I invite you to find a comfortable seat.
Or if you wish,
You may lie down.
Just making sure that you can still say alert and not fall asleep in this beautiful journey.
When you are comfortable,
I invite you to close your eyes and take a deep breath in through your nose,
Filling your body from the toes all the way to the tip of your head.
And as you sigh it out,
Feeling a softening and a surrendering into the earth beneath you.
Taking a second deep breath in as you fill your whole body with vital life force energy.
Breathing out as you feel your body,
Your mind,
Soften and surrender.
Taking one final deep conscious breath in,
Filling up.
And as you breathe out,
Allow yourself to feel a softening in your jaw,
A space between your ears and your shoulders,
Softening in your neck as you are completely present with your body and your breath.
And in your mind's eye,
I invite you to visualize a door in front of you.
This door can be any shape or color.
It can be big or small,
Your choice.
And as you step towards this door,
You place your hand on the door handle,
Feeling its temperature and texture beneath your hand.
And slowly,
You open your door.
And as you open it,
You open this door into a magnificent forest,
An ancient,
Sacred forest with trees that extend across lifetimes.
And as you take a deep breath in and look around,
You smell the soil,
The leaves,
The bark.
You take a deep breath in and immerse yourselves in the smells of these ancient trees.
And as you start to walk deeper into the forest,
You hear the rustling of the leaves of the trees as the breeze flows past.
As you place your hand on each of the trees as you pass,
You feel their beautiful,
Rough bark.
And perhaps along the way,
Soft,
Cool little tickles of moss beneath your fingertips.
And as you step deeper into this forest,
Seeing your feet along a tiny little path made just for you,
You go deeper and deeper and deeper,
Taking it all in.
As you walk deeper into it,
You start to see a clearing ahead of you,
Just a small one covered in moss.
At the center of this gorgeous,
Moss-covered clearing is the most ancient of trees,
Standing tall and strong,
Wide,
Filled with wisdom and stories.
And as the rays of the sun glimmer off the trees' leaves,
Creating patterns on the moss,
It lures you closer and closer to this giant ancient tree.
And as you step closer,
You feel the magnetic pull of the tree's wisdom.
You feel the moss between your toes and under your feet as you step closer,
Closer,
Closer to the ancient tree,
Until eventually you are touching this tree.
You feel both of your palms on the beautiful trunk,
Feeling the texture of the bark beneath your fingertips.
And you breathe in with this tree.
And I invite you now to place your forehead against the tree trunk.
And as you breathe in,
You feel this beautiful life force from the tree filling your nostrils and your lungs.
You feel the expansion in you.
And as you breathe out,
You return this gift to the tree,
Sharing your vital life force with this beautiful,
Amazing,
Steadfast being.
And for a moment,
The two of you breathe in unison as the tree gifts you with oxygen.
You feel yourself expanding as you gift the tree with carbon dioxide.
You can feel the sensations and joy beneath your fingertips as the tree soaks it in.
Breathing in and out,
Expanding and sharing this gift.
And as you continue to breathe,
You start to feel that you become one with the tree.
The space between your fingertips and the tree's bark,
The space between your forehead and the tree trunk slowly melt away until you feel a softening between you two,
A softening so inviting that you feel yourself immersed and drawn into the tree,
In through the bark,
In deeper and deeper into the tree trunk,
Through layers and layers,
Years of wisdom within this tree until you find yourself at the very core,
The very essence of this tree.
And as you take a look around,
You feel safe,
Nurtured,
Comfortable as you are surrounded by this majestic tree.
And within this tree,
You look down at your feet and you see a tiny gift,
A little box that is labeled for you.
And you slowly bend down and pick up this box,
Giving thanks to the tree for your gift.
You hold this box in your hands,
Knowing that there is a sacred message just for you.
And slowly,
You open this box and take a look inside.
What is it that you see?
Is it something you recognize or something unknown to you?
Does it have a shape,
A color,
Perhaps a smell,
Or a temperature?
Is it hot or cold?
And even if you don't understand what this message,
This gift,
Is about,
Trust that the answer will come to you at exactly the right time.
From the inside of the tree,
You place your hand once again on the tree's bark,
This time from the inside out,
As you thank this majestic ancient tree for the gift and message that you need to receive right now,
As you connect back to the breath of this tree,
Feeling from the inside out,
The two of you breathing in unison,
Breathing as one,
One large,
Strong,
Beautiful force of energy,
Connected with roots deep down into the earth,
With wisdom through the layers of bark,
And strong,
Healthy branches that reach up into the sky,
Filled with leaves and an abundance that is directly from the source of Mother Nature,
As you stand at the center of this tree,
Feeling your roots connected to the roots of the tree,
Your trunk one with the trunk of the tree,
And your arms and crown of your head reaching up along with the branches and leaves of the tree,
Feeling whole,
Feeling grounded,
Feeling strong,
Yet serene,
And connected.
Slowly,
You start to feel the breath again,
Connecting with yourself at the center of this tree,
Knowing that it is time to depart,
Slowly,
With your little gift,
You start to feel yourself moving out of the tree,
Back through the ancient lines and years of wisdom in the tree trunk,
Back through the bark,
Until once again you are standing with your palms on the outside of the tree,
Your forehead touching the tree trunk,
And your feet firmly on the moss-covered grass,
As you take a moment with a few breaths here,
Reconnecting back to your body in its entirety,
Giving thanks to this tree for sharing its wisdom and its power and its love with you.
And slowly,
You start to step backwards,
Moving away from the tree until,
For one moment,
You can look up and see the whole tree in its entirety,
A reminder that it is you and you are it,
And you can always come back to the sensation of standing steadfast with tree wisdom.
As you thank this tree with a little bow and a smile,
You slowly start to walk away from the tree,
Through the moss-covered clearing,
Back through the forest,
One step in front of the other,
As you pass each tree,
Giving them thanks with a little touch or a nod or a smile,
Knowing that each of them contains strength and wisdom with their roots deeply connected to Mother Earth,
As you slowly continue to walk towards the entrance of the forest,
Saying your final goodbyes to this beautiful,
Sacred,
Ancient forest.
And as you reach the end of the path,
You see your door again.
When you are ready,
Placing your hand on the door handle again and opening your door,
Stepping back into your life where you are right here,
Right now,
Stepping back into your mind and your body,
Coming back,
Back,
Back,
As you take a deep breath in and sigh it out,
Taking another deep breath in as you feel yourself connected in the here and now,
Back to your breath,
To your mind,
To your body,
As you sigh it out and feel the weight of your body connected to the surface on which you are sitting or lying,
Taking your time to wiggle fingers and toes,
Perhaps rubbing your thumb against your fingertips to bring back that sensation of touch.
Gently move your head from side to side,
Stretching your arms up above your head and sigh it out.
And when you feel ready,
Gently opening your eyes and coming back to your space in the room,
Coming back to the here and now.
