A Tree for You, A Tree That's Me

Since I've been talking about meditation for days maybe you guessed that I would be leading up to an actual meditation.  I hadn't planned ahead what meditation to use 'cause I like to just "wing it" when it comes to my blogging, but I found this one that I had written about before (back when I had a different blog) and someone else had blogged about it in return. So as Thanks to Teri Rees Wang, for preserving some of my past writing, go Visit her Blog.

This is a Grounding Meditation that anyone can do. It's great for beginners, and you do it in a standing position. I love it, my students love it - it's popular.

Stand with your feet hip distance apart (feet together if you have good balance). Bring your palms together in "prayer pose" at the center of your chest. Root down through your feet while simultaneously reaching tall through the top of your head. Draw your shoulders back away from your chest and down away from your ears. Close your eyes and watch your breath in it's natural state. (This is the position you stay in the entire time.)

Imagine that you are a tree. It can be any tree at all. A tiny sapling full of possibility, or a giant Ponderosa pine - stable and wise. Any tree. Does your tree have needles, large leaves, flowers, or fruit? Now imagine that those around you are trees as well (unless you want to be a lone tree). Choose a setting for your tree. Is it in the middle of a busy groomed park? At the top of a snowy mountain? Maybe in a parking lot? Really SEE your surroundings.

Feel the four corners of your feet ROOT down into the earth. Grasping downward for stability and taking nourishment from the soil. Feel your leaves and branches reaching for the sky. Searching for the sun... forever optimistic that you will grow and touch the clouds. Start to fill in even greater detail... are there birds in this tree? Are there pine needles all around or a sea of tiny purple flowers? People meditating beneath you perhaps? Squirrels playing?

Notice that there is a slight breeze blowing through your leaves. Allow yourself to wave with that breeze. No tree is completely still... it is always in motion. Watch your breath as you take in these tiny movements throughout your trunk and roots. Feel the sun shining on your skin (bark)... warming you... enveloping you in golden light. Soak in the life it gives you... reach for more light. Allow yourself to truly become one with nature. Allow yourself to JUST BE.

Continue to fill in the details of your tree experience and settle into your "treeness" for as long as you like. I usually teach this meditation in ten-minute intervals, but this would be a great LONG meditation of twenty minutes plus.

Now - Go and do this meditation. You can wing it, or you can have a friend guide you through it - spacing out the instructions. If you try it, let me know how it went. And whether you try it or not tell me in the comments - What kind of tree are you?