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
- Ask the
earth’s permission to dig a hole
- Ask
yourself why you are planting it, precede with a clear intention
- 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.
