November 2022 I sat in sacred ceremony in the boreal forest of northern Ontario. It was here that I listened to the wisdom of a mighty White Pine.

As I sat under this tree it decided to be one of my guides on this journey. I noticed that there was one low hanging branch reaching out and receiving just a glimmer of sunlight feeding life into the tree, adding to the collective energy. This is when the white pine shared with me that as the branches no longer serve the system, it stops feeding it energy and the branches wither, die and fall away. This allows the tree to grow ever taller. Reaching into the sky. Its roots buried deep in Mother Earth and his crown reaching for Father Sky.

The white pine then asked me why I hold on to so many branches that are no longer serving me energy. In fact, so many of these branches I am channeling my energy into, trying to keep them alive when they have no more purpose in my life. This exploration has been the theme of these Wednesday and Friday morning breath sessions.

Start with awareness. Where is the energy leaking out of my life? What leaves me constantly exhausted without any return? 

Explore the Whys? Why have I allowed my life to unfold this way? What excuses have I made and what excuses am I continuing to make to allow my life to be this way? 

Now what? How do we let go of these dead branches? What is the process? How do I turn something that is solid, that is a block, back into free energy to flow through my heart and transmute back into the universe?

In quantum mechanics everything exists in two states. One, it exists as a wave of energy. Two, when we look at, focus our attention on it, it materializes into matter. This is real and measurable science. It is also true for our lives. When we observe a problem in our life it begins to materialize. This is how we become the creators of our own reality. We are the creators of the dead branches hanging from our tree of life. And we are also the destroyers of that which no longer serves our health and wellbeing. So the question is, how do we do it? 

You have probably heard the expression “If you love something, set it free. If it comes back it is yours, if it does not it never was.” I suddenly understand what that means. Love is a universal force that flows through us, between us, around us and gives access to all life and creation. We cannot possess love, you may have tried at some point in your life, and it probably didn’t go very well.

Imagine our various branches as an emotional response to something in our lives. When we fixate on that emotional response we materialize this drain of energy. It becomes a dead branch. We must set it free. Whatever that emotional response that has solidified in our heart we must set it free. That means sinking into that emotion. Fear. Grief. Anger. Shame. Guilt. All the things that we try to avoid materialize as our reality.

If you love something, set it free. If you hate something, set it free. If you were angered by something, set it free. Whatever is the seed of this branch you created, you can set it free. 

Friday morning, near the end of our breath session, I was sitting deep within the darkness of Mother Earth. I could feel my roots reaching down into her tender, dark, loving embrace. I began to breathe. A gentle breath drawing in from the furthest reaches of my roots. The shimmer of light travelling through me. I began to grow anew. Without the dead branches distracting me, drawing my energy away. I realize that this light, this energy that was rising within me was pure love. The purest form of the energy of life that helps us reach our higher self is love. We are love. To completely surrender to this flow of love, to trust in the power that flows through you, the energy that connects you from earth to the sky. Is love. We are to love ourselves. And only when we love ourselves can we allow this divine flow of energy to create a reality that we want.

 

Much Love

Steve