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You are here: Home / Anxiety / How to Calm Down – Tree Visualisation

How to Calm Down – Tree Visualisation

10th February 2018 by Emma Cameron 1 Comment

How to Calm Down, Part 1 - Tree Visualisation

How to Calm Down: Tree Visualisation

This is the first of an occasional series of blog posts where we’ll take a look at several different ideas for how to calm down (sometimes known as ‘grounding exercises’). When your anxiety’s been triggered and you’re feeling stressed and overwhelmed, it may be hard to figure out how to calm down. Your body’s jittery and tense, your chest feels tight, and your stomach’s churning.

So if you’re a person who values creativity and the imagination, here’s something to try: the Tree Visualisation. The Tree Visualisation can be used at home, and also when you’re out and about. You can adapt it for use in a public place, as the slight movements involved are very subtle and no-one need know what you’re doing. You can even do it with your eyes open. It’s one of the options in my blog post ‘Emotional First-Aid Kit’. 

Tip: If you also practice this at times when you are not feeling tense, it will gradually become easier to do when you are caught up in the grip of anxiety and stress.

Leaf

How to Calm Down: Tree Visualisation

Feel Calm - Silver birch trees

What to Do

1. Sit Comfortably

Sit upright so you feel well supported. Have your feet flat on the floor. Rock your feet a few times back and forward, so the ball of your foot and your heel take turns contacting and leaving the floor. Your hands can either be settled in your lap, resting on the chair’s arms, or exerting gentle pressure on your chest and abdomen. Close your eyes or lower your gaze (if it’s safe to do so).
Leaf

2. Imagine a Tree

Imagine a tree. Picture the whole tree: the trunk, the branches, the leaves, even the roots.
In your mind, see if you can ‘become’ the tree. Use your imagination to get an inner sense of what it’s like to be this tree. Feel into your trunk, your branches, your leaves.
Picture the colours, imagine the textures; maybe you can even almost smell the earthy aroma of the tree.  Perhaps you can feel the gentle breeze rustling your leaves, the sun warming your bark.
Now, as the tree, visualise your root system. Feel what it’s like to have fully developed roots that extend deep into the earth, confidently seeking out nourishment and water and keeping you stable and solid, even in the strongest wind.
Leaf

3. Breathing

Now imagine breathing up through your roots and out through your branches, and then the opposite – inhale through the branches and exhale through the roots. Go back and forth with this a few times until you feel you are calming down.
You might also like to imagine sending any stresses and tensions deep down into the earth through your roots; and then bring back up the calming, nourishing, nurturing, grounding, energising vitality of the earth up through your roots and into your trunk, branches and leaves.
Leaf

Deepening the experience

How to feel calm - Autumn leavesYou could also try adding to the tree visualisation when you’re outdoors. Find a tree that you feel drawn to, and take time to closely observe it. Touch the bark, and the leaves, and think of words that could describe the textures. Notice how the light falls on the branches and foliage. Inhale deeply, taking in any scents. Sit or stand with your back against the tree trunk. With your eyes either open or closed (depending on how safe you feel) concentrate on getting some sense of the tree’s presence and energy inside you.
Even if you can only do this to a small degree, it can still have an impact. Having had this real sensory experience will also help deepen your future practice of the tree visualisation.

Has this been useful for helping you calm down? What aspects worked for you? And did you find yourself adding extra elements to make the tree visualisation more effective for you? Let us know in the comments below.

Note: If you have been finding it hard to calm down, please consult with your physician/ GP. There may be physical or psychological issues that need to be addressed in conjunction with a medical professional. This blog post does not constitute medical advice and is not a substitute for medical treatment.
Leaf

Filed Under: Anxiety

Comments

  1. HPS Venefica K says

    28th June 2019 at 5:31 pm

    Love this exercise and i am using it as a teaching exercise for my Wiccan study group.

    Reply

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Information on this website is meant for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for medical or psychological evaluation or treatment. If you are concerned about your mental or physical health, please see a medical doctor or mental health professional to address your concerns. If you are experiencing suicidal thoughts or impulses, please dial 999 or 911 to seek emergency treatment immediately. Emma Cameron does not provide emergency mental health treatment. All text and images on this site ©Emma Cameron 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 and may not be copied, published or used without permission. ©Emma Cameron All Rights Reserved

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