Find your way into a comfortable position,
Sitting,
Lying down,
Whatever lets your body settle.
Let yourself arrive here,
Nothing to do,
Nowhere to go.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Feel the ground beneath you,
The solid support,
Like roots finding earth.
Notice the temperature of the air on your skin,
The space around you.
Nothing to fix,
Nothing to figure out.
Just here and now.
Allow your eyes to gently close or lower.
Bring your awareness to your breath,
The rise and fall,
The rhythm,
Like wind moving through branches.
Now imagine yourself as a tree,
Strong and alive.
Feel where you're rooted,
Your sits bones,
Your feet,
Your spine.
Deep roots reaching down into dark,
Nourishing earth.
Where do you feel held by these roots?
Where do you feel open,
Soft,
Reaching?
Maybe your chest,
Your throat,
Your belly,
Like branches extending towards light.
Deep roots reaching branches.
Breathe.
Bring your awareness to the front of your body,
Your heart space,
Your chest.
Imagine the branches of your tree reaching forward,
Extending into space.
This is where you meet the world,
Where you give,
Receive,
Connect,
Where leaves catch sunlight.
Notice what's here right now.
Is there softness,
Tension,
Warmth,
Tightness?
Breathe into this space.
See your branches extending just a little more with each inhale.
What if you could soften here?
Open just 1% more.
Notice what happens when you allow your branches to reach even a little.
Where does it feel safe to extend?
Where does it feel scary?
Breathe.
Let the branches sway.
Now bring your awareness to the back of your body,
Your spine,
Your shoulders.
Imagine the strong trunk of your tree,
The solid core,
The bark protecting the soft wood inside.
This is your strength,
Your boundaries,
What keeps you safe and standing.
Notice what's here.
Is there strength,
Exhaustion,
Rigidity,
Ease?
No judgment,
Just what's actually here.
Breathe into your trunk.
Feel the rings of wood year after year of growth.
What if you could rest into this strength,
Trust the trunk to hold you?
What happens when you let yourself be held by your own solid core?
Where does this strength feel good?
Where does it feel lonely?
Breathe,
Feel the bark,
The protection.
Now feel your branches,
The openness reaching forward into light.
What if you could feel both at once?
Breathe and feel your branches extend,
Opening to receive sunlight.
Breathe and feel your trunk,
Trunk strengthen,
Solid,
Holding you steady.
Branches reaching,
Trunk holding,
Open,
Protected.
Moving between.
Can you feel both soft branches and strong trunk reaching and rooted?
What does it feel like to be a whole tree,
Vulnerable leaves and solid wood,
Open and safe?
Rest your awareness in your whole tree now,
Branches and trunk reaching and rooted.
Notice,
Breathe here,
Let wind move through you.
Let your tree soften around what it's holding.
Both truths,
Both here,
One tree breathing.
Take a deeper breath in and out.
Wiggle your fingers and your toes like rustling leaves.
Gently roll your shoulders.
When you're ready,
Bring your awareness back to the room.
Notice how you feel now,
More grounded,
More spacious,
Something else entirely.
Breathe into whatever is here.
And when you're ready,
Open your eyes.
