Remember Yourself as Nature
In honour of Earth Month, RE SELF invites you to remember yourself as a part of Nature.
Image source: NASA
Did you know that the life-sustaining element of iron has one origin: supernova - the explosion of stars. That same element, one of the most abundant element in the Earth's crust, is always a part of your body. You are literally made of the cosmos. Your bones made of the same “bones” of the Earth, your waters the waters of the Earth, your fire - your action - nourished by the sun (Vitamin D), your air - your breath - a reciprocal gift between you and the plants. You are a micro-embodiment of the macro living body of our planet Earth.
Image source: Cristina McAllister
So deeply revered is our Earth, that in nearly all cultures at some point in time, she is a deity in her own right. She is known as Gaia by the ancient Greeks, Pachamama by the Incas, and Papahānaumoku by the Kānaka Maoli (indigenous Hawaiians) to name a few of her thousand names. There are many scholastic theories as to why cultures shifted over the past millennia from reverence for the divine embodiment of the Earth to the degradation of our relationship with the Earth along with the degradation of the Earth itself. I invite you to tune into your own embodied wisdom and ask yourself: Why might my ancestors relationship in reverence to the Earth have degraded and what might that tell me about the degradation of the Earth we witnessed since the industrial revolution?
One powerful way to heal our Great Mother begins within - by healing our embodied relationship with her - remembering and reestablishing ourselves as extensions of her, as dependent of her for the abundant blessings in our lives that make our lives possible.
Knowing ourselves as a microcosm of the Earth allows us to see that all around us is an extension of our body, our home:
Our bones are the rocks, the earth
Our breath is the air
Our electricity of our heart is the sun, the fire
Our blood is the water
When we truly embody this knowing, we make aligned decisions such as bringing a reusable mug instead of opting for single-use plastics, composting instead of putting food waste into landfills, and reducing our carbon footprint by swapping meat for plants. When we are out of alignment with knowing ourselves as a reflection of the Earth, we find ourselves partaking in actions that not only harm the Earth but also our bodies. We see the Earth not as a resource but as our dearest relative (as Hawaiian herbalist Caitlin Duquette offers), our Great Mother. It’s not about perfection; it’s about connection.
Image source unknown
Knowing everything has its own form of consciousness, its own form of intelligence we shift our perspective to collective instead of dominant.
A practice to reconnect with the Earth: Breathing with the Trees
Embodied Experience
Sit down outside in front of a tree.
Take a deep breath in, feeling yourself rooting into the ground, seeing your roots growing from your body into the soil, connecting with the mycelial network, the other plants and beings around you
Deep exhale, feeling the land nourishing your being through your roots, maybe receiving messages or feeling into the vibration of Mother Earth through your sensitive roots
For your next inhales, as you breathe, focus on the oxygen flowing out from the tree - the tree giving you oxygen for you to inhale and be nourished
As you exhale, visualize the CO2 leaving your body - you giving the tree CO2 for the tree to inhale and be nourished
Continue to breathe, watching each of you (the tree exhaling for you to inhale, you exhaling for the tree to inhale) breathe in service and support of each other
When you feel content with your practice, take a few moments to put into words what you just experienced. As Caitlin reminds us, “Plants hold us as we navigate thresholds that can feel subtle, marvelous, maybe even earth shattering.” So move slowly, and making meaning of your experience.
Grab your journal and ask your tree “Write to me and through me any messages I am meant to receive in this moment” and allow your writing to flow as a stream of consciousness (you can tell the difference between your brain at work and your intuition flowing). See what messages surface.
Resources:
Garbology: Our Dirty Love Affair with Trash a book by Edward Humes
Listen to our conversation with Caitlin on my podcast As It Goes
