We can use a yoga Tree Pose today and these days as a reminder and metaphor for our lives, and the trees that have impacted our lives.
Firstly, what is so special about trees that have meaning in our lives?
The obvious being that trees are growing, living creatures just like us humans with unique features. We know trees are alive because they bloom, shed leaves, and pollen (not their greatest spring dominant feature).
Trees can grow from a mere seed that fits in your hand to a super strong tree you can climb (similar to a growing person from an egg to an adult).
The appearance and rings on a tree can show age, as our human bodies and features do the same thing.
When I was growing up, we purposefully remembered trees on National Arbor Day. Usually, the celebration included the installment of a new baby plant at school. The remembrance of the special day has been crowded out by other hashtag events but you can do your appreciation just by looking out the window at the trees near you, or by getting in a yoga Tree Pose.
These days, we celebrate yoga days more than we do trees it seems, but luckily there is a standing pose that represents trees in yoga. We can appreciate trees from a personal growth perspective.
Trees are a metaphor for our lives.
In Tree, remind yourself of these 5 areas:
1.Growth and direction. You can change your yoga Tree Pose at any point. You can lift your right bended-knee leg to rest on your left shin, or you can lift your right leg higher to form a number “4” formation with your right foot rested on your left thigh (looking like a flamingo).
You can take your wide arms and open them to the sky, have them go straight up parallel to your ears, or bring them to heart center with prayer hands.
Your tree can go in any direction of your choosing. As you balance one leg, you can build up strength and notice one leg is usually stronger than the other.
2.Grounded. You can feel grounded with your feet planted on the floor, like a tree with a stump firmly rooted in the earth. When you’re not sent from busy task to task, you can gain clarity about your life and deliberate actions you take. You’re not wishy-washy, tossed to and from. You’re steadfast and purposeful like a tree.
3.Learning. A tree is also a symbol of knowledge. From trees, we make paper that we can bind together to make books that expand our minds.
The more branches we develop, the more we can become useful to the world. Animals can use our tree and we can impact the community around us like moss growing on trees.
As you grow older, you can become wiser and stronger as you’ve experienced situations to increase your know-how.
4.Being alive! If you feel a sensation in any of your parts, you can take that as a positive sign you’re alive. Your automatic breath is no longer a gift you take for granted, if you become consciously aware of your inhale and exhale.
In yoga, we do a lot of breathwork. The inhale is often when we’re facing up or lifting up, and exhale when we’re grounding down. The breath is a little different than when lifting weights in a gym. So don’t get confused. And you can pause at anytime and do 4-7-8 breathing.
Trees and plants don’t get confused. They play a sustainable role for us by giving off carbon dioxide. Without them, we would not have a life in our ecosystem.
5.Uniqueness. The more you practice your various yoga Tree Pose styles, the better your tree can enliven yourself as you let your roots develop into hybrid trees. You can have properties like a flexible and resilient palm, a durable evergreen, or a hardy cactus. You could have overlapping properties in your versatility and personality.
The possibilities are endless. Trees can grow tall and high reaching based on their genetics and environment. They adapt to the seasons and the conditions to survive and thrive.
When you’re in your yoga Tree Pose, you can be intentional thinking about what you can grow into and become in this next season. This helps to get out of feeling stuck, lost, or unfulfilled. To reset, stretch into your yoga Tree Pose to experience and express possibilities. You could have arm branches going one way today, and different tree arm branches the next day.
Your Individual Yoga Tree Pose
If you want to be producing fruit in your life, think of being an apple or a grape tree that yields fruit. And if you want to be powerful, think of being an elm tree like those in established neighborhoods. And if artistic, you could be a rainbow-painted eucalyptus tree.
Maybe you have growing leaves and maybe you don’t, or you grow fruit or give off a pinecone scent. Your tree is unique in the overall makeup and can adapt to your environment that has other trees similar to your kind.
Trees can also be uprooted just like humans who move and thrive in some environments better than others. Such as the cherry blossom trees that were gifted from Japan to the U.S., and planted around the DC tidal basin. The trees have bloomed every spring, even if they only had one small bloom.
The cherry blossom trees attract many thousands of visitors every year surrounded by a Cherry Blossom festive celebration every April.
This reminds me of the Japanese word I learned, Hanami, which means stop and smell the roses. The Japanese version is going to see the cherry blossoms every spring. 🌸
In the States, you can practice the same life-giving ritual wherever you are seeing local garden roses, visiting cherry blossoms in bloom, or looking out the window from your low pollen view. And, maybe in your balanced yoga Tree Pose.