Had a wonderful conversation with Author, Coach and Vision Quest Leader Catriona MacGregor about her latest book, “Partnering With Nature: The Wild Path to Reconnecting with the Earth” on www.blogtalkradio.com/hope42day. IMHO, Catriona is beyond being just a tree, plant and nature advocate, she is truly walking her talk and has partnered with nature and is sharing what she has learned with others so that they can also learn how to partner with nature.

Her book is rich and dense, full of stories about her experiences as well as exercises that we can learn how to interact with nature that is all around us, like “tree surfing”. Catriona says, “I refer to this practice as Tree Energy Surfing because it feels like your are “surfing the tree’s energy system with your hands and body.” In this exercise, she gives you a simple outline for Tree Energy Surfing as well as signs you can look for of a beneficial energy exchange or signs of harmful or depleting energy exchange.

So you know I had to go Tree Energy Surf with our big ole Cottonwood again. I feel so connected to this tree that has stood outside our bedroom window lo these many years, that really today’s exercise was just a matter of standing closer to it with my body. It certainly does have nice steady strong energy but gentle strong energy if that makes sense.

What I noticed was that after the tree and I surfed each other as I was turning away to go back inside I noticed that our “specimen” Crepe Myrtle is in the midst of shedding it’s skin to let the smooth Cinnamon bark show through. I spent about ten minutes helping to peel away the bark that was hanging from various branches and I’m pretty sure if the tree could have shaken like a dog after a bath, it would have! I’ve always felt like the Cottonwood Tree was a “mother” tree so I wonder if she encouraged me to help the Crepe Myrtle? Hadn’t noticed the shedding bark before today.

I know most of my family and many of my friends have considered me a “tree hugger” (like that was a bad thing) for a long time now but they haven’t seen nuttin yet! I have a feeling now that I know how to Tree Energy Surf, I’ll be trying this out with all kinds of trees whenever I can and comparing what, say, the Crepe Myrtles feel like to a Mountain Laurel.

That sound you’re hearing now is me trying to sound like the rustling leaves of a tree as I go!

Surf’s on!!