This Roots of a Tree grounding practice invites you to tap into a greater sense of presence and steadiness.
Trees are powerful symbols of strength and stability,
Growth and renewal.
They've weathered the elements to survive,
And when we tune into their strength,
We learn to strengthen our capacity to weather the challenges in our own lives with a little more patience and kindness towards ourselves,
And with a little more ease.
So when you're ready,
Settling in in a way that allows your body to feel comfortable.
And if you need to shift your attention or your body at any point in the midst of this practice,
Do whatever supports you in the moment.
And as an invitation to more deeply arrive,
Use whatever senses are available to you to help you orient to your space.
And that might be tuning into the colors and shapes around you,
Or bringing your attention to the coming and going of sound,
Or sensing into the contact points of the surface that your body's resting on.
And when you're ready,
The invitation is to bring your attention more gently inward by allowing your eyes to close or your gaze to soften.
And if it's comfortable to focus on your breath,
Taking a few deep,
Slow and intentional breaths,
Breathing in through the nose and exhaling through the mouth.
And noticing if you can extend the out-breath just a little longer than the in-breath,
Inviting you into a more relaxed state.
We send signals of safety when our breathing is deep and slow,
Quiet,
Regular.
And taking a few more gentle and slow breaths in and out at your own pace.
And returning your natural rhythm of breathing without trying to control your breath in any way,
Just tuning into the sensation of your breathing just as it is,
Without trying to change anything.
So the invitation is to bring into your mind's eye the image of a beautiful and majestic tree.
And bringing this tree into your imagination in as much detail as you can.
Noticing its height,
Its shape,
Its colors.
You might notice the contour and reach of its branches and leaves.
The stability of its trunk.
Bringing attention to its grounding presence.
And as you bring this tree into sharper focus,
You might now bring your attention to its root system,
Helping it to grow and strengthen its stability and connection to the earth.
And through that connection,
Its ability to stay steady and strong through the elements.
And of course,
As your mind wanders,
Recognize that that's the nature of the mind.
It's not a mistake.
It's part of the practice.
Just gently returning your attention to where you left off.
And bringing your attention back to the root system.
And you might imagine the roots of this tree reaching out in a widening circle around it.
And as the roots grow and travel and strengthen,
They meet and connect with the root systems of other trees.
And from each other,
They draw strength,
Wisdom,
And stability.
Each tree impacting and influencing the others as part of a larger interconnected and interdependent community of trees.
Notice if you can tap into that same sense of stability within you.
Almost as though you are imagining that you and the tree are no longer separate.
You've become one.
You embody the tree.
Your body is the trunk,
Strong and steady.
Your feet,
Like deep roots,
Stretch down into the earth.
Sense into your life force blending with the life force of the tree.
And through these shared roots,
You are connected to the pulse of the earth,
To the quiet wisdom of the forest,
To the rhythm of the seasons.
And you might recognize that you're not just a part of nature.
You are nature.
You are held by it.
You are nourished by it.
You are alive within it.
And you might at this point offer yourself a nice deep breath in and a long extended out breath out your mouth.
And as you breathe in,
You might imagine that the tree is exhaling,
Releasing oxygen into the air,
A really beautiful offering from its leaves.
And as you exhale,
Know that you're giving something in return,
Your own breath,
Rich with carbon dioxide.
You are nourishing the tree in a quiet,
Sacred exchange.
It's almost as though your breath and the tree's breath co-mingle in a rhythm of giving and receiving.
A really beautiful reminder that you are not separate from nature,
Deeply connected to it.
And rooted in the same breath of life.
And so resting in this awareness just for a moment,
And when your mind wanders,
Just gently bringing your awareness back over and over again without judging yourself and reminding yourself that to lose connection with your anchor or home base,
In this case,
The sense of you and the tree being one,
It's the nature of the mind.
And it's part of the practice,
Just returning over and over again,
Next minute or so.
And each time your mind has wandered and you've invited yourself back to awareness,
To being right here,
Rather than in the past or the future,
You've been strengthening your capacity to be steady and strong.
And that steadiness and that strength is shared with a widening circle of community around you.
So in the next few breaths,
I invite you to begin to let go of this practice in whatever way feels right.
You might invite a reorienting to your space through your senses.
It might be through opening your eyes,
Lifting your gaze,
And again,
Taking in any colors or shapes,
Objects in the room where you are.
Listening to the landscape of sound.
You might invite some gentle movement or gentle stretch of your body.
And if it feels right,
You might take another deep,
Slow and intentional breath,
Breathing in through the nose,
The long extended out-breath through the mouth.
And you might complete this practice with an offer of gratitude towards yourself for taking this time to cultivate presence,
Strength and stability for the benefit of your own well-being and also for the benefit of others.
Thank you for your practice.
