try spending time in the forests

I've spoken about the energy of the mountains and the energy of the ocean. And in this episode, I'm going to talk about the energy of the forests. Again, it is an environment which has a particular energy. And it is worth exploring. It is worth immersing ourselves in that energy.

Many of the early things to try in this series related to trees in one way or another, but as individual trees. A forest, of course, is a collection of trees, a whole community of trees. Such a collection of trees gives us the possibility of really immersing ourselves in them, going deep into the forest.

And the forest not only offers an energy of its own, but it also creates a protective blanket. It actually cuts out the energies from outside, absorbs them. You'll see when you go into the forest: the sounds of the city and towns and roads soon disappear. And you will feel, once more, that you are in a wild place.

Some people are afraid of forests. They can be dark places. The trees are also absorbing much of the sunlight. And with so many trees, it can be difficult to see very far in any direction. For these reasons, the forests have come to symbolise the unconscious. So when we enter the forest, we are really plunging into that dark, unknown space within ourself as well. And this unconscious part of our mind needs to be explored. It needs to be brought into the light.

It is the unconscious mind that causes all our troubles. All the suffering of humanity is coming from this place within us. Going into the forest, we are entering ourself – the dark parts of ourself that we have been trying to avoid all these years. And the energy of the forest is there to support us: the wisdom of the trees, those amazing beings that feel no need to keep rushing around. They can stand in one place for their whole life, and allow life to come to them.

A forest is full of ancient wisdom. And it is also a protective place. The trees offer shelter: shelter from the weather, but also shelter from all those things that we are fearing.

So go into a forest somewhere. Spend some time there, some hours. Or better still, sleep there for a night or two. The nighttime is when we grow. It's when we heal: during our sleep. Much magic happens whilst we are asleep. So sleeping in a forest will allow even more mysterious growth to occur for us.

And another advantage of sleeping in the forest is that you will be there in the morning, at dawn. And you may be amazed. The forest will come alive at that time. All the creatures imaginable will be there, waking up to a new day. It is a time of great activity in the forest. You'll see that you are waking up in a whole society, a hugely rich system of life. And you'll be returning to the roots of humanity. We human beings also evolved in the forests. This is where we were born.

So try it: try going into the forests, spending time there. Try rediscovering whence we came.