What I Learned from the Tree Pose Today

Today I was practicing yoga, finally getting back into some more intense and personal meditation. It was much needed. First, I spent some time bathing, relaxing my muscles and reading a book about vibration healing, following with 30 minutes of yoga, and then 30 minutes of a Reiki self healing.

After my bath, as the water was slowly flowing into the drain, I sat in the tub and worked with each chakra for a simple 5 breaths. My root chakra is particularly blocked at the moment, and I could feel hesitation there and at my solar plexus as I did this short meditation. I could also feel very little energy flow on my right, masculine, side. The tree pose--a perfect left/right balancing position--was something I instantly knew to incorporate into my daily yoga practice.

As I later shifted my weight to move into the first part of the pose, I gazed out at the tall trees I could see from my apartment balcony. I'm blessed with a beautiful and sacred view, so it was incredibly easy to connect with the natural inspiration for this pose. I came into the pose, "grew my branches," and then felt how incredibly unsteady I was.

I almost lost the pose, fell out of it. That would have been fine, falling in and out of poses is a natural part of yoga, but it seemed like the universe wanted me to almost fall out of it. The lesson I had to learn was in the wobble, not the fall.

I instinctively shifted the weight in my foot to prevent a fall, but I had overcompensated. I stayed calm, this time, instead of feeling the movement throw my psyche off balance too. Because I was (finally) mentally centered, my experience with attempting to balance in the tree pose taught me something phenomenal.

I learned, for the first time, to sway. That simple but complex message was so important for me to learn.

As I've been trying to ground myself and become sturdy with root chakra work, I was losing my connection with flexibility. Not that of the muscles, but with that of life's happenings. Until I was swaying, I didn't realize this.

I allowed myself to teeter, consciously and subconsciously, on both sides of the pose, amazed at how much my body wanted to move around as soon as I gave up trying to stay rigid and straight. It felt more still to move than it did to attempt to keep a frigid pose.

Trees have incredibly stable roots even when they sway. Sometimes just the thin and light branches move, and sometimes the whole trunk bends with gusts of wind. The trees, at least those which are healthy and not overcome with nature, flow with the wind; they don't fight the natural current around them. Movement is a vital part of life; trees don't attempt to predict the wind, they just allow nature and happenings to move them. They sway.

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