Be like a tree
Every time I ask my students to go into tree pose, Vrkasana, I quote the Persian poet, Rumi, and say, “Be like a tree and let the dead leaves drop.” It captures the essence of what is possible when we get into tree pose. Standing firmly on one foot, all four corners of the foot grounding down into the earth, the other foot pressing against the inside of the standing leg. Torso is erect and tall, and arms reaching out towards the sky. Like trees, we aspire to simultaneously ground down and release all that no longer serves us.
Trees serve an important role in ancient Hindu texts such as the Ramayana, an epic poem composed around the 7th to 3rd centuries B.C.E. Rama (an avatar of Vishnu), the son of King Dasharatha, is banished by his father to live in the forest for fourteen years at the behest of his stepmother. Rama’s wife Sita (a goddess born of the Earth) goes along with him, but is kidnapped by King Ravana. Ravana takes her to his kingdom, the island of Lanka, where he tries to convince Sita to become his queen. Sita refuses, and so he holds her captive in the Ashoka garden, a forest full of Ashoka trees. There, she is guarded by eight demon creatures who torment her psychologically. Sita fixes her mind on Rama coming to rescue her. She never loses faith, and in her stillness and patience, she is guided by the whispers of the Ashoka trees. Eventually, Rama comes and saves Sita and defeats King Ravana.
Ashoka means “remover of sorrow,” and it is said that the Buddha was born under an Ashoka tree. In Hinduism and Buddhism, a tree is often the place under which one can sit, meditate, receive wisdom and maybe even enlightenment. For many, trees are sacred. The first known “tree huggers” were the Bishnois in India in 1730. For the Bishnois, the khejarli tree is sacred, so when a king was about to cut these trees down to build a palace, a woman named Amrita Devi wrapped herself around a khejarli tree. She, along with 362 Bishnois lost their lives while hugging trees.
Trees give great strength and grounding, and they simultaneously have the ability to help us shed our sorrow, just as they shed their leaves. In his book, The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate, by Peter Wohlleben, the former forester explains that latest research shows that trees have feelings, they experience pain, have families and speak. The cry out for water when they experience thirst, and they feel pain when a caterpillar bites off their leaves. They are completely alive, just as we are. And just like us, they would rather learn important life lessons the easy way. Wohlleben writes,
“Trees don’t like to make things unnecessarily difficult.”
He explains that a tree would rather lean on its neighbours instead of having to grow a “thick, sturdy stump.” This, however, is not always possible when foresters rip out trees, or when a mother tree dies. Shocked by the loss of their entire support system (their root system), it takes three to ten years for the trees to become sturdy once again, after this shock. “The process of learning stability is triggered by painful micro-tears that occur when trees bend way over in the wind.” (p.46) Even the power of the tree does not manifest without pain, patience and learning.
So if you haven’t already, give your favourite tree a hug, or maybe just sit down beneath it, and allow yourself to receive its wisdom.
To read more about the Bishnois continued fight for conservation:
India’s Bishnois ‘tree huggers’ renew conservation fight: https://www.dw.com/en/indias-bishnoi-tree-huggers-renew-conservation-fight/a-66189288
To Read the Ramayana:
Ramayana, English complete edition
Valmiky, Ralph H.T. Griffith
To Read more about the hidden life of trees:
The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate
Peter Wohlleben