February is always a bittersweet time of year for me as I’m excited for the warmer weather and vacation days away to relax in the sun, but I no longer feel rushed for that to happen as I still want to finish up moments of retreating away and resting before the darkness of winter fully retreats away. It’s an in between time, not fully winter or spring, and lots of emotions can get stirred up during this time. Add to it world wide chaos, war based on greed, and a pandemic that is thankfully easing up at the moment but taunting us to go back to living as if nothing ever happened. It’s a harsh time for many learning how to come back to life again and to just be able to make it through the day without panicking.
If I can give one form of advice it would be to give yourself permission to allow yourself to feel the uncomfortableness you might be feeling and let it out in whatever form you feel right with.
For me, this is when I go to the trees.
All forms of plants, trees, and mushrooms are used in herbal medicine. It’s not just the popular stars like Chamomile, Matricaria recutita, and Turmeric, Curcuma longa, for example. Every single plant has some form of power to work with whether for it’s physical, emotional, or spiritual medicine.
The trees are the plants often referred to as the ancient ones. Some of them have been here for ages. Ginkgo, Ginkgo biloba, trees for example are considered the oldest tree species on this planet having been around for over 300 million years. The Bristlecone Pine, Pinus Longaeva, is the longest living tree found to date with one of them being 5,000 years old. It’s no wonder they’re called the ancient ones.
Trees are also referred to as the lungs of the earth. We all know how important they are to provide oxygen for us to breathe. We in turn provide carbon dioxide for them to breathe, just like with plants in general creating a mutual relationship where we often unknowingly work together sharing our life dependent breath.
Have you ever noticed how the limbs of trees can look just like lungs with their branches resembling the appearance of our bronchioles branched out. The roots below the earth are fairly identical to the branches above as each branch has a root beneath to match it. It’s a beautiful image to remind us how deeply connected we are to not just the trees but all species on this planet as we work together in a web of life all dependent on one another in at least one small way supporting another.
It’s not purely ironic then that the medicine of most tree species is often correlated to the breath and lungs. Many evergreen species like Pine, Pinus spp., Hemlock, Tsuga spp., and Spruce, Picea spp., for example are amazing to use to help open the airways as they are bronchodilators (fancy term for opening the bronchioles). They are also high in Vitamin C which is noted by their distinct citrusy flavor. I find it hard to walk by one of them and not have a snack on a few of its needles. They have a sour citrusy flavor to them and taste really nice as a tea and you can gather branches from recent fallen limbs after a storm to use to make medicine without ever having to harm the tree itself.
White Pine, Pinus strobus, for example, is amazing medicine for colds, flus, any type of sinus congestion, bronchitis, pneumonia, and laryngitis. It helps get stuck phlegm moving by helping with expectoration from the bronchioles and lungs. It’s also a nice strengthener to the lungs to help with lung weakness, wheezing, and asthmatic conditions. It’s a great plant to use for allergies as well as it helps dry up wet and weepy sinuses.
In addition to making a tea from evergreens they are also amazing to use as an herbal steam to break up congestion and clear up sinuses. Steams are very easy to do and you can check out a blog post here on herbal steams I wrote providing more instruction on how to do one.
I primarily work with evergreen medicine throughout winter and especially in the spring as the sap begins to flow again like it has now. When the sap is flowing the medicine tends to be the strongest in whatever plant you may be working with. The fall is another great time as you can smell tree medicine intensely at that time. There’s a few weeks before winter really sets in that the evergreens really give off their volatile oils (which contains the scent) and it’s almost too overwhelming as the scent is so strong it’s very captivating. I like to pretend their giving off one last burst of energy and show of their beauty before they go in for a winter slumber… just like the deciduous trees give us a show of their beautiful colored leaves.
Trees are not just good for the lungs though and don’t need to just be consumed for their medicine. They are also amazing listeners and help you connect to releasing grief. The lungs in Chinese medicine is the organ that carries grief so it’s not surprising then how aligned trees are with supporting that emotion. When you’re sitting beneath a tree (any tree really) you can often sense a silence that surrounds you as if they are holding space for you. When sitting beneath a tree or walking amongst them you can sometimes feel your heart opening up a little and space being made for you to work through whatever it is you need to work through in a more gentler way.
I like to make an herbal oil from evergreens to use on my skin, especially around my heart, to help move through big emotions. You can check out a video I made here on how to make it. I used my Yule tree at the time but you can use any fallen branches from evergreens. Just make sure they are not wet when you go to make the oil.
Herbal infused evergreen oil is great for allowing any big emotions to be brought up and out in a way we can handle rather than so in your face and difficult to feel. When we let out emotions rather than stuff them down inside we are able to breathe easier and feel more free to live life in general. It’s not always easy though to avoid stuffing them down as life isn’t always easy and many people do whatever they can to avoid having to feel. Without feeling all emotions though what are you not experiencing? Emotions aren’t just sadness and anger. They’re also joy, passion, grief, worry, arousal, and so many other forms of feeling. To fully feel the pleasurable emotions we also need to allow ourselves to feel the negative whenever they may pop up in a way that we can handle. That’s where the plants shine as they help soften the blow emotions can often have. Not by numbing them down but by gently bringing them to your awareness and shifting them so they’re not unbearable. I like to think of it as a friend supporting you, helping you process through something by filtering it out for you rather than having to experience the full power of the negative blow.
So if you’re having a hard time right now or simply want to give your heart and lungs some support, think of the power of the trees the next time you walk by one or smell the scent of the sap flowing in the air.
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