Tree Meditation for Grounding and Belonging

Welcome to this blog! It's going to be all about simple, powerful things we can do to be more alive; to have a peaceful, vital life.

Last night I sat at the base of the tree in my backyard. This is something I have started doing this year after my son died, to release fear, to let the powerful sensations of anxiety and grief in my body have a place to go, and they go into the earth. I sit at the base of the tree and I feel myself breathe in, I feel myself breathe out. I imagine the deep roots of the tree, I let my consciousness go down with the roots, into the earth. The earth is steady. It holds us up. It is happy to take our stress. It takes the hum of the computer, the electricity all around us, the frustrating conversations, and soaks them up to be shifted. It gives us the minerals of the soil, the comfort of womb-like darkness.

I come back to myself, back to my heart. Then I breathe into the branches of the tree, I let my consciousness go into the sky, reach up like the branches for the moisture in the air, the sun, or the moon, all the universe that is above and around us. I breathe into my body and imagine all of the stars, all the space that is there. I feel like I am part of something grand. To feel rooted and expanded at once is amazingly helpful. It helps me remember who I really am. A child of the earth, a child of the universe, with access to all of its energy and wisdom.

To do this tree meditation:
1) Sit at the base of a tree, or lean onto a tree 2) Breathe in and out deeply for several minutes, into your heart 3) Send your consciousness down to the roots of the tree, allow your stress to flow out through the 1st chakra (bottom of pelvis) to the earth, be nurtured by the minerals and soil 4) Breathe in and out deeply, into your heart 5) Send your consciousness up to the branches of the trees, be nurtured by the air, the sun, the sky, sending you light 6) Come back to your heart

This meditation reminds us of the abundance of the universe, and that we belong to it. We can get help from something as simple as a tree. It allows us relieve ourselves of feelings, thoughts, stress that don't serve us. To hold in these feelings is to become tired, to become ill, to become stuck. Breathing deeply against a tree, or with feet on the earth or a stone, will help bring us into our bodies, our hearts, and not so completely in our heads. From this place of belonging and balance, we have so much to offer.

I'll be updating this blog about once a week. I look forward to questions and comments. Blessings!