Becoming a Tree

While approaching my nature spot in Boulder Colorado along Boulder Creek, I was drawn to the clouds and decided to sit about 50 ft. away from my usual spot where it felt more open. I sat under a cottonwood tree and lay on my back looking up at the black jagged branches and substantial trunk. The clouds floated passed and eventually a rain cloud was directly overhead. The wind had also picked up and I put on my jacket. I felt like there was a sense of nagging at me that was telling me that I needed to get going, but I let go of it realizing that I needed this time to connect with my fellow beings. The cattails, the trees, the grasses, and even the people riding, walking or running past me. I became somewhat self-conscious because I was more exposed than usual in this new spot, but it felt so relaxing that eventually I forgot about myself. I let myself feel as if I was the tree, rooted in the ground and reaching out toward the sun. I felt that I was anticipating the rain and did not want to get wet, but as I put myself into the spirit of the tree and began to long for rain to wet my bark body and thirsty roots.

As I felt myself sink into this being, I also felt the appreciation of all the other trees around me and felt like we were part of a community with the creek, scattered busses, and one lone squirrel. I felt the stillness inside myself as I embraced the tree’s stillness; I imagined the wind on my naked body the way the tree might feel the wind on its bare branches. I also felt the vulnerability of being out in the open and sensed that this tree was so dependent on the humans in this neighborhood. If they were to decide to build a house there, they could sever this trees body, and leave a stump, and roots. It would no longer be able to feel the sun, wind, and rain, nor feel the bursting of buds and feet of its friend the bird.