Module 4 : Trees and Relationships
Make time when you are not in a rush to go outside. You may choose to wander to your own backyard, or you may choose to travel to a forested area.
When you come to your chosen area, notice the trees.
Notice the variety in trees around you- the differences in their trunks, branches, leaves, flowers, size, color, and roots.
Notice the world that exists around them. What can you hear? birds, children laughing, traffic? What can you smell? What can you see? This is what they sense around them.
Choose a tree. Walk around this tree and notice the details. Does it have vines, lichen, moss, or fungi growing on her? What season is it in? Does it have scars on it’s trunk or branches from past wounds? What animals are calling it home?
When you're ready, give it a hug. You can wrap your arms around it or place your palms and forehead on it’s trunk.
Breathe in and out slowly for several minutes. Visualize this reciprocal exchange of breath. As you breathe, notice how your body responds to this tree. Notice how the tree responds to you.
This tree is loved by Creator/Divine in all things.
Extend this same love to the tree.
Before you let go, look up to the branches and verbally tell this tree thank you: for this moment, for the breath it gives you every single day, for the shelter, shade, and foot it provides to animals every single day, for the air it purifies, and the soil it gives nutrients to.