I Was A Tree Climber

“I was a tree climber. I just loved climbing trees and I would find a lot of comfort there. I felt safe and I felt freer amongst the trees.

At thirteen, I was abruptly moved to the inner city, removed from nature, and it had a profound effect on me. I felt the shift in my body of the earth's rhythm when I went from this place of tranquility and stillness. My body went into shock. My spirit went into shock.

All of my senses were open in a very deep way. And when I was brought from nature into city life, it felt like chaos for me. And I wasn't prepared, so I shut down. I stayed in that state to the age of 33 is when I had a spiritual experience that would help me to recover from the experience of being removed from nature.”

Through Nukumi’s personal experience as a child and later in an eight year spiritual retreat, she understood what happened to us as humanity when we became separated from nature.

From living close to the Earth we built technologies that slowly removed us further and further away from her heartbeat. We couldn't feel Her anymore.

There are millions of people in cities who have never been on the earth in a forest and who are profoundly separated from nature. Many more of us have disconnected from our body due to trauma and the frantic culture we live in.

We can find our way back into our body through nature, through connecting with trees, through remembering we are part of a whole, of the divine intelligence inside of nature. We can find our way back into relationship.

“My relationship with the earth was restarted back in 1990, where I had to remember and relearn what I had forgotten, and remember Her all over again. I had forgotten my relationship with trees. It was no longer who I was or how I identified or knew myself to be, which was shocking because I was raised in the trees.

That was pretty much what I knew. And yet, when I was removed from that environment, how far away I got from it.” Nukumi Selina Mu shared some of her personal experience in our class last week and will continue to bring her lived Indigenous wisdom for the next two Sundays (Feb 22 and March 1) in our free community class. She welcomes questions.

Link to watch the first part of her talk. If you are signed up for Sunday class resource emails, you can also listen to the Q&A where she helped someone navigate boundaries and relationships around our deepening connection with Nature, and addressed some ways to work with the masculine within our patriarchal culture.

From my experience, this is a journey back into connection with ourselves. Like any relationship, it takes time and ongoing commitment. I recognize how my experience has been shaped by centuries of colonization and I am committed to remembering what I’ve lost.

One way we remember is to go into nature, whether that is a park in the city or a vast forest. As we practice moving out of thinking and into our body in daily life, we become more stable and emotionally regulated. At times our mind becomes still when we are out for a walk and we are able to “hear” Earth Mother again.

I have many guided practices on Insight Timer or on the app look for the playlist Grounded. We meet live online every day during our 8AM practice and come into connection with ourselves, our hearts, each other, and the consciousness of Earth Mother. We are inspired to walk outside and relax our shoulders as we breathe in fresh air.

It’s true that we live in a culture that makes it harder to connect lovingly with ourselves, our bodies and Nature. It is also true that we can find our way back into remembering we are not alone.

Learn more about and connect with Nukumi here. Join us the next two Sundays! Details here.