when we feel ourselves as part of that,
We could allow our own mind to slow down as well.
Imagine that you're breathing in the breath that the tree is breathing out.
And the tree is breathing in the breath that you're breathing out.
Take your time.
There's lots of time in the tree world.
They're not rushing about.
And maybe you have a favorite tree that you can reach.
You could reach out and touch the leaves,
Branches,
Trunk.
Maybe you can do that in your memory,
Your body memory,
Your visual memory.
Notice what it feels like to breathe in.
There's that sensation in the nostrils.
And if we were to absorb some of tree energy,
What would shift,
What would change in our body?
Trees are the standing ones.
They're not the scurrying about ones.
What would it be like to stand like a tree?
Let yourself breathe,
Let yourself quiet.
And if we were to ask tree to support us,
To help us,
What might that elicit?
What might happen then?
As simple as breathing,
Welcoming.
Some trees really sway and move with the winds that come through.
Other trees are very solid.
They're rooted in the ground.
Tree is whispering its wisdom into your heart.
Listen,
What is it imparting to us?
I'm breathing in as the tree breathes out.
I'm breathing out as the tree breathes in.
Let your body settle,
Let your muscles relax and soften.
Notice your forehead,
Eyebrows,
And eyes.
What's happening in the brain?
What's happening in your thought stream right now?
We could pay attention to that for a moment,
See what's here.
There might be something we need to attend to after.
We might also notice that there's nothing that needs to be urgently taken care of.
We could allow ourselves some rest and stillness in the brain,
In the mind.
Coming back to this open-hearted connection with tree,
We focus on the breath.
Notice the nostrils,
The sensations of cool as you breathe in,
Warmth as you breathe out.
And if you were to take in some deep,
Nourishing breaths,
What would that feel like?
Release any tension in your body as you breathe out.
Maybe move your body around.
You might bring your arms up as you breathe in.
Really open up through your ribcage,
Your lungs.
Exhale,
Bring them down.
Or they might be hanging out up there for a bit,
Swaying around with the breeze.
We don't have to be stiff.
We could let ourselves move.
Notice if there's any tightness in your jaw.
Move your lower jaw around a little.
Let your tongue soften.
Your throat,
Your mouth.
And if there's nothing you need to say with your mouth,
You could allow your mouth to be still,
Your vocal cords to be still.
Or maybe you're whispering to the trees.
Sometimes we whisper in words.
Sometimes we whisper in our heart.
And bring your awareness to the neck,
The sides of your neck.
The back of your neck,
Top of your shoulders,
The back of your shoulders,
Large muscles of the upper back.
Let your shoulders sway up on the inhale and down on the exhale.
It's okay for us to move our body.
Let ourselves move with our impulse.
And when we're disconnected from our bodies,
As so many of us are,
It might feel a little stiff or we're thinking about how we might move.
And the more and the more deeply we come into connection in our body,
We just know,
This is how my body wants to move right now.
We follow that impulse.
It may be the impulse back to stillness.
The back of the neck,
The shoulders,
The upper back,
The area between the shoulder blades,
Those large muscles that come from the mid-back out to the back of the shoulders and into the arms.
And the complementary muscles on the front,
The chest,
From the throat,
The collarbones to the mid-chest.
And then the muscles that go out to the front of the shoulder joints.
Down into the front of the arms.
And allow softening through the neck,
The shoulders,
The front to the chest,
The upper back,
The mid-back.
Maybe in your mind's eye,
In your body memory,
You're leaning back on a strong,
Sturdy support of a tree.
Let this tree have your back.
Surrender to that support.
Notice where your mind goes.
There might be words coming in,
Or you might have words or thoughts about something else.
Trees don't really need words to let us know that they've got our back.
We can lean into this.
If you were to turn,
Face the tree,
Then we're breathing directly.
As the tree breathes out,
We breathe in.
Let your heart be supported by the tree.
Connect through your heart,
Through your belly button,
Through the front of your body.
Let your body be supported by the tree.
Feel your arms,
Your hands on the tree.
Feel the muscles of your chest as they soften.
Connect your heart and the tree's heart.
This simple breathing,
The movement of the breath.
Trees have a continuity in their breath.
They don't really stop and inhale,
And then stop,
And then exhale.
They're always breathing.
They're always breathing in,
And they're always breathing out.
Feel the motion of your body,
Of your belly as you breathe.
Let your breath be continuous,
Easy,
Smooth.
Let yourself sigh.
What does your heart know in connection with this tree?
Feel your legs,
The trunk of your body,
The trunk of the tree.
Notice how steadying it is to be in connection with a tree.
Allow your whole being to come into alignment with this stillness of the tree.
How could you support this tree?
Give back.
We can offer our gratitude for all trees have given us.
As we accept and are nourished by their embrace,
By their breath,
We could offer our heartfelt love and gratitude.
As we prepare to complete the practice,
We could maintain the connection with the tree's energy,
With the tree breath,
With the stillness.
And as we move through the day and we come across other trees,
We could offer them a greeting,
Offer them our breath,
Our hearts.
Rest in the stillness.
Notice your whole body now,
Head to toes.
All along the front of your body,
All along the back of your body,
Head to heels.
Notice your breath,
Notice your heart,
Notice stillness.
Each time you look at a tree or you walk by a tree or you touch a tree,
Offer that connection,
Love.
Oh,
I just want to go outside and hug a tree now.
