Have you ever seen a tree uncertain?

Anxious?

Worried about dropping their leaves?

Their seeds?

Have you ever sat under a huge tree

It’s bark at your back

Imagined the depth of its roots

Burrowing down in the earth

Keeping it stable

They sway in the wind

Lose a branch here and there

But the mighty ones

Our huge Australian Gums

You can count on them

They have your back

They drop bark

Nuts

Flowers

Leaves

Anything they don’t need

Surviving prolonged drought and times of flood

In bush fires

They let the flames devour them

Then send their spores out

To regenerate

Like Phoenix they rise from the ashes

Switch images

Stick with me here

Have you seen the Hanging man Tarot Card?

Upside down

It signals a time of limbo

In the pose of a tree

Or the yoga pose known as Vrikshasan in Sanskrit

When I am most anxious

It is sometimes because I am in limbo

Waiting for an outcome

And this is when Vrikshasan

Tree pose

In all it’s variations

Helps

Standing on one leg

Centres the mind

As you fight for balance

Breathe

Become still

And realise

Like the tree

We are the seeds of our ancestors

The flowers of our parents

The leaves and bark of our current situation

Let them all drop

Our anchoring foot runs deep in the earth sending roots to keep us stable

Breathe

Fix your eyes on a point of focus

Be still in your body sending thought to the sensations of the foot

The leg

The torso

The hands

The palms

And into the fingers

Breathe

See what remains

Flex

Balance

Sink your roots deep

Become a tree

It is one of the best poses

For anxiety

And a tip if you’re losing balance stretch your arms higher – reach higher

Not out – you can do that initially to gain confidence

But then

Always higher

Fly higher

*all balancing poses will correct or at least alleviate unbalanced emotions or thinking.

*I am not a fully trained yoga teacher as yet. These thoughts come from my perspective as a long time practitioner finding the tools that have helped me deal with certain physical or emotional states.

I hope you don’t need this pose but if you do, follow it with child’s pose, rest your forehead to the mat and breathe and come home to yourself. Childs pose lends itself to feeling safe while journeying inward.

If you are particularly wound up – try a set of vigorous poses such as Sun Salutations to get rid of a bit of adrenaline.

Do these first.

Some helpful oils for the anxious mind are:

Frankincense – for breath and nervous system

Ylang Ylang – for blood pressure

Marjoram – for the heart

Patchouli – for the brain and restless thoughts

Cardamom – for clarity and objectivity

Bergamot – for mood lift

Cypress – for flux – movement and flow

You don’t need all these oils! Just a couple – try frankincense and cardamom together for example to get the best synergistic results.

Finally – you can’t beat anxiety (or any other emotion for that matter) by using your head – your thinking

Thinking about it makes it worse and you will end up focusing on what you don’t want and creating more of it…

Instead come home to your body through exercise, stretching or just meditating – our emotions fall into our body and it is there that we must work with them.

Trees deal with weather patterns too ..

You might like:

http://athousandbitsofpaper.com/2019/11/28/quick/

Or

http://athousandbitsofpaper.com/2019/12/10/dealing-with-the-mind-cancer-of-worry/