Hi,
Dear ones.
Brenton here.
Thank you for joining me in a meditation that will help to balance your earth and air elements inside.
And we'll do that through entering what I like to call our tree body.
So we have lots of different bodies.
We have a physical body,
We have a light body,
An etheric body,
An astral body,
Right?
All of these different things,
These different layers to us outside of just this physical dimension.
And when we work with nature and the five elements,
We can actually use them as portals into a deep place of refuge,
Of connectedness,
Of resource.
And so today we'll be stepping into our tree body and we'll link the rooted heaviness of earth with the open freedom of air.
Because if you think about it,
A tree does just that.
It literally holds the forest together with its root systems deep underground,
Growing in darkness.
It also reaches up into the sky,
Jutting out,
Expanding,
Taking up space,
Reaching up into the air.
And so this meditation is particularly helpful if you feel like there's too much earth,
If you feel heavy,
Overburdened,
Like things are stuck or not moving,
And you need to balance that maybe overly stable earth energy with a sense of open clarity,
Of movement,
Levity,
Freedom,
All of these things that come with the air element.
And so while you don't have to have any background with these elements or how to work with them in the body,
I bet if I were to ask you if your earth feels too heavy right now,
Or too stuck,
That you would be able to identify and kind of gauge the quality of your earth element.
And so this meditation is particularly helpful for anyone who feels overburdened,
Who feels stuck,
Who feels heavy,
And who would like to create a sense of openness and levity out of that heaviness.
As part of this meditation,
We'll introduce a breathing pattern called a psychotropic breath,
And we'll do a very gentle version of it,
But I think it's important that we talk about it just briefly now so it's not something that hangs up your attention in the meditation.
So to perform this three-part breath,
You're going to take two full inhales and then exhale.
So the first inhale,
You're going to breathe fully into the belly,
And then you're going to add another full inhale into the chest,
And then you'll breathe out completely.
So ideally,
You're breathing in through the nose and out through the mouth,
But if you have any issues or you feel congested,
It's okay that you breathe in and out through the mouth as well.
So while you can speed this breathing pattern up for different purposes for this meditation,
We're going to be breathing slowly.
So it will sound like this into the belly,
Into the chest,
And out.
We'll do it one more time if you want to practice.
Into the belly,
Into the chest,
And out.
Let your body move into a comfortable position for meditation now.
You can shake,
Loosen up,
Stretch,
And do whatever you need to do to begin to sink into your body.
As you find that comfortable position,
Take a few breaths.
Bring your awareness to the fact that you're breathing in.
You know you're breathing in.
And breathing out,
You know you're breathing out.
Letting yourself begin to settle,
To slow,
To begin to feel the gentle pull of gravity as you sink into this moment and prepare for this inner balancing work.
So wherever you are in your breathing,
Exhale,
Empty completely.
Now take in a long,
Slow,
Deep breath that fills you from the belly up.
And now as you breathe out,
Breathe out and down.
And feel yourself begin to grow roots from beneath.
Breathing in again.
And breathing out and down,
Feeling those roots move in the earth beneath you.
Beginning to breathe on your own again.
Breathing out and down every time that you exhale.
Rooting yourself like a tree.
And you can begin to imagine yourself like this.
A large,
Stable,
Strong tree.
And you can call to mind an image of giant trees that you've seen in the past.
Or it could be something that's entirely imagined now.
Whatever it is,
Begin to sink into this image of this strong,
Bold tree.
As you do so,
Remembering that the old gods were personified mountains,
Rivers,
Stars,
And even trees.
As you sink into this image,
Begin to notice,
What kind of tree is this?
You don't have to know its name,
But noticing its colors.
The textures.
The feel.
And the energy of this tree that you begin to dissolve into.
And as you do so,
Notice where you feel rooted in your body.
That bowl in your pelvis.
Your seat.
Your legs,
Your feet.
Letting these lower parts of you become this trunk of the tree.
This part that reaches the ground and roots into it.
And feel your roots spread as you tap into the earth.
The dirt.
Tapping into fungal networks.
Root systems from other beings.
Touching into that dark web of life beneath the surface.
As you feel this weight of gravity,
The strength of this wood,
Allow yourself to attune to some of the ways that your earth feels heavy,
Feels burdensome,
Or gravity feels like it's too intense,
And it's pull.
So where do things feel stuck?
Where do they feel unmoving?
Where in your life experience do things feel unchangeable?
Where in your being and your experience does it feel like there's not enough?
What are you afraid to let go of?
Stay with the feeling and the resonance of these things that you contemplate as you begin bringing conscious focus and attention to your breathing.
Once again,
Beginning this psychotropic breath.
So exhaling,
And now through the nose,
Breathe into the belly,
Breathe into the chest,
And then breathe out.
Breathe into the belly,
Into the chest,
And out.
Continuing this breathing on your own now,
And as you breathe,
Sinking into this rhythm,
A gentle slow into the belly,
Into the chest,
And then out.
As you breathe like this,
As you sink into this rhythm,
And begin to open your awareness to yourself as this tree once again.
A living,
Breathing,
Growing,
Rooted,
Connected,
Stable,
Supportive,
Supporting tree.
And as you open your awareness to yourself as this tree,
Let your focus begin to draw upward,
Moving from the stable strength of your roots,
Moving up to your upper branches,
Moving up to your trunk,
Large lower branches,
Still rising to those upper branches now,
Becoming smaller and smaller and smaller as you narrow,
And narrow toward those highest leaves or needles at the top.
Rising through your branches,
And finally becoming those very top leaves,
Those top needles,
The tip top of you,
The tree that touches that sky.
And so pause here with that open sky above and around you.
Release this breathing,
Let yourself rest here,
This expanded open state,
With the lightness within and around you.
And feel a sense of lightness,
Begin to dissipate that heaviness,
That overburdened excess earth.
As you connect with the sky energy,
Feeling that excess earth beginning to leave you,
Beginning to dissolve,
Alchemized by the simple process of breathing out.
And as this heaviness begins to leave you,
Begin to feel that light,
That sense of levity,
That sense of clarity,
Begin to move into that openness.
And as you feel yourself begin to lighten,
As you begin to feel gravity start to release,
You might feel so light that you even begin to fly.
So you can either rest here in the lightness at the top of your tree self,
Or if it feels right,
You can let yourself become a bird,
A butterfly,
Or anything else that comes to mind,
As you let yourself lift off these highest branches,
Leaving your tree self for just a few minutes,
And let yourself just soar.
Wherever you are,
Let yourself identify the top of your tree self branches once again.
Alighting on those very top little twigs and leaves.
And as you land,
Letting yourself become that treetop once again.
As you become those highest leaves and needles,
Begin to descend,
Begin to move down into twigs that grow,
That merge,
That come together.
As you descend into branches,
Into the thick sturdiness of your trunk,
And down to that point at the ground where you merge with roots and dirt.
In this grounded place,
Let yourself leave this tree,
Stepping back from it,
Finding comfort in your physical body once again.
And perhaps bowing and thanking this tree in your mind,
This place of deep-rooted inner resource.
Remembering that this tree is always here inside to return to,
Whenever you need that balance between rootedness and earth,
And open clarity and sky.
Returning to that relational field,
Grounding from your toes all the way up to the top of your head.
And when you feel centered and complete,
You can breathe in and open your eyes.
May your elements be balanced.
Thank you,
Gratitude.
