She started off just as a tree. Deep roots in the ground. Part of the Earth and the Earth a part of her. The world would happen around her, birds made their nest in her leaves, animals ran through her branches and the seasons continued to change. The tree was happy and content, her thoughts simple and basic, perceiving the world just as it was upon first sight. She felt safe and secure, grounded.
The tree soon began to expand her horizons, she realized that she was not a tree alone but part of a vast forest of trees. Her realizations began to open her mind. When she was younger she was only concerned with herself and what was happening to her alone, but now that she began to recognize herself as part of an expansive network of trees, different types and heights. She began to feel something too, the breath of the forest. Breathing together with hundreds of other trees made her realize the vastest of the world around her. The beauty in this connection astounded her.
The tree began to ponder this idea of connection and breath. She began to think deeply, about herself, about where she came from and where she was going. But she also realized that many of the trees had yet to wake up from their sleep of solitude. They still only dreamed of themselves and their close world around them. They did not recognize this amazing feeling of community offered by the breath of the forest.
The tree began to realize something else, for not only were the trees connected in this, every creature who resided in the forest was as well. They worked together to depend on one and other, sheltering, feeling, caring and breathing for one and other. The exhalation of the animals turned to become the inhalation of the trees. The connection grew deeper. It wasn’t just a tree thing, it was a universal thing. There was a complete universal connection going on around her. What was this amazing bond that all living creatures seemed to be a part of, the tree wondered. Where did it come from, and what was its purpose? What was once life being lived as a single tree was now breath of an entire forest of trees. She felt strengthened by this thought.
The more the tree thought about the magic of the world around her the more she felt like she began to vibrate with the energy of this love and connection. The problems she first had when she was a young tree seemed so small and simple, things that could be fixed by what she now realized was a shift in perception. As her perception became fluid enough she began to see further and more intricately the world around her. Things began to develop deeper meanings and she understood the concepts of symbolism around her.
The tree, except for the breeze through her branches, stood very still for all of this. She moved just barely through the year, rooted deeply to the earth. Yet, there was a very big change happening within the tree. The very molecules of what the tree was made of began to buzz with a higher consciousness. The tree felt like she was glowing, like the light she was feeling on the inside was beginning to pour out of here through the cracks and spaces among her cells. She felt strong magnetic pulses, the energy of attraction, pure prana.
It was then that a storm began to form overhead. Thick, dark clouds billowed, large drops of rain fell from the sky, the wind blew hard. The forest grew quiet and withdrawn. Suddenly a huge strike of lightning burst through the clouds striking right where the tree stood. The flash was so bright it blinded everything in the area. It was several minutes before the smoke cleared enough to see what was left of the tree. There seemed to be so much darkness. Slowly, a figure did arise from the rubble. A shape with arms and legs, two hands, two feet, a head with long flowing hair. The tree had changed. She had left the roots in the ground and emerged from the rigidity of the bark and branches.
Quietly the form stood up. She had never felt so alive. The lightning strike seemed to have transformed the tree in to vehicle of power. She was now able to move, travel and share her story. No longer did she have to keep her thoughts to herself but she now had the power to become a true creator in the world.
It was then she realized her card had been drawn for a vision quest. It was time for her to leave the comforts of the forest and journey to the desert, where she would move further into her full potential.
– Katie Duvall 2015
Hello and WELCOME to my blog JaeBird Adventures. I am a 2015 graduate from Holistic Yoga School’s 200 hour YTT and I can tell you that going through the training has changed my LIFE, and only in the best ways. It has centered and grounded me to the point I was able to overcome mental and physical issues and am now getting ready to move out of the country to South America. I will be living Colombia teaching English and yoga for the next several years. I have joined Holistic’s blog to stay connected to my yoga community and to be able to share in my adventures as I take all the amazing lessons from my teacher training off the mat and into a foreign land.
Moving to South America is something I have been thinking about for a very long time. It wasn’t until I reached a healthy and stable level of balance last year that I know I was truly ready to make the move.
I received a final confirmation from the universe that I was ready to go during Holistic’s Earth Medicine Wheel. If you have never participated in a Medicine Wheel I full-heartedly recommend it. It is a 4 class series based from Inca traditions in the Andes Mountains. You work through different levels of your life, starting in the basic physical realm and move into mental and spiritual. I began to write the story above when I pulled 3 cards from the Medicine Wheel deck we were using in class. The cards were “Tree” “Forest” and “Lightning.” The cards gave me the fundamentals of what I needed to start my story as the tree followed my progression from her simple basic existence and began to see further and more completely the world around her. In the final class, the Cacao Ceremony, I pulled my last card, “Vision Quest.” I had been thinking a lot about moving to South America, and receiving this card at the end was a validation to me that it was time to go. It was time to spread my wings and continue my journey of growth, knowledge and spirituality away from home.
I am now making my final preparations for my move, I do not know where it will all take me, but I do know I am excited and open for what come my way. I look forward to staying in touch and sharing my adventures with you all.
Namaste friends!
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