Tree Pose

on Christmas morning honoring our small tree

Part One- Pose as a Tree

Barefoot. Steady. Toes spread. Inhale. Exhale. Grounded. Stand straight and tall. Hands in prayer.

Slowly raise right foot. Turn inward to place right sole on left ankle. Slide upward along calf as right knee turns outward. Balance.

Feel what it is to be rooted. Press palms together and spread elbows wide until only fingertips touch. Gaze steady. Breathe from belly.

Part ways with touching hands. Arms like branches stretch wide. Fingers form feathery needles. Root. Feel sap rise and fall.

Raise chin and look higher as arms lift and arc overhead. Linger. Sway. Stay long enough for birds to perch on shoulder, head, and hands.

Part Two- Praise and Apology for our Christmas Tree

Tree pose in front of Christmas tree. Speak from heart. Listen to ponderosa, the one that grew too close to our home if a wildfire blew our way. Ask.

“Is it enough that we have strung you with lights? Placed bird ornaments on your spindly limbs. Honored your ways of askew, akimbo, and straggle?”

Still your cut trunk pulls water from the tree stand. Still your knitting needles bunched in threes slice the wood-heated air of our home. Still…

Do you miss the touch of goldfinch toes, moth wings, spider web, and beetle crawl? Wind caress, snowflake, raindrop, and raven croak?

I confess. I love you here in our corner adorned with memories like the cardboard mitten with my son’s two-year-old handprint and now he is 27. Still big-hearted.

Standing in revery pose of apology and praise, I notice the way humans are tree-like. Maybe it’s time for us to root, offer shelter, drink

sunshine, gather and store carbon, create rain, host lichens, moss, and bird nests. Learn to live in relationship and commune with the stars.