Wisdom of the Trees…
Trees reach into the sky toward the light and grow down into the ground for water and nutrients, so they have a grounded as well as an expansive point of view. Trees can teach us about enduring situations in our lives that may seem overwhelming. While they can bend and twist a bit, they must always stay put, regardless of how the environment around them changes. This can be a great teaching about not running away from situations that scare us or are unpleasant. Imagining yourself as a tree is a great way to ground your energy with the Earth and to strengthen your “roots” so you may stand strong while swaying with external circumstances.
There is a lot you can learn by imagining you are a tree and mimicking its movements.
This meditation can be done outdoors or in, sitting or standing and can last as little as 5 minutes or as long as an hour.
Make yourself comfortable. Sit, stand, or lie however you feel relaxed and not distracted by posture. Take a deep, cleansing breath and release. Begin breathing slowly and deeply relaxing all the muscles in your body. Focus on releasing tension from your toes working up through the stomach and throat, relaxing your jaw, face and third eye.
Imagine your feet growing roots, imagine the roots coming out of your legs and your bottom and heading down into the soil. With each out-breath, your roots grow and reach deeper into the soil. You can feel the coolness and grit of the nourishing soil. You feel the stress and tension flow out of your roots with each out-breath.
With each in-breath, feel yourself pulling cool, earthy, grounding energy from the soil and Mother Earth. Feel that energy move slowly from your feet and legs up through your “trunk,” down your “limbs” and into every cell in your body. When your body is full of this grounding energy, feel it begin to exit through the top of your head.
Feeling grounded, imagine your arms are limbs and begin reaching them toward the sky, toward the sun, the source of energy that nourishes green plants and life on earth. With each out-breath, your branches reach further into the sky, growing, releasing tension and stress.
With each in-breath, breathe in the warm, energizing sunlight, allowing it to flow down from your “branches” and “trunk” to each part of your body and into each cell. Feel the energies of earth and sky mixing within you. When you are full of this vitality, let the energy seep down and out of your roots.
Feel how grounded, calm, and centered you are, but also energized, focused, and with broader perspective. When you feel complete with this experience, slowly increase your breathing, feel yourself return to your body, stretch, and open your eyes.
