For The City Dwellers

For those of us who are city dwellers (which is most of humanity), it's so important for us to ground and connect with nature as often as we can. The simulation of a city...the noises, the lights, the amount of energy we exchange with people on the daily...can really take a toll on us if we forget our roots.

It might mean taking a walk to the park without your phone and spending time laying in the grass, gazing up at the clouds. When’s the last time you let yourself do that? It might mean walking to the water and skipping rocks with a buddy. It might mean learning the names of the trees in your neighborhood so that you can acknowledge them as fellow terrestrials as you walk to the grocery store. We have a lot of cute oaks in Brooklyn :)

Let’s focus on trees for a sec. They are communal and intelligent. Studies show that forest trees communicate with each other much like an insect colony - exchanging information, forming alliances, sending distress signals if they get sick... These slow moving beings emit a grounding energy that makes us feel safe and secure. When we spend time with trees, we resonate with their energy and take it on as our own. Today, my boyfriend and I took a walk to Prospect Park just to hug the trees and appreciate them. When you touch a tree, you can literally feel yourself ground, your heart rate lower, your mood soften…Grateful for a partner who’s down to hug a tree.

Nature has so much wisdom to offer us if we allow ourselves to tap into that frequency. Just walking in the forest lowers our heart rate and reduces stress significantly. Our cognition also improves and our creativity is boosted the more time we spend time outside. Our ancestors deeply honored nature - for one tree cut, they may have planted two. They understood herbal remedies for treating diseases…and they knew exactly which roots and plants to eat or not eat. They cycled with the sun from morning until evening and had a keen sense of direction. Plus, their food came straight from the Earth and was prepared with great care. I find that the closer we get to nature - the closer we get to source energy. We are organic matter after all.

If you’re like me and you live in a city, see how your mood and overall wellbeing changes with more time spent outside in the sun, with the trees. I made a promise to myself in November that I would travel for long weekends at least once every other month to go hiking and get outside for an extended period of time. It’s helped me tremendously. Keeping crystals around and holding them often also helps us ground! Same with having house plants - snake plants and aloe plants are especially good for air purification.

Sending you lots of love and fresh air.

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