Tree of Awareness Meditation

Are you anywhere near a window? Or maybe you’re already outside sitting under a tree with your laptop. Wherever you are – just take a moment and look at a tree. And if you have the misfortune of being stuffed in a closet or an airless room with no window right now, use your imagination and picture a gorgeous big green tree. It’s branches are reaching up to the sky, it’s roots are digging deep down into the earth. All of its systems are talking to each other…and to other trees. Each tree cleans our air and inspires us through all seasons. 

It’s a miracle of nature.

Now I want to tell you about a meditation called the Tree of Awareness which will bring you back home to your essential Self, while also being a strong remedy for anxiety and distractions. No kidding.

You could do this meditation practice as part of your morning self-care routine – you could even do a shorter 7-minute version if you’d like. During the day, when stress and anxiety are getting too loud, just stop and do this healing meditation.

A few seconds ago you brought your attention to a tree and I can bet that you felt Life in that moment. Whatever we bring our attention to is reflected in our life. That goes for distractions too – bring your attention to them and they are a reflection of your life. So this meditation will encourage your attention to come to your desired life, your authentic self, your deep self. 

Sound good? OK …I will explain.

Picture a circle with your beautiful heart at the centre. You can colour it a deep, passionate red. Divide the circle into 3 equal parts – Self, Relationships and Work/Service. In each section draw green lines coming from the heart centre out to the edge of the circle. Now you can name those lines in ways that make sense to your life. Here are some examples. In Self, you might have Body, Mind, Senses, Feelings, etc. In Relationships, you might have mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, warrior, your dark self, etc. In Work/Service, you might have your “role” as a mom/dentist/plumber, time, money, gifts, creativity, etc. Get the picture?

So to start the meditation, go to the first section of Self – Body. Now move your awareness from the central heart along the green line (or branch) to the Body. Turn your full attention to your body. Now move back along that branch to the centre. When you do this you are letting go of your identification with your body and returning to your essence. You are disengaging from your idea of yourself as simply your body. 

You do this with each branch through all three sections. 

You will start to feel a huge wave of energy emanating from your heart outwards through your whole system. You can then mobilize your energies to touch every part of you and spread it outward in a general way or focus your own essential energy by deliberately focusing it down a branch of your choice, but you are at the same time, disengaging from those parts being who you are. 

For example, you walk out to ‘Money’ and then you walk back to the heart. You are no longer identified by your money or lack of it. It is not who you are. You walk out to “Father” role – complete with the role demands of the father. You let it go. You can be a father but not limit your identification to just that part. Make sense?

If you do this meditation for 21 days in a row, you will bring your attention to your essence and allow that essential Self to send out energy to the world. You will make better choices because the energy is coming from your heart centre, not from any number of parts you may have felt summed you up. 

You can directly experience your Whole Self fully expressed over time

This is powerful stuff! I hope you try it. Just like a tree, you will reach out to the world around you and guess what? All of us will benefit enormously. So….thanks!