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/
