Find your way to a comfortable position,
Sitting,
Lying down,
However you need to settle.
Let yourself land here,
Nothing to change,
Nothing to figure out.
Breathing in,
Breathing out.
Feel where your body touches the ground,
Like roots finding their way into earth.
Notice the weight,
The temperature,
The support.
Just here,
Now.
Bring your awareness to your breath,
Its natural rhythm.
Notice your breathing without trying to change it.
Imagine yourself as a tree,
Rooted,
Breathing.
Scan your tree body.
Where do you feel tight,
Constricted,
Like branches that can't move in the wind?
Maybe your chest,
Your throat,
Your belly.
Maybe where your roots meet your trunk.
Where does fear live in your tree?
Right now,
Where is something holding too tight?
Notice where your tree feels stuck.
Breathe into that space.
Stay with the place where you feel that fear,
That tightness,
That branch that won't bend.
What does this stuck place feel like it's protecting?
Maybe it's protecting your heartwood or tender new growth.
Maybe it's protecting something you can't quite put words to yet.
Notice what's underneath the tightness,
What it's guarding.
Like bark protecting soft wood inside.
Can you breathe there into what the fear is protecting?
What if this fear has been working so hard to keep you safe,
Like bark keeping the tree alive through winter?
Think it,
It's been doing its job.
What if the season could change?
What if you could soften just a little?
Notice where in your tree body you feel strong,
Solid,
Rooted deep.
Maybe it's your roots going down,
Maybe your trunk,
Maybe where you meet the ground.
Breathe into that strength,
Feel how deep those roots go.
Notice where you feel open,
Spacious,
Light moving through.
Maybe your crown reaching up,
Maybe your branches,
Maybe where leaves catch the sun.
Breathe into that openness,
Feel the space around you.
Can you feel both at once,
The deep roots and the reaching branches?
The solid earth below,
The spacious sky above.
One tree between earth and sky.
What if you could bring this rootedness and openness to the place where fear is holding on?
Bring your awareness back to that place where fear was creating tightness,
Where the branch wouldn't move.
Is it still as tight,
Has something shifted?
Breathe light into that space,
Like morning sun touching a frost covered branch.
With each exhale,
Let the fear soften,
Like ice melting,
Just a little more.
Don't force it,
Don't push it away.
Breathe,
Let it have space to move,
To thaw,
To release what it's ready to release.
Breathe in strength from your roots.
Breathe out what you're ready to let go.
Breathe in openness from your crown.
Breathe out constriction.
Breathe in,
Roots deep and branches free,
Earth below and sky above.
Both holding you,
Both here,
One tree,
Breathing.
Rest your awareness in your whole tree now.
Notice what's different and what remains.
Let your tree body hold whatever shifted,
Whatever released,
Whatever melted.
Let your tree body hold whatever's still here too,
Whatever still needs its bark,
Its protection.
This is your season,
This is your growth.
Embrace it.
Take a deeper breath in and out.
Let wind move through your branches.
Wiggle your fingers,
Your toes,
Like leaves rustling,
Roots settling.
Roll your shoulders gently like branches swaying.
When you're ready,
Bring your awareness back to the room.
How do you feel now?
Lighter,
More grounded,
Still holding something?
All of that?
Breathe into whatever is here.
And when you're ready,
Open your eyes.
