School of the Trees: Breath Meditation

Learning to fill my lungs with fresh clean air is new for me. Having been an urban dweller until recently, my lungs are so familiar with smoke and smog, exhaust fumes and off gassing! In the relative quiet and stillness of this spacious backyard, the trees are inviting me to surrender to the cycles of breath. 

I am returned repeatedly to the meditation anchors:

Breathing in, I know that I am breathing in.

Breathing out, I know that I am breathing out. 

And the visualization that keeps me from getting bored is fairly basic. I picture the trees welcoming my exhale and then sharing their generous exhale with me. 

This visual of reciprocity in the breath exchange transforms my mindfulness of breath into a coregulation with the forest. It creates more spaciousness in my torso to expand a slightly greater expansion and contraction of the lungs. 

Come join me in breathing with the forest, and allowing the forest to breathe through us into the world around us. Let us forest breathe together.