Tree Meditation

This mindfulness practice helps us to embody the qualities of a tree such as strength, resilience and accepting love. It starts with a poem titled If I Were a Tree, describing the qualities of a tree. Then, we meet our grandmother tree in the forest who helps us enter into a visualization of embodying our own tree. I encourage you to take the time to write your own poem about your experience as a tree.
What kind? Where? Feelings or observations?

Transcript

This is a meditation exercise that starts with a poem and after the poem it goes into a guided meditation. The purpose of these exercises together is that the poem can start inspiration in your mind and the meditation can connect yourself to your body with the hope that when the meditation is over you can sit and take some time and write your own poem allowing the experience of embodying the poem and the mindfulness to help the words flow through you. This meditation is about trees. The poem goes like this. What kind of tree? What kind of tree would you be? I wouldn't be a coniferous tree with its edgy spikes held close to its heart. That wouldn't be me. I would be a tree that breathes deeply with my leaves dangling in the wind. He thinks about who I would be. He says you would be a tree with roots for arms swinging down planting and replanting yourself deeper each year toes long and thin each piece placed precariously under the soil I finish and ready for adventure. If I were a tree I would know the seasons as intimately as a lover and greet them as a friend rain to dance with sun to bask in snow to soak my weary feet the great winds of fall to help me bear it all and a hundred years of sleep. So now that this idea is in our mind we will continue through a tree meditation. Close your eyes place one hand on your belly and one hand on your heart and take three deep slow breaths in through your nose and out through your mouth in through your nose and out through your mouth in through your nose and out through your mouth. Now imagine yourself in a beautiful forest. You're walking around this forest hearing the sounds of the birds seeing the particular trees that you love when you close your eyes and think of a beautiful lush forest. Crunch crunch crunch go the leaves underneath you suddenly you discover a giant grandmother tree. Observe this tree for a few minutes what does it look like what does it feel like? Imagine that you sit upon the earth amongst the roots of the trees with your back flat against the tree lean your back against the tree letting yourself feel fully supported. Breathe in and out gently and completely. Begin to feel a sense of gratitude towards this tree as you observe the qualities of strength resilience ancient wisdom and protection. Feel these qualities fill your body and your heart as you relax against the tree as you continue to breathe. Breathe in and imagine the beautiful cool wind of the forest coming in through your nose and as you exhale exhale any stress or worry from your shoulders from your back and let that worry drop out of your back similar to how rain would just gently cascade down the trunk of a grandmother tree. Now you are going to imagine yourself that you are becoming a tree. Imagine yourself strong and rooted with the roots of the tree going extending past your feet with the trunk of your tree being your body and the hands of your tree making up the leaves. The base of your tree is so massive that you can't even get your arms wrapped around it and your roots run so deep and so wide that no amount of wind or rain would ever be able to sway you. As you envision yourself firmly rooted you sense yourself sitting upright with your branches growing bigger and your trunk growing taller with each inhale and exhale. At this point you may even wish to reach your hands up to the sky really embodying the leaves and wave them back and forth gently imagining that a cool breeze has come to say hello to you. Observe how your arms and hands take over into a gentle sway and rhythm. Your body may even be moving at its own pace. Breathe in. Breathe out. Stretch your fingers up and wide as wide as they can go becoming leaves that will soak up the sun's gorgeous rays. Envision the sun shining high in the sky and as you envision the sun envision this beautiful warm bright rays of sunlight extending down onto your leaves giving them nourishment giving them energy and life force giving you love. Feel this love beaming down upon your face and begin to absorb it through your leaves and through your trunk knowing that is always there and is always available for you to accept. When you breathe, Breathe in through your nose and let that breath go where it needs to go in your body right now drawing up towards the sky and maybe down through your throat down through the body that is the trunk and all the way down past your feet into the rooted earth. Breathe deeply here. In through your nose and out through your mouth. In through your nose and out through your mouth. Imagine that breath that life force energy extending all the way through the center of your being. In through your nose and out through your mouth. There you are this magnificent amazing tree standing tall and poised in a beautiful lush forest and peace and tranquility. Your branches and roots are no other. You are strong. You are healthy. You are grounded. And no matter the season you are here standing firm. Consider for a moment what season you are in in your life right now. It could be the fall with your leaves starting to turn starting to fall making some preparations into the winter. It could be the winter time where your leaves have fallen and your body and soul is turning inward in preparation for the long sleep. It could be the spring of your life with new buds arising sending new ideas and surges of creativity. Or it could be the summer time when you are in full bloom and birds and animals come to see you and you are thriving. And in any of these times some of your branches may become heavy or torn or worn. Some of your trunk may find itself a home for animals. Though your human form may think of these as imperfections or mistakes know there are never mistakes in nature and everything is part of a bigger plan. Now it is time to end our meditation. Slowly remove your focus away from the tree that you are embodying. Come back step out of the tree and into your human form. Acknowledge the grandmother tree that you were in contact with earlier and thank her for her wisdom and her grace. Gently walk away from her saying goodbye to the forest. Take a final look around and observe how it is you're feeling at this moment in your body. Observe if anything has changed for you and how you're feeling. And when you're ready you can open your eyes and come back to your space. Perhaps even wiggling your arms and your feet stomping your feet down and just being completely grounded in this present moment right here. This ends our practice today and I hope that you can take a few thoughtful moments to jot down any observations and follow the prompts. If I were a tree what kind of tree would I be? Where would I be located? And how would I feel? Thank you and have a wonderful day.