Lisa Hart Isn’t it amazing that so many Indigenous and Earth based spiritual practices hold trees as sacred? They are called sentinels and cathedrals, to name just a few honorifics. From Forest Bathing to tree hugging we reach for trees to sustain us, ground us, and relax us.
Interestingly, the Chinese character for ‘relax’ includes a tree and also means ‘pine tree’. 松 (sōng) consists of 木 [ mù ] tree; and 公 [ gōng ] fair, equitable. Isn’t it fun combining that with ‘song’ in English? We can sing a relaxing song to the pine tree, and relax ourselves at the same time.
Reciprocal in Chinese character also involves a tree: 相 xiàng includes the characters for 木 [ mù ] tree and 目 [ mù ] eye. What I see is me. We breathe in what they breathe out and vise versa. We nourish each other in sacred reciprocity. Imagine my delight when a neighbor girl said about this pine tree, “I’m glad this tree is here.” I think the Pine Tree was equally delighted.
Sing a song of love to a tree today and relax.
Chinese characters and meanings provided by Purple Culture.
