I don’t remember exactly when my love of trees began. I do remember that as a 6- or 7-year old I would drive my abuelita insane by climbing the tallest trees in our garden and, in the process, “hugging” for dear life the tall branches and hoping that they would hold my weight. Most of the time they did.
If one didn’t support my weight, I was fortunate to be able to “hug” a branch immediately below and save the tile roof underneath and myself some serious damage.
I don’t know how my abuelita survived my many escapades and travesuras — at this advanced age relatives still recount with awe the torment this “malcriado” inflicted upon her and others — but my abuelita came through OK, I apparently turned out kind of OK, too, and I am still enjoying relatively good health.
On the latter, the good health, I recently learned that such can probably be attributed to my tree-hugging days.
One article I recently read, “Science Shows Hugging Trees Is Good For Health,” claims exactly that: “hugging trees can actually improve your health.”
In addition to hugging trees, the article says, one’s health can be improved by “just being around trees and plants in nature …” and refers to a book by Matthew Silverstone, “Blinded By Science,” that “confirms” the healthful benefits of trees.
OK, now that I got you convinced of the benefits of tree hugging, don’t just rush out and hug any tree in any manner.
As Phylameana Lila Desy explains in “How to Hug a Tree,” there are proper ways to do this. More on that in a moment.
While I have truly loved trees and nature since my very early childhood days, my tree-hugging moments have rarely been recorded.
As a matter of fact, to the best of my knowledge, there exist only three recorded incidents.
A niece recently posted on Face Book the earliest recorded incident. It took place in 2011 at “El Bosque Petrificado de Puyango” (Puyango Petrified Forest) in my native Ecuador. The tree I am seen hugging (lead photo above) is very, very old and belongs to the Araucarias family. Read more about this unique and fascinating protected region here.
While the hug “position” I used closely follows the “Vertical Tree Hug” approach recommended by Desy, there was no way to encircle it with my arms, nor to ”feel the different bark textures with the palms of [my] hands,” because of the age of the tree.
Two years ago I was caught in the act again with a more manageable tree — barely — when stringing our Christmas lights on a live Texas Oak. (below)
Finally, this Christmas I asked my wife to snap a photo of me hugging a tree, one that met Desy’s rule #7: ‘Find the perfect tree that fits your mood. You will know which one is right for you.” (Below)
But it is more than just “meeting the mood.” As one approaches one’s octogenarian decade, one’s mood and philosophy become less audacious and more accepting, less forward-looking and more melancholic…
So, while I was first tempted to make light of Desy’s “Ten Steps for Getting to Know and Hugging a Tree,” they make sense when looked at through the eyes of those of us who will soon be back with nature.
Here are some of them, but first her introduction:
Certainly, you have heard the phrase Hug a Tree before, but have you ever taken a moment out of your day to actually do this? Although some trees, like people, are more huggable than others, they all need a hug now and again. The Earth is our mother. Mother Nature has much to teach us. It is from her womb that we are nurtured and healed. Hugging a tree is perhaps the easiest way to embrace Mother Nature.
• Find yourself a quiet park, forest, or woodland area.
• Walk among the trees until you feel comfortable in their presence.
• Feel the different bark textures with the palms of your hands.
• Smell the scent of the various woods.
• Absorb their life’s energies as you look upwards to the sprawling branches overhead.
• Find the perfect tree that fits your mood. You will know which one is right for you.
• Speak softly to the tree verbally or communicate with it using telepathy.
Enjoy the holidays, enjoy the trees, enjoy the forest, petrified or not.
Also read, “Trees too Big to Hug, small enough to cherish and Protect”
Lead photo by Dr. Claudia Krasnoff
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.