Forest Sun

Join Henry on a journey deeper into the forest, an incredibly relaxing visualization in a rain forest in the Pacific Northwest of North America. His calm voice accompanied by wonderful sounds of nature allow you to escape the worries and anxiety of daily life, just long enough to put you in the right frame of mind for a wonderfully guided body scan towards deep relaxation. At the base of an old-growth cedar tree, you will surrender to your breath and let go to be fully present in the moment.

Transcript

Hello.

Welcome back to the forest.

Today turned out to be such a beautiful day after the rain we had a while back.

But I thought I would take you to a different spot in the forest.

In case I haven't mentioned it in previous journeys,

We are in a rainforest.

When most people think of a rainforest,

They think of the Amazon in Brazil.

While this is a beautiful example of a rainforest,

There are rainforests all over the world.

We are in the northwest coast of North America,

Which for the most part is a rainforest.

And if you've ever been to Seattle or Vancouver in the winter,

You'll know exactly why it's called rainforest.

And while the mighty redwoods in California are stunning,

The old growth cedars and douglas firs up in British Columbia will take your breath away.

There are trees happily now well protected that are twelve to fifteen hundred years old.

These majestic beasts can be as tall as seventy-five meters or two hundred and fifty feet.

The circumference at their base is as much as eighteen meters or sixty feet.

Can you imagine that?

That's about twenty feet in diameter.

Absolutely amazing.

I hope I didn't get your hopes up too much.

The tree that I'm going to take you to is probably two meters wide at the base,

Or about six and a half feet in diameter.

I would hazard a guess that our tree is in the order of two hundred and fifty to three hundred years old.

So in the forest rain meditation,

We were on the veranda of the house.

Next,

In forest rain 2.

0,

I took you just out of sight of the house to the hidden gazebo,

Which was great because it was raining even harder.

And now we are standing beside that gazebo in the sunshine and we're going to go for a bit of a walk.

See over there,

There's a hint of a trail that goes down the hill.

We will only use the trail as a guide and walk near it.

While walking with others,

I like to spread us out so that we don't trample down the moss on the trail too much and expose the soil underneath.

With the big rain storms we get here,

It can easily erode and wash away that beautiful soil.

So if you haven't already done so,

I would like to allow you to close your eyes and you'll be able to see all of this with your mind's eye,

Your third eye,

Your imagination,

Whatever you would like to call it.

Let's take off our shoes and socks so that we can walk in our bare feet and we can do some hearthing as we walk.

We will pick up free electrons with our feet from our beautiful mother earth and in doing so we balance our energy,

Or our electric charge if you will.

Hearthing is a practice that we should try and do every day.

I always feel good when I've actually touched the earth with my bare feet.

Isn't it wonderful to feel the cool green moss underfoot with each step?

It's about five inches thick and it's so springy.

Look back toward the gazebo.

Can you even see one of your footsteps in the moss?

I can't.

Alright,

Let's carry on.

The air is warm and the sunlight is filtered through the canopy of wonderful green branches high overhead.

We can hear the breeze in the tops of the trees but down here on the forest floor we don't even feel a breath of it.

It is perfect for our journey.

So the trees we are seeing in the forest are mostly red cedars.

The large douglas firs make up about a quarter of the trees.

See how the bark on the cedars tends to be stray and striated in a slightly reddish brown color?

And the douglas firs have a very thick,

Craggy,

Gray-brown bark on them.

Even the young firs have that on the base of their trunks.

I'm guessing by the size of these trees here that most of them are in the 75 to 100 year old range,

Which means that this area experienced clear-cut logging in the early 1900s.

But look at this growth.

Isn't it wonderful how nature recovers from us so beautifully?

The big trees we see here are actually relatively young in their life cycle.

That's how we get deeper into the forest.

You can feel the moisture,

The humidity rise,

And smell the air.

It's so sweet and fragrant.

The sweetness comes from the rotting trees that have fallen over the years and the accumulation of fallen leaves from last autumn and so on.

See on the branches the long light green lichen that looks like wisps of hair?

It's everywhere.

When I was a boy we called it moose hair because it was so thick and coarse.

If you look back behind us again,

You can see the moss from the forest floor is growing up the north side of the tree trunks.

If we were closer to the mountains in the rain shadow,

The moss actually grows over most of the trees and its branches.

It's quite stunning.

There are squirrels all over the place here chattering away eating seeds from the trees and the birds sound joyous and lively.

I find walking here so incredibly calming.

I just know that our happiness and oxytocin levels are climbing and our stress and cortisol levels are just melting away.

As I walk in the forest,

I like to wonder who has walked these woods before?

I'm talking well before this area was locked a century ago.

It is said that the First Nations people arrived in the summer between 6 and 8,

000 years ago.

What souls may have walked this forest or the previous incarnation of it foraging and hunting for food?

They had a reverence for the beauty and bounty of the Mother Earth.

It seems that most indigenous cultures around the world believe that we belong to the Earth.

The Earth does not belong to us.

I believe that quote can be attributed to Chief Seattle of the Squamish and Duwamish nations.

I really like the thought of belonging to the Earth.

Okay look up ahead.

There is the tree.

You can't miss it.

It is double the size of all the trees nearby.

If the forest wasn't so dense with this thick canopy of branches overhead,

You would be able to see how our tree towers above the rest.

Come let's go over to it.

Isn't she beautiful?

Massive.

You can feel the energy radiating from her.

Come around the side and see.

Look how the sets of roots with the heavy moss growing on them looks like the most comfortable overstuffed chairs.

Can you guess where we will sit?

Okay you take that spot and I'll take this one.

Isn't this comfortable?

Just lean your head back against the tree.

Feel that vibration.

Feel her energy.

So you heard me refer to the tree as her.

I'm no botanist or arborist but I do know that trees have a gender.

I don't know how to figure that out but this tree just felt like divine feminine power to me.

Feel how her roots are cradling us.

Feels pretty maternal.

We know trees are alive but it has been postulated that trees also have a consciousness or an intelligence if you will.

It can be argued from the quantum level that all matter whether we consider it living or dead has a consciousness.

But with a tree think about this.

Deer like to eat young saplings and fresh buds off of new growth.

The tree can recognize the saliva from a deer and then release hormones and tannins that makes the branches and buds taste awful so the deer moves on.

In some cases it has been measured that even surrounding trees respond by producing more of the bad tasting hormones in response to the one tree that it was nibbled upon.

The trees are looking out for each other.

Is this a singular consciousness that each tree has or is it a collective consciousness that the plant kingdom shares?

Who knows but the fight for survival is very real just like with you and I.

So when I come to this tree I like to express my gratitude and thank her for her comfort,

For the shade she provides,

The home for many creatures she provides,

The protection for smaller trees around her in bad storms.

It is a way of honoring nature and her presence within it.

Okay this now is the perfect spot to settle in and relax our bodies and let go of any remaining stress.

Let's begin.

Take a deep breath in,

Hold for a moment and blow it out emptying your lungs.

Deep breath in paying attention to what it feels like in your nose and throat and hold and let it out,

Feel the air passing through your mouth.

Breathe in all the way to the dark corners of your body,

To your fingertips and your toes and let it go.

Breathe in this beautiful sweet forest air and hold and breathe out the stale thoughts and negativity.

Breathe in acceptance and allowance for what is as it is.

Breathe out judgment and conditions,

Blow it away into the forest to be transmuted by the majestic trees.

Okay one more time,

Breathe in hello moment,

Breathe out I am here.

Remember in Rainforest 2.

0 we used the feeling of the water line on your body as you go yourself into a pool or a bathtub.

Everything below the line is completely relaxed,

Controlled paralysis,

Controlled by ourselves of course.

If for any reason at all if you feel the need to get up or feel unsafe in any way just know that you can in the very moment that you choose to.

And I call it a water line only for lack of a better word.

It is not water at all,

Merely the sensation on your skin in this visualization.

So placing attention on your feet,

Wiggle your toes around,

Then allow any tense muscles to completely let go.

Relax your feet.

Now consider your ankles,

Roll your ankles a bit to become aware of the muscles and let it go.

Relax.

Feel the water line rise up your calves to just below your knees.

Everything below is completely relaxed.

You can imagine that if you wanted to move your ankle you couldn't.

It is temporarily paralyzed.

Allow the water line to rise more.

Over your knees,

Slowly up your thighs.

Make it go all the way up to your hips.

Now your legs from feet up to your waist are in this temporary state of paralysis.

Remember to breathe.

Inhale.

Hello legs.

Exhale.

I am here.

Now feel the line move up over your belly,

Up your back.

Now it is coming up over your chest to your collarbone and up to your shoulder blades on your back.

Take a deep breath into your belly.

As you let it go,

Feel your stomach relax.

The muscles in your chest soften.

Another breath in.

This time push the hair down your spine to your lower back.

Then exhale,

Letting it all go.

Feel your body sink just a little bit deeper into this moss armchair you are in.

Now imagine your hands,

Your fingertips are now feeling the water line.

Let it rise up over your hands,

Over your wrists and up to your elbows.

If you try to move your hands,

You can't.

Like the rest of your body,

They are completely relaxed.

Feel the water line move up to your upper arms to meet the level of your collarbone.

Now the line is one and it moves up to the base of your neck.

Breathe.

Inhale.

Hello body.

Exhale.

I am here.

Let the water line slowly travel up your neck.

When you feel all the muscles letting go.

Your mouth,

Your face,

Your eyes,

The back of your head,

Your jaw,

Your forehead,

Your scalp,

Everything,

Everything drops so relaxed.

Breathe in.

Hello universe.

Breathe out.

I am here.

We are one.

So now that we are completely relaxed,

You can breathe the forest air at your natural pace.

Just enjoy the beautiful sunshine filtering through the leaves and the branches.

How does it get any better than this?

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Take a deep breath in and hold and blow it out.

I invite you to open your eyes and you can just sit for a while and reacquaint yourself with where you chose to take this meditation.

Thank you for joining me and we'll do it again real soon.

Peace to you.

Peace to you.

Reviews

I didn’t think I could find a meditation I liked more than forest rain but this is now my new favourite! Thank you for introducing me to your special tree. 🌳

I really enjoyed this walk through the forest! Very relaxing and uplifting! Thank you! 🙏

Henry! Wow! I have no words to convey how stunningly beautiful that was! When I got up off of the floor ... I had to shake the back of my legs convinced that my shirt and pants were still damp! Beyond Grateful for you!💞

Deeply relaxing and just what I needed after being stuck inside for several rainy days

Really beautiful nature sounds and music. Soothing narration. What could be better?

What a truely magical meditation, I did not want it to end,Thank you,filled with gratitude 🙏 ✨ 🙂

Loved it and did it along with restorative yoga poses. It was so relaxing and soothing. The bird singing was the best. Nature is my healing and happy place. 🧘🏻‍♀️💜❤️💐🌷🌹🌻🌟🪐🌈🌞

Henry thank you for this beautiful meditation. I felt so immersed in this wonderful forest. It was truly magical. This is one I will come back to again. I will follow you to hear more of your stories. 🙏

Superb. Thank you. I enjoyed the combination of informative nature walk with meditative space. Have you thought of doing a session without the human music added? Just the forrest sounds to bathe in? I will come back here often. 🙏

Thank you Henry. What an amazing way to start my day, relaxing now transporting, appreciating the beauty and sounds of the forest.

Beautiful love the rainforest background and it was emotional for myself

That was a wonderful meditation, relaxing, grounding and the beautiful ancient tree… She was stunning and re-energizing! Look forward to your next journey to the creek you found!

Truly an incredible experience. You're voice was so peaceful and your guidance through the forest, magical as was the journey itself. Thank you so very much ❤🙏

Loving this new place of calm and adventure.
Peace to you Henry. 🙏🏽 thank you ☺️

This was beautiful and your soothing voice is so calming. The forest has always been my place of peace. Growing up and camping with my parents, we traveled the Sierras & Pacific Northwest, and I love the huge, beautiful redwoods and forests. I had a special spot by a creek where I would sit & fish & just stare up at the trees. Thank you for this special journey.

Thank you for transporting me to this beautiful place. I was completely immersed and felt a wave of emotion when the music was introduced. Will be joining you again. Namaste🙏🙏

Absolutely wonderful, Henry! I loved every second, such fabulous imagery, I’m looking forward already to doing it again. Thank you so much! Thank you for giving us this to us!

Revelation Henry 🌲🌳🌲 Thanx dearly 🍀🙏🏼🌤🕊

I belong to the earth. Yes, I love that... Another wonderful, grounding walk. Really didn't want to leave the forest... Thank you Henry, I always enjoy time with you. Love and blessings 💙 x

During my illness of 6 weeks, Henry's meditations kept me strong, gave me strength and the ability to be hopeful without falling into darkness. Today I am well and more than ever appreciate walking in the forest or sitting in the gazebo. Thank you for all you do for many people each day.