"Stand like a tree."
This simple yet powerful exercise was given to me two weeks ago during a Vipassana retreat on Terschelling.
When we slow down and become still, space opens up to truly feel what is alive within us. Feelings, thoughts, and physical sensations come into awareness. Often, the very things we would rather not feel, think, or experience point us toward what is still out of balance. Toward places where there is something to learn, release, or heal. Toward places where we have not yet fully met ourselves, others, or the greater whole.
The Exercise
Stand upright with your feet side by side and close your eyes.
Imagine that you are a tree.
How are you standing?
Do you feel grounded, steady, and confident? Or do you notice restlessness, tension, or discomfort? Do thoughts arise such as, How much longer do I have to stand here? Or can you feel how all the seasons of your life have shaped you, like the growth rings of a tree?
My own experience was one of imbalance. In the stillness, it became clear that my inner stability still had room to grow, despite all the seasons I have already lived through.
This led me to a simple question:
What can I learn from trees?
The answer was standing right beside me.
A group of trees revealed their wisdom. Their vast root systems. Their ability to take up their own space without competing with one another. Not fighting for room, but growing together. Connected beneath the ground, reaching toward the same light.
Trees are not rigid. They move with the wind, the rain, the sun, and the storms. They adapt to the seasons without losing their essence.
Deeply rooted and reaching for the light.
Independent, yet connected.
Growing from their own nature while creating space for others to grow alongside them.
Emerging and letting go, season after season.
Until the moment comes when they make way for new life.
I hope to walk this Earth for many more years. And I gladly carry the wisdom of the trees with me.
To root more deeply.
To trust more fully.
To move more gracefully with life's changing seasons.
And to keep choosing, again and again, to grow toward the light.