Humans and trees have an intimate relationship, an unbreakable bond that sustains and nourishes us. A connection bound by breath, and deepened by expanded consciousness, we can nurture our relationship with nature through conscious breath awareness.
Trees provide the key ingredient for life for all living beings, oxygen. Humans breathe in oxygen-containing air to produce energy through a process known as respiration. During respiration, carbon dioxide is produced, and when we exhale, it is released into the air. Trees then take in this carbon dioxide to generate their own energy through the process of photosynthesis, a process that allows humans to breathe in the oxygen produced by the trees, which in turn allows us to survive.
Although we live in a dynamic and cyclical relationship with the trees, many of us have become disconnected from our symbiosis and interconnectedness. Conscious breathing allows us to reconnect to Self, others, and Mother Nature, tuning into the sacred link between trees, the breath, and our consciousness. Let’s explore more deeply how the breath can enhance and reinforce our communion with the natural world!
Reclaiming our Connection to Nature
We share in community with all living beings, intimately intertwined with the cycles, rhythms, and flow of nature. However, our connection to Mother Earth has been affected by modern life and its disconnection from the natural world. Through city living, busy schedules, a hyper-focus on technology, more sedentary lifestyles, consumerism and materialism, parts of our awareness and relation to the natural world have been lost.
When we are disconnected from nature, our emotional, psychological, and spiritual states are deeply impacted as we become detached from what was originally part of us. On a soul level, we can even feel a deep separation from a meaningful part of life, which can reveal itself as feelings of emptiness or as if something is missing.
However, when we can reclaim our connection to nature, we can flourish. Studies have shown that restoring our relationship with the natural world can support cognitive abilities and concentration, expand creativity and imagination, and help us to navigate through stress, anxiety, and pain. In being present with the trees, we give ourselves the time to pause and slow down, allowing us to move into deeper and calmer interactions with Self, journey away from intrusive and limiting thought patterns, and cultivate a collective sense of compassion and kindness for both humans and the planet.
Breathwork: Igniting Interconnectedness
The act of bringing conscious awareness to the breath, or breathwork, allows us to reconnect with the trees, instilling a rooted sense of gratitude within us as we are reminded of how vital our green spaces truly are. We can enter into an intimate place with the natural world, tuning into our Universal Source Energy, the energy of the Earth, the Cosmos, and all of nature. The breath opens our hearts, heightens our consciousness, and dissolves the separation between humans and nature, bringing us into a deeper relationship with ourselves and Mother Earth.
When we open the heart, we can connect back to our truth, our truth of oneness and interconnectedness. Residing in this space, we can become more receptive and in tune with the energetic and natural world. As we anchor in the heart, we can both see and feel the essence and gifts of the trees, allowing us to embrace the magic of ourselves and our world through a lens of compassion and understanding. Through this, we can return to wholeness, to unity consciousness, to oneness.
As we raise our consciousness, we connect more deeply to trees and their consciousness and can feel their aliveness. Being in this space of elevated consciousness, the boundary between “I” and “We” begins to dissolve, moving us into heartfelt gratitude and connection with the natural world. The duality begins to soften and the urge to control Mother Nature, and we can more deeply feel the intimate and innate connection that we truly have with her.
We are Nature and Nature is Us
Nature not only surrounds us, but it is within us, nurturing us and offering healing. Wherever we look, we see that our patterns and the patterns of the natural world are the same, guiding us and supporting our sense of belonging in the world. Interconnected through the breath, the trees deserve our presence, gratitude, and respect.
Next time you see a tree, give it a hug or some form of appreciation for what it truly gives us, and as you breathe, feel the exchange of lifeforce, breathing in nature’s exhale and breathing out nature’s inhale.