Many of us struggle to find quiet, safe harbors where we can unpack our brains. The perfect spot may be closer than you think. Look up.
Trees have always offered comforting shelter for humans. Their boughs block the sun, and shut out prying eyes. They drop leaves when we need seasonal metaphors. They can also provide a sanctuary for our brains.
We watch them grow, change, and tremble in the wind, but I’ve unlocked a view that few people take advantage of. Go under a tree and look straight up. You’ll find a leafy highrise with plenty of paths and cubby holes for your thoughts.
A Skyline of Green
Stand under a tree. Crane your neck and peer upward.
Look up to see a view we rarely glimpse while moving laterally through life. Trace the verdant sprawl above. The complex, branching paths visible from your hidden vantage point.
Squirrels, birds, and ants know the map well. But few of us ever notice the detail and city planning that goes into the canopy of a tree.
The offshoots should be familiar. Reminding you of the paths your life has taken or might’ve taken. Family ancestry, divergent choices, crisscrossing destinies.
Consider the complex web your arrival has created across reality, perhaps many realities.
Tap Into Healing Roots
Once you’ve followed the forking thoroughfares to each leafy borough, it’s time to go deeper.
Place your hand on the immovable trunk of the tree. Feel the solid and cool certainty. How different than a blade of grass, but a kinship of species evident.
Take a mental journey downward into the chilled earth, the root system forming a near-symmetrical layout to the network above. Follow the telescoping veins until they reach their slender ends in the damp dirt.
Imagine the water pressure the tree facilitates to keep those branches taut, but flexible in the wind. The lifelines to each leaf in need of nutrients, moisture.
Surrender to the electrical system that crackles throughout the tree. Become part of the flow of information that notifies the system to prepare for Fall, Winter, and Spring. Let it charge your own circulatory and nervous systems.
Breathing Exercises Under a Tree
Take stock of the available smells and note how they change with the turns of the calendar.
Breathe with the tree. Count your inhales and exhales. At ten, allow your thoughts to race up or down into the tree’s veins.
At the end of this mental journey release some of your burdens into the sky or into the earth’s crust.
Then begin the next journey to 10 breaths.
When you are done with your breathing exercises, look back up into the branches. Imagine a caterpillar selecting one of these shaded, avenues, forming a sleeping bag, and prepping to renew, reconfigure, transform, and ride the wind. End
Explore more ways to partner with nature for meditation. You can meditate while watching a bird feeder and while sitting by a creek.