Gazing Up Under Trees
As adults, we seem to need regular reminding to notice wonder and to feel awe.
A favourite practice of mine that began in my childhood
involves laying on the ground under the canopy of a large, old tree and looking up.
It’s nothing fancy, it’s certainly not original.
And yet… it always feels profound.
Trees are the eternal gifts-givers — aside from their obvious air-cleaning and shade-giving abilities, they so generously provide us with powerful VISUAL CUES.
In simply existing, they exemplify groundedness, grace, and resilience.
With their deep foundational roots, sturdy, proud trunks and earned, scarred bark, they have much to teach us about weathering the storms and winds of life and being all the more beautiful for it.
So, if you haven’t tried it lately…
1. Find a tree that intuitively calls to you.
2. Choose a good spot to lay down beneath it.
3. Chuck any sharp or pokey twigs or rocks.
4. Lay down and get comfy.
5. Gently draw your knees up and stretch your lower back.
6. Simply gaze up in awe.
Could it truly be this easy?
Behold the summer sunlight, as it filters through the glowing layers of every-shade-of-green leaves. Witness the breathtaking magic when the wind breezes by and the leaves rustle and shimmer, catching the light in endlessly mesmerizing ways.
It’s a film I could watch forever.
I do my best conscious-breathing, spacious-thinking, and non-doing here.
It doesn’t even have to be for very long.
If nothing else, simply feeling the solidity of the earth supporting your entirety in times of such global uncertainty, is powerful stuff.
“Between a human and a tree is the breath. We are each other’s air.”
– Margaret Bates
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FOR A DEEPER EXPERIENCE:
Imagine both “breathing in” and “being breathed by” the tree,
engaging together in a symbiotic cycle of breath. Our exhaled C02 is ‘inhaled’ by the trees, while we breathe in their oxygen — and so the cycle continues...
PRO TIP:
Keep an ‘emergency’ picnic blanket or towel in your bag, car trunk, or bike basket for spontaneous tree-gazing opportunities ;-)
“… and the branches crossed above us — a stained-glass sky of light and laughter.” - N.K
Photo Credits:
Amber Ellis (Creating Light Studio) and Nicole Kagan
