Let's begin.
Closing your eyes or softening your gaze and turning it downwards.
Directing your focus inwards.
Sitting upright,
Feeling your sit bones beneath you.
Not forcing or holding yourself in that position.
A sense of softness and suppleness in your spine.
Head floating gently upwards.
Your neck feeling at ease.
And a quality of expansiveness.
Your weight travelling down smoothly through your spine.
Down through your hips and sacrum.
Through your sit bones.
Down into the chair beneath you.
And further down into the earth.
Which holds,
Supports and anchors you.
Feet flat on the ground,
The soles of your feet making good full contact with the earth.
Feeling its solidity and strength,
Yet its softer and more yielding qualities at the same time.
You feel yourself grounded,
Rooted and protected by the physical structure and the energy of the earth.
Feeling that connection to both the earth and sky at the same time.
That balance between growing,
Floating upwards towards the sun and downwards towards the earth that roots and holds us.
You feel that place in your centre where both of these energies,
These directions and their different qualities balance with each other inside of you.
Their swirling beautiful dance right at the very centre of your being.
At your core,
Your hara just below your navel deep within your abdomen.
This is the point of balance where your pure essence is stored and your direction and intention can be accessed.
Halfway between your connections with heaven and earth.
Let's take some deep full in breaths now and some long slow out breaths from your very core.
Remembering the trees that have purified this air you're breathing now and thinking of the oxygen they have put into it which is now nourishing your body and giving you life.
With me now.
Inhale.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Hold.
And exhale.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Inhale.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Hold.
And exhale.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Inhale.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Hold.
And exhale.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Five.
Six.
Now allowing your breath to return to a gentle natural rhythm of its own.
That's good.
Where you sit I'd like you now to imagine your chair with you sitting on it outside in the open air.
In the thick of a deep peaceful forest or woodland.
On a beautiful spring or autumn day.
The dappled sunshine warms and cheers you and the gentle breeze cools you.
Bringing a sense of wakefulness and aliveness to your body.
Maybe this is a forest you know.
From real life or your imagination.
It's a place where you feel relaxed,
Completely safe and protected.
By the huge ancient trees that surround you.
You notice one tree in particular which stands out to you.
Perhaps it's the light on its leaves or its broad barky trunk.
Maybe it's a favourite species of yours.
Or maybe you just have a feeling in your centre when you look at it.
A sense that it's friendly.
An intuition that it is beckoning you to go to it.
To meet it and share the space with it.
Gently rising from your seat,
You go to your tree.
Standing close to it you notice how it feels to be here.
In close proximity to this beautiful being.
You sense the sound and movement of its sap circulating within its body.
As your own blood circulates through yours.
Both bringing nutrients,
Nourishment,
Moisture and life itself.
You hear the rustling of its leaves catching the sunlight.
Sheltering you in a peaceful gentle canopy like a tent.
You see its branches above you.
Stretching upwards or outwards.
Its limbs strong.
Or lithe.
Muscular and powerful.
Or willowy and elegant.
Then you look at your own arms and stretch them out too.
What does that feel like?
And then you see a small distance away.
A larger,
Older tree of the same species.
The parent to your tree.
Which gave its DNA and its vital energy.
To create the seed from which this tree grew.
This gift of life to the world.
This unbroken chain extending back through countless generations.
And you think of the generations who have passed their own essence.
Their DNA.
Life energy and essence through countless generations of ancestors.
Receiving and giving the gift of life.
Passing on the continuity of physical existence.
Experience and being in one long and broken chain.
Of which you are a part as well.
You take a moment to touch the tree before you.
And connect with it physically.
You might lay your hands against its bark.
Or sit amongst its roots.
Leaning your back against its trunk.
Feeling the occasional subtle movements that come from the wind.
Moving from the very top down through its body into the earth which anchors it.
Perhaps you give it a big,
Cuddly hug.
Or maybe you climb up into one of its broad boughs and sit ensconced within the treetop.
Its leaves surrounding you,
Its branches carrying you.
Holding you safe.
Like an adult carrying a child on their shoulders.
And you settle into the moment.
What do you feel?
What physical and emotional sensations are coming up for you?
What is it like to be in contact with this tree at this moment in time?
See whether you can extend your awareness inside the tree itself through your physical contact with it.
Sharing in its energy and space.
What do you feel?
See,
Hear,
Experience or imagine.
And maybe try sending your consciousness down to the roots of this tree.
Within the earth.
Feeling its connection and communication with all the other trees in this forest.
Widening your view if you feel you would like to.
To encompass more different trees now.
To all the living trees in the world at this moment.
Unique,
But unified in what they do.
The role they play.
And their lives each touching and helping others.
Like us standing between heaven and earth.
Touching countless lives by their very presence,
Structure and nourishment.
By their breath of life which they put out into the world.
Now,
Let's gently bring our awareness closer in.
Back to the friendly tree before you.
Here and now.
Settle here a moment.
Completely present.
And fully experiencing this connection with the fellow living being before you.
Whatever that's like or not like for you.
Just see what comes up for you with curiosity and acceptance.
So in just a moment,
We'll start to travel back to the here and now.
You say goodbye to your tree.
In whatever way feels right.
And walking gently over to your chair again.
You settle within it.
Sit bones beneath you.
Feet connecting with the earth.
Heads softly floating upwards towards the heavens.
You take one last look around at this beautiful peaceful place.
Knowing that you can come back here again whenever you wish.
The scene before you starts to gently fade.
Crisp edges soften and details blur.
And you gently turn your attention to the room around you.
Noticing whether it's warm or cool.
Whether you can hear any sounds around you.
Connecting with the exterior world of the here and now through your senses.
Wiggle your fingers and toes.
Have a lovely big stretch if you like to bring you into a more fully embodied state again.
And when you're ready,
Open your eyes and come back into the room.
You Thank you.
.
