Trees are healing and can improve our overall health. Enjoy 5 simple tree meditations that use that energy to ease stress and offer mental and physical benefits.
It’s no secret that fresh air improves our health and well being. Spending more time around trees has proven to improve blood flow, and how women especially experience the world.
Not only are we more likely to experience low blood pressure related fatigue, and circulation issues, but women are almost twice as likely to experience depression than men (according to the Mayo Clinic). While everyone is different, our connection to trees cannot be denied. Our natural ties matter.
Harvard University has found that when humans are around trees stress is lowered and our mental health improves. The New York Department of Environmental Conservation lists numerous other benefits from boosting the immune system to combating ADHD in children, and even speeding up recovery from illnesses or injuries.
That is why I am eager to share 5 simple tree meditations from my latest book, “The Magic of Trees.” These techniques can be done quickly and in nearly any setting and they host so many great benefits for everyone.
Climbing the Sky
Step 1: Sit tall in a comfortable space and close your eyes.
Step 2: Clear the mind. Breathe deep. Focus on the sensation of your breathing and the heat it generates. Let that energy build and spread throughout your body.
Step 3: Cross your arms over your chest and visualize yourself as a tree. Imagine that your spine is a tree trunk, and your arms are the branches. Slowly bring them out as you inhale and exhale.
Step 4: Once your arms are fully extended, sway side to side at least 3 times, then rock backward and forward at least 3 times. With every breath, think of your arms as branches expanding, not just physically but emotionally—spiritually.
Step 5: Allow the heat within to power to grow and expand. As it matures, utilize it to focus on emotional and spiritual issues or concerns that have blocked you from reaching out to others or meeting your goals/needs.
Step 6: Hold your arms out until they burn. Feel the strain, the stress that is necessary to reach your full potential. Being strong and open is somewhat painful, but no achievement can be met without that pain.
Step 7: Stretch your arms and enjoy the relief.
Tree Visualization
Step 1: Take a deep breath and close your eyes. It doesn’t matter where you are or what you’re doing, so long as you can take a moment or a few.
Step 2: Think of your favorite tree (or one you have admired recently). Bring the image of it to mind as clear as day.
Step 3: Focus on the branches. See the leaves, twigs, or needles springing from them.
Step 4: Now visualize the grooves of the leaves, twigs, or needles. Let the patterns guide you, relax you. Trace them in your mind’s eye.
Step 5: Open your eyes and look at your hands. Examine your fingers and really look at the design of your fingerprints. Think of how they are unique to you, just as tree patterns are markings of natural identity.
Step 6: Breathe deep and carry on.
Breathing Break
Step 1: Go outside. Look to the sky and breathe deeply.
Step 2: Find a tree to gaze at from a distance. Just look at the towering height and how it contrasts with the endless expanse of the horizon.
Step 3: Become conscious of each breath, carefully drawing in oxygen and slowly breathing out CO2.
Step 4: Close your eyes and envision your energies as a light that flows in and out as you breathe. This light may take on a color or shape. Let it form as needed.
Step 5: Now focus on the tree ahead. Think of how it takes in your breaths and sends out oxygen, as if breathing in the opposite manner of your process. Visualize the light of the tree’s power flowing in and out in a dance of color and electricity that bonds you together.
Step 6: Relax in this image for as long as necessary. Then open your eyes, bow to the tree, and continue your day with a renewed sense of purpose.
Grounding Expectations
Step 1: Sit beneath a tree and place your hands on the ground, preferably where the roots are unearthed a bit.
Step 2: Close your eyes and breathe deeply. Clear your mind.
Step 3: Now focus on the roots beneath you. Think of their meaning and power, how they are not often seen or known as the most beautiful part of the tree, but without them, this being could not exist. Let that idea consume you.
Step 4: Think of yourself and your life. Which aspects are most important? What has nourished you beneath the surface? Follow the thoughts that surface with this idea.
Step 5: Merge the two. See yourself as the tree. Root yourself in the grounding of life. Visualize everything you are and embrace the true nature of budding into old age.
Step 6: When exhausted, sit back, and open your eyes. Look to the sky and rub your hands together. Bow to the tree and take what you’ve learned.
Growing with Grace
Step 1: Sit before a trusted tree or a friendly potted plant. Put your chin to your chest and close your eyes. Visualize yourself as you were
Step 2: Breathe deep and sit tall. Now, remember your early adulthood years. Think of what you wished to accomplish and what you enjoyed in those days.
Step 3: Reach your arms above your head or as much as you can comfortably to stretch. Take your time with each step. Do not rush yourself. Enjoy the meditation. Visualize yourself growing into middle age and how you branched out.
Step 4: Now stand and look up. (If unable, hold your head high and just look up). See yourself as you are now. Smile on the life you have been allowed to live and think of what still brings you joy. What foods, drinks, games, and aspects of life remain enjoyable? Who are the people you love and look forward to seeing?
Step 5: Remember an elderly person you admired as a child. Why did you care for them? What made them so important to you that you still remember their legacy? Revel in the memories.
Step 6: Breathe deep and focus on how you can embody the beauty this person brought into your life and how you can share it with a young person and pass that energy on.
Sources:
Mayo Clinic Staff. “Depression in women: Understanding the gender gap.” The Mayo Clinic. 29th Jan, 2019. Web.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/depression/in-depth/depression/art-20047725
Harvard Writing Staff. “The health benefits of trees.” Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. 2021. Web.
https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/the-health-benefits-of-trees/
Department of Environmental Conservation Staff. “Immerse Yourself in a Forest for Better Health.” Jan, 2023. Web.
