Tree Breathing

I have found that when I am calm and in the moment it is much easier for me to make good, thoughtful choices.

When I am stressed it is just the opposite. When stressed I fall back into old habits, I am more rushed, and I don’t make the choices that I need to make to do what I want to achieve.

Other than tapping, the most useful tool I have found to keep me calm and in the moment is a Qi-Gong breathing exercise called “Tree Breathing”.

You don’t need to duplicate this tool exactly for it to be useful. I will explain how I use the technique and then I will explain the key parts so you can duplicate it in a way that works best for you.

How I Do It
I stand in front of a tree in a comfortable stance. The exercise is made up of a total of 10 breaths, done in two sets of 5.

For the first 5 breaths I imagine that energy is moving in a circle out of the top of the tree and into crown of my head, passing through my body, leaving via my feet, entering the tree through its roots, and then moving up into the trunk.

While I am doing this I take a long, slow inhale through my nose and imagine the energy coming out the the top of the tree and into the crown of my head. Then, while I exhale slowly, I imagine the energy moving from the soles of my feet into the roots of the tree.

For each of the 5 breaths I imagine the energy moving in a full circle.

For the next 5 breaths I do the exact same thing, but this time I imagine the energy moving in the opposite direction. On the inhale I imagine energy leaving the roots of the trees and entering my body from the soles of my feet. On the exhale I imagine the it going out of the crown of my head and back into the top of the tree.

Again, this is done 5 times.

When and Where I Do It
I do this exercise regularly. And what I mean by regularly is I have chosen one particular tree in my neighborhood and every time I walk by this tree I do the exercise. Because I live in the city and mostly move around on foot, I walk by this tree between 3 and 5 times a day.

Every time I pass the tree, regardless how much of a rush I am in, I make myself stop to do the 10 breaths. It takes a little more than one minute…

…AND IT IS AWESOME!

It has made a huge difference on many days.

How You Can Use This
Before I share how you add something like this to your life I want to make one quick point. To be honest, I have no idea if when doing this I am moving any energy or if I am getting anything in particular from the tree in the exercise. For me, it is much more about slowing down, paying attention to my breath, and letting go of everything else.

With that being said, here are the key points for how you can add this to your day:

1) Do something that will get you out of your head and into your body
You don’t have to do 10 breaths, but I would recommend it. Also, by imagining the energy moving in a circle it forces me to pay attention to the process. If I was just taking long, deep breaths it would be much easier for my mind to wander.

2) Punctuate your day with it
I like the fact it is not something that I have on my schedule. It interrupts whatever I am doing. I am much more likely to need to be grounded in the middle of my day at some random time. Pick a place that you pass through regularly as the moment that prompts you to do it.

3) Make it a non-negotiable
Part of the reason it works so well is that I make myself do it no matter what. It is now a habit which makes it little effort. Until it reaches that point it was something I had to do. The times I was most resistant to doing it were the times I needed it the most.

You don’t have to customise the process too much. You could even duplicate my process exactly. Just choose a way that will work for you.

Let me know in the comments what you are trying and how you tweaked it.