Creation – Walking with trees

Walking Through the Forest 1905 by Bertalan Por

Silent Moon - How can we find silent time to restore and regenerate our enthusiasm for our lives/work/relationships? - CAYA's full moon question.

There is new life in the soil for every man. There is healing in the trees for tired minds and for our overburdened spirits, there is strength in the hills, if only we will lift up our eyes. Remember that nature is your great restorer. ~ Calvin Coolidge

Look at a tree, a flower, a plant. Let your awareness rest upon it. How still they are, how deeply rooted in Being. Allow nature to teach you stillness.  ~ Eckhart Tolle

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.” ~ Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

I find it’s much easier to get to know a tree’s personality in the winter.  Sure, it’s nice to sit under the shade of an ancient one during the summer.  But, in the winter I find they let their leaves down – so to speak.  I’ve found that a tree you've passed during the summer dressed with frilly green leaves may not be who you think they are dancing freely in the winter winds.  It also could be that many of us humans are hibernating and not out walking in the cold so they can be themselves.  Often I’m the lone bus stop walker and readily greeted by my neighborhood’s trees when I get home.  They act like I’m the only person they’ve see all day besides the mail carrier.  And, on those crappy gray Ohio winter’s days I find they always manage to change my mood into something cheerier by the time I get home.

Julian Cameron in her book Walking in This World, tells readers “to walk on it“(11).  She described how she would park the truck somewhere and walk a forty-five minute loop in the foothills of the Taos Mountain.  She felt directionless and creatively drained at this time of her life.  By walking she found solace and a way to work through grief.  These walks in nature help her sort things out and to hear herself better.  This was a way to connect to something bigger.  She says that guidance was always there - she just needed to listen and observe.

Walking out in nature has a similar effect on me.   My feet hitting the pavement for thirty minutes during lunch always manage to create a mini Sabbath that renews my spirit.  My relationship with the outdoors (i.e., trees, birds, sky, sun and potted flowers in the summer) uplifts my spirit and I'm able to face the afternoon more centered. 

I’m like many who work in a cubicle with a computer and phone that by its make-up separates me from creation.  When I haven’t taken a lunch walk outside by four o’clock I find myself stuck in the intellectual side of me versus being in relationship.  I become so focused on the problems that I can’t hear or see through to solutions.  The projects become overwhelming mounds of paper and unanswered e-mails.  It is at this point I know immediately I’ve become disconnected from the natural world.  I need to get outside and nourish my spirit and hear guidance beyond Google.

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The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles. ~ Anne Frank

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Shinrin-yoku (i.e., forest bathing or walking) is a major form of relaxation in Japan.  In a 2005 study, shinrin-yoku was shown to be a possible method of stress reduction.  All stress related outcomes except for hostility were shown to be reduced by simply walking through the woods.  In another study, Tokyo's Nippon Medical School showed women who spent two to four hours in the woods on two consecutive days experienced a nearly 50 percent increase in the activity of cancer-fighting white blood cells.

My silent walks outdoors go beyond scientifically studied health benefits.  My walks are about connecting and asking for guidance from entities the mainstream culture denies existence.  It’s about refocusing on viewing nature as alive and sacred.  It’s about building a friendship and being engaged with all creation; and in turn allowing creation to care for my soul and brokenness. 

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Activities without headphones, cell phones and smart phones:

“The mountains are calling and I must go.” ~ John Muir

“To sit in the shade on a fine day, and look upon verdure is the most perfect refreshment.” Jane Austen

Take a walk allow you mind to relax, ask a question about a problem you are having and listen.

Take a walk in the woods and meditate on this walking poem by Christine Valters Paintner:

Tree of Life

Rise up in me,
Rooting me deeply in the ground
and inviting me to extend my branches far into the sky

 

Native American Prayer 

My feet touch earth and dance to the drums which are in my heart as well.

If my feet do not touch earth the dance will not be good.

And the music in my heart will all be still.

Articles to read on trees and health:

USDA Forest Service - Pacific Northwest Research Station. "Tree and human health may be linked." ScienceDaily, 16 Jan. 2013. Web. 24 Jan. 2013. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/01/130116163823.htm

Forest bathing enhances human natural killer activity and expression of anti-cancer proteins.Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol. 2007 Apr-Jun;20(2 Suppl 2):3-8 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17903349

Spliner, Maggie. Forest Bathing The Healing Power of a Walk in the Woods. Natural Awaking. April 2012. Web. 24 Jan. 2013. http://www.naturalawakeningsmag.com/Natural-Awakenings/April-2012/Forest-Bathing/

 

Ash, Oak and Hawthorn.

“I was a listener in the woods.”  Corma MacCuileannain (836-908 CE)

“Nature is the greatest teacher, the best mortal instructors but inept guides by comparison.” The Barddas of Iolo Morganwg

“Oak, Ash and Hawthorn are the faery triad of trees – it is said where they grow faeries live.” Celtic Saying

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I live within a faery triangle: Oak, Ash and Hawthorn.  In my front yard grows the ash, her picture is above.  Her leaves shade my house in the summer and her arms welcoming song birds and acrobatic squirrels that I watch out my front window.  Many don’t realize that she’s the offspring of the Norse holy tree Yggdrasil, the tree of life.  My youthful tree is a guardian of old memories.  If you listen, she’ll describe how her mother’ branches extend up to the heavens - bending into comfortable chairs for the Gods and Goddesses to hold court.    And, she’ll tell you about of dragons and heroes quests her mother supported.  

I know it is only a brief time she shares with me.

In Central Ohio, we’ve been hard hit with the Emerald Ash Bore.  This beautiful green insect from China has been killing our ash trees in the Great Lake Region.  The destruction is being compared to the American chestnut blight and the Dutch elm disease.  Once infected these holy giants have to be cut down.  Streets that were lined with shady ashes now are nude looking like new housing developments. 

I shake my head, we have not learned from our past mistakes.  I’ve watched the city plant the same tree down a barren street.  Again, probably for the same reasons the ashes were planted to replace the elms: easy to take care of one type of tree and the bottom line revolves around money. 

But, my neighborhood before humans was an eastern deciduous hardwood forest.  Everyone knows a forest doesn’t have just one tree growing in a picturesque lane format.  There were many different trees and shrubs - walnuts, oaks, hickories, ash, maples.....  Each sharing and taking what they need from the environment.  And, in turn the animals and insects too gave and took from this environment.  There was a balance. 

Somehow during our intellectual and technological evolution, we’ve (humans) became disconnected with the earth and how we fit in.  We have forgotten how to appreciate every tree and living organism within the forest – choosing to like a select few – rather the diversity.  We watch nature on a big screen rather than actually spending time outside; believe apples come from the supermarket rather than eating one off a tree.  It is uncanny, that our relationship with the forest mirrors the relationship we have with each other.  We live out of balance. 

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“The Tree-ness of the tree they know-the meaning of

Arboreal life, how from earth’s salty lap

The solar beam uplifts it; all the holiness

Enacted by leaves’ fall and rising sap;”

C.S. Lewis from his poem On Being Human.  May 8, 1948.

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Meeting Trees Activity 

Idea One:

Purpose:  Hanging out with a tree for 30 minutes.

Equipment:  Wear old jeans if you’re worried about getting dirty.  If there isn’t a tree in your apartment complex – look for a local park. 

Instructions:  Which tree to pick?  Think of it like going to a party – who would you like to talk to?  Go up and introduce yourself – Hey I’m (fill in the blank) can I sit down here.  Be open – intuition will tell you yes or no.  If you get a no – go introduce yourself to another tree.  When you get a yes - sit down with your back against the tree and listen.  When you get home, take time to jot down in your journal your thoughts.

Idea Two from Joseph Cornell, Sharing Nature With Children

Purpose: Hear a tree’s heartbeat.

Equipment: Stethoscope

Instructions:  If you listen carefully with a stethoscope, you can hear the “heartbeat” of a tree. Find a thin-barked tree more than 6 inches in diameter and place your stethoscope against its trunk. Be very quiet. Move the stethoscope around until you can hear the crackling, gurgling sound of sap flowing up to the branches.

Idea Three:

Go to your local library and take out a field guide.  Learn the names of at least three trees who share your neighborhood.