Tree Hugger

 In the Five element theory of Chinese Medicine each element is represented by an element of nature, and there is a corresponding season, emotion, and organ system. We Naturopathic Doctors usually focus attention on the liver when we talk about spring. Anger is the emotion corresponding to liver so we focus on detoxification, optimizing  the liver’s  filtering function, and learning ways to both process and express our anger more constructively.

This spring, however, I’m inspired to encourage you to connect to spring’s natural element, wood. As we shake the heavier winter season away, there are parts of ourselves, like the trees around us that experience new growth each spring. Caring for the wood element brings a few healthy family friendly activities to mind.

The first of these activities is tree Planting. I attended a gardening workshop along Toronto’s waterfront in 2002, as I was spring cleaning my filing cabinet at work the other day I found a handout from a presentation by the Whispering Song teaching lodge (http://www.whisperingsong.com) that I had attended that day over a decade ago. I hope it’s teachings speak to you this spring day, as it did to me when I came across it in my “environment” file. It outlines simple spiritual instructions on how to plant a tree. 

Choosing Your Tree

Pine

The great peacemaker.

Should be planted on the Northern part  of your Property.

Helps you to give gratitude for not so wonderful things.

Promotes wisdom.

Birch

Symbolizes new beginnings.

Planted in the Eastern portions of your available space.

Helps to nurture vulnerability.

Helps to establish a new understanding within ourselves.

Maple

Represents community.

Plant in the Southern area of your plot.

Maple reaches out to you.

Honors us as Canadians all regions, all faiths.

Cedar

Promotes purification.

Planted in the West.

Cedar is for cleansing the thoughts, and providing a place of clarity, and for introspection.

It provides the opportunity to go within our hearts.

How to Plant a Tree

1. Ask the earth’s permission to dig a hole
2. Ask yourself why you are planting it, precede with a clear intention
3. Be the tree- rooted with your intention and your truth, acknowledging your connection to the earth while simultaneously reaching for the sun, bending in the wind while remaining grounded.

The final instruction I have scribbled down at the bottom of the page is to plant a tree when someone comes into the world, and when someone leaves. A powerful tradition I have started within my own little family, when I look out at my tiny little orchard I am reminded of life’s blessings, and life’s hardships.

The second activity comes from a fantastic little book that my mother used with us when we were growing up, and being home schooled. The book is titled Sharing Nature with Children by Joseph Bharat Cornell, A parents’ and Teachers’ Nature-awareness Guidebook. The activity is called Meet a Tree. It teaches empathy, olfactory and tactile  awareness. It’s best for kids 4 years and up. You need at least two participants, the forest in the daytime and a blindfold for each pair of participants. Have one of each pair blindfold the other and lead her through the forest to any tree that attracts the leader. Help the blindfolded child explore the tree and to feel it’s uniqueness. Ask them specific questions to encourage their exploration. Eg; rub your cheek on the bark, is this tree still alive?  What do its crushed leaves or needles smell like? Can you put your arms around the tree? Is the tree older than you are? Can you find other plants growing on it? Are there any signs of animals that you can feel? Insects?  Lichens?

When the partner is finished exploring lead them back to where you began, but take an indirect route (this part of the game has it’s fun side with the guides leading their partners over imaginary logs, through brush that might have easily been avoided.) Now remove the blindfold and let the child try to find the tree with their eyes open. As the child searches for their tree, what was a forest becomes a collection of very individual trees. A tree can be an unforgettable experience in a child’s life. It has been for me, almost thirty years later, I feel like I could almost identify my tree from the afternoon we explored with this activity.

A more accessible, individual wood centric activity is to simply take a walk in the woods. Check in with yourself at the beginning of a stroll through a forest. Take a few moments at the end of your jaunt to check in again, do you feel a shift in your physical, emotional, or spiritual wellbeing? Thinking back to the Chinese Medicine concept that anger is the emotion associated with imbalance in the wood element, has any anger or frustration been diffused by the oxygen rich atmosphere of the forest?

Whether you decide to plant a pine, meet a maple,  or  go for a walk in the woods, I hope that you discover a renewed appreciation for the health that can be lent by the shade of a tree this spring.