Communication with a tree possible? Got a weird feeling when I touched a dying one in my yard.

Not much to add which hasn't already been said. I definitely would encourage the "tree-hugging". Like one poster said, it is surprising to get a hug in return. The majority of trees in this area is pine trees. Lodgepole, Ponderosa, Blue Douglas pine, and subalpine fir. The really neat trees are the Quaking Aspen. They are a colony type tree, where all of the trees are a copy of each other, share the same characteristics, and are part of a single tree root system. So the trees may die off at certain stages of the colonies life, but the colony survives for many thousands of years. There's a colony in Utah that is believed to be 80,000 years old.

One of my more favorite organisms on this earth is the tree. Not enough respect is paid to these entities that provide so much for the non-photosynthesis species out there.

Originally posted by SheeplFlavoredAgain


I leaned on the trunk of one tree that is in my property and man, did I get a shock. I was just trying to see if I could pick up any vibrations or rumbling sounds and what I got instead was, for lack of a better word, emotions. I felt fear, confusion, chaos. I honestly don't know if I imagined that or...what. Do trees even have feelings? Not like us, surely??

I love trees... your story is great!
However, maybe you did picked-up some vibrations and rumbling sounds, it is believed exposure to low frequency sound vibrations can cause hallucination. It's possible the tree you touched was vibrating in the Infrasound level, a low level frequency too low to be heard by the human ear. Very possible... but hey I like to believe what you felt was real.....

reply to post by SheeplFlavoredAgain


I have needed an arborist before and could not aford it so I understand...it is really sad. Take care-maybe hugs will help. (not trying to be sarcastic)

reply to post by SheeplFlavoredAgain
There are several reasons why a forest will die (disease, insect infestation etc), and the bush you speak of could even be "old growth" that is now past its prime, and just as with humans it is now succuming to old age. A patch of bush that is surrounded by human habitat (as in new sub-divisions) might die long before its time due to pollution of all sorts. Us humans seem to have that effect on all aspects of the natural world. Nature has its own way of taking care of forests, and one of those and probably the most common and best method is by fire. We hear of towns being evacuated due to the threat of an approaching fire, but forest fires were never a threat until people decided to build towns in the middle of the forest. Many of these little towns were started up by logging and mining companies, then as the forestry/mining died down and the workers and their families moved, folk from the cities who just wanted "to get away from it all", eventually moved in. Sorry, I'm starting to ramble! Anyway, a
forest fire that has been started by lightning strikes is nature's way of creating new growth, that besides being beneficial to the health of the forest, is a terrific benefit for wildlife. If your tree is dying from old age, if left alone (if possible) instead of being dragged away, it will eventually rot and mix with the soil that once sustained it to become a fertilizer rich in nutrients. On the other hand it will at least create a much larger and healthy space for surrounding growth to spread out. Even if your tree is removed from the area, it will leave behind a root system that will eventually rot altogether, and will also be beneficial to the surrounding growth. In nature nothing is wasted, and if it weren't for us humans our Mother Earth would still be the "Garden Of Eden she once was.

Deep inside of us, holds the programming of a relationship with nature. It includes thinking plants, in this case trees, are alive... In addition, we are programmed to love the environment and each other and a host of other enhancements to make life glow and shine in fantastic ways. We are all environmentalists to some degree whether we like it or not.

Remember, reality is in your head, not out. Without your head, there is nothing, and without concepts and associations, everything is just a big pile of nothing. So, it's not the tree that we are communicating with, it is ourselves. We are part of the tree in a way I guess.

Originally posted by Christarella
I am so loving this thread! When I first learned Reiki, I read that one of the best ways to practice was to go out and give it to the plants, flowers and trees. I didnt really do that, but I definitely will try it now. Thanks for a wonderful thread.

Christarella

Reiki is amazing. I don't know really anything about it. Heck, it sounds Japanese so you'd think I would know about it but I don't. But I had a Wiccan Internet friend I met in person at a convention. I guess that was enough to establish a connection? Anyway she sent me healing reiki long distance somehow for joint pain. I don't know how but it helped. I wish I had the time and I guess the money (is this something you take classes on?) to learn it myself.

So far I've been busy doing some reading and then some unrelated work for a fair at my kids school. I am not even going near the trees until next week during hours when most folks here will be at work or school. But as it concerns the trees, I do have an ornamental red maple whose bark is covered in a green fungus. I can't even touch the trunk on that one. I'm going to take stock of the trees in the woods and see which ones of those have a readily apparent fungus on them. I'm going to see about getting a soil analysis of samples from my garden and from the woods. I am not sure but I believe it is possible to get an analysis for free or low cost through the University of Maryland. We also have an agricultural research facility in Beltsville MD, I think is related to the University of Maryland. I'll go check their sites and see what services I can get within my financial means.

My neighbor once told me the garden center could possibly answer questions for me.

As for the paranormal aspect to all this. Well Abrahim gave me some promising leads to read up on. As did pretty much all of you. My biggest hurdle is learning how to control my ego? imagination? So if I want to see if I can pick anything up, I actually pick something up and not get enamored of the idea I have some new special ability and go pulling "vibes" outta my a$$ if you all know what I mean. Living with a skeptic as I do, I strive to stay grounded even as I peruse the wonders of the universe.

As for actually hugging the trees, I'm a little worried about getting fungus spores on me. I've been very careful working with the plants all along, trying not to contaminate healthy plants with clippings from ailing ones and taking other precautions outlined in my gardening book's section on pruning fungused plants.

reply to post by Frater210
Thank you kindly, Frater 210! I sometimes have a tough time explaining myself, especially when putting it to paper or as in this case, a computer screen. This thread deals with a subject that unfortunately most folk think is just plain wacko! For someone to come forward and state anything about the communication between humans and trees or any other plant, takes guts and plenty of it! If humans can communicate with the animal life on Earth, then why not the plant life also? I don't care what anyone says about me, life is life. If we were to ignore any of our dogs or cats, and just feed them without any form of interaction, they will never be as healthy and content as are dogs and cats that get lots of attention from the people they live with. I know for a fact that if someone ignores their dog for any length of time, the dog will soon start ignoring the person. Show a pet lots of love, and that animal will return that love ten fold. If a plant is nursed and looked after properly, it will always look beautiful and remain healthy, which is what we hope to attain. Most folk do talk to their plants as they water them or trim away the dead stuff, but most of these same folk won't admit to that. If when you get up in morning the birds are loudly voicing their presence, close your eyes for a little while and just listen. You will be amazed!

reply to post by getreadyalready
Ha ha this is why I came to ATS,I thought I was the only one that had a passion for trees,why wouldn't they have emotions?they are alive....right?I photograph unusual trees as a hobby but have not hugged one lately,maybe everyone on this thread should hug one and report back their findings!

reply to post by SheeplFlavoredAgain


I don't think that is bizarre at all. My Grandfather was a very wise man, and he talked to trees, and taught me to do the same. This goes way back in time, to the time of the Druids, who often spoke to tress. This is where the saying, "knock on wood" came from. The trees provide humanity with all of the oxygen we need, but TPTB are cutting down the trees at an alarming rate. Humanity needs to respect the Earth, instead of domination, which has been practiced for many years now.

I don't have much time to read all the replies to this thread until later today but I'm diggin' it so far.

Years ago I stumbled upon the research conducted by Jeremy Narby in S. America. I think anyone interested in this topic would benefit from reviewing his work. He suggests that all life forms are in constant communication w/each other via bio-photon activity and such... no really!

The South American shamans tell him the plants think we are insane...















~Namaste

I only got to embedded video two, since my kid is now home and in full interrupt mommy mode. but thanks for posting that series.

I did go out briefly to walk the dog. My dog is large and hyper, not an ideal companion to take along for a serene contemplation of nature. I'm mainly occupied at these times at tracking where the poo lands so I can scoop later during my doggy waste disposal rounds. But I couldn't resist touching the trunk of a fairly healthy tree we passed and then the sick tree on the way back to the house.

The dog was pulling and whining the entire time, as is her habit. But I got some inconclusive results. I felt a sort of energy through both trees. The healthy looking tree seemed slower. This time with the sick tree I got nothing at first then I took a breath and did what I could to shed my annoyance at the dog. Then I felt the same sort of energy as with the healthy tree but faster.

Now what do I mean by energy? It was kind of the feedback you get touching any living thing. Like when my cat died, she felt like any other inanimate thing like a pillow or bundle of cloth. In fact she felt even more devoid of energy than an ordinary inanimate object. You know the life is gone. Touch a person or a tree, you feel the life. Oh crud, how do I articulate this? I don't mean just feeling warmth or motion from respiration. I mean some of what's going on in a living thing actually feeds back into you at the contact. You add a little bit to your energy touching something living. Maybe it is just a psychological thing but I don't know. I held or stroked a lot of my pets as they got euthanized and I always knew when they were "gone" even as the vet confirmed it and the body was still warm and there was reflexive motion still taking place. So I think some kind of energy communication or transfer goes on when living things touch each other. How that all translates into communicating with trees is I guess what I am trying to piece together here with you kind people.

I guess my next experiment will be to see if I get any feeling at all from picking up a branch off the ground. I didn't get any emotional kind of impression this time and I may never again get one. My mind may be messed up now from overanalyzing the issue and I'm too self conscious to make the necessary connection, assuming I ever made one in the first place.

Well I certainly think it would be interesting if others here go ahead and touch or hug a tree and report back your impressions, if any. I know that may mean opening oneself up to ridicule. Lol, but I paved the way and the response has been overall very positive. Skeptics are more than welcome and needed, just be polite and abide by the t&c rules of this site.

A little update. My husband popped out to do a couple of chores outside so I followed him out. I figured why not try one more experiment. I touched 4 trees, including the "upset tree". One of the trees had sustained serious storm damage with a good chunk of its secondary trunk sheared off after the last big ice and wind storm. Oddly enough, that tree only seemed slightly "agitated", and even then only barely. Two other trees in decent shape gave off pretty much no "feedback". But the original tree I wrote about, this time I got that "frantic" feeling. My chest and stomach tighten up if I leave my hand on that tree too long. It's the only one of the four clearly suffering and dying of decay. I would guess that's the difference. I'm reasonably sure I didn't imagine the impressions I'm getting. I've got nothing at stake in this. I'm not trying to prove I've got super secret squirrel powers or anything. I'm just trying to understand what happened and now, help that poor tree out of its misery. My hubby saw me touching the trees but figures I was just leaning and taking in the views.

I wish I could have stayed out longer but man, it's surprisingly cold and I do have a cold of my own starting.

And that's that. Not much else to say.

edit to add another update. I finally told my husband what I was up to and made HIM go back outside and do the same thing. He said all he felt was....bark. he doesn't think I'm nuts, though. . He was disappointed he didn't get any "impressions" because he loves trees. He says he'll try again some other time. I'm glad he didn't make too much fun of me. I only spoke up because appearance wise it doesn't look like it needs to be cut down right away, so if I didn't speak out, my husband may very well postpone doing anything because let's face it, there is always something else demanding time and money. So it could very well stand there continuing to lose bits of itself at a time, feeling those horrible vibes or whatever it is I'm getting from it.

He agreed something should be done about that sick tree as soon as we can fit it into the budget to have a pro take it down safely. Hopefully soon. Even a tree shouldn't have to suffer. Whatever is ailing it is distressing it, apparently. This is not a peaceful time for it. I wonder if this experience is for it akin to the suffering of cancer for an animal/us.

Wow, all the many saplings I took down on my last property, I never got any feeling from them or over them. Then again i was wearing thick work gloves most of the time I was clearing them out. This blows my mind. I
think I'll avoid touching trees from now on if I can. There really are things I think I don't really want to know after all. Tree distress is one of them.

Okay how is this for freaky coincidence? A landscaper who has done heavy work for us in the past just left a message on our phone saying he'd been in the area doing other work for our neighbors and saw it looked like we could use some "tree work" and left us a quote for one of the storm broken (but still viable) trees on our property to give us an idea of the starting figure. It's an affordable amount for us so my husband is going to call back about the "distressed" tree.

Is that sort of thing called a synchronicity?

I mean, the timing of it just blew me away because it's kind of hard to get my hubby to not procrastinate about home stuff, he's always pulled in so many directions by his job and his relatives. Having a call relating to trees complete with the kind of price info we need is just the kind of catalyst to action I...and the poor tree needed.

Again my thanks to everyone who participated in this thread. I know I'll feel all kinds of er. "sheepish" but I'm going to go out at some point, touch that tree one last time and try to send it the message that I heard, I understood, and I honor its life. And then I'll go have myself admitted to the loony bin (joke).

And thus passes another chapter in my very eccentric life.

Oh, yes, don't worry, I'll still get a soil analysis so I can properly fertilize and care for the trees and shrubs I'll have left.

If you see that
the wood peckers are feeding on insects in the tree
its done

As to contact with the world around us...
we have 50 per cent the same DNA as a Banana
im sure there is some resonance between us and the plant world

Cleve Baxter the CIA's senior polygraph tech, proved that by hooking a lie detector up to his plants and comparing the readings to his states of mind..
they correlated..
"the Secret Life of Plants"

Freakin amazing if you ask me..
and it explains what some of us experience at least

PS: the Druids used to hug trees for the medical and spiritual shelter...

Originally posted by SheeplFlavoredAgain

Is that sort of thing called a synchronicity?

That's what I'd call it in spiritual terms or perhaps you were "broadcasting" your tumult and a like minded being received it. And as the adage goes, there are no coincidences. I've had a few religious friends comment, "Coincidences are GOD's way of remaining anonymous."

Either way, it has been an enjoyable thread and inspired my appreciation of all living things. Thank you and good luck.

reply to post by kinda kurious

Wow, you've given me a new way to look at it all. Thank you,

Danbones, no woodpeckers have been on this tree as far as I know. But I've heard them go at a few others in the woods and have seen the holes. What makes this tree really stand out from all the rest of them is the fact that even its thicker branches are actually drooping. They always have, since I've been here. That aspect is nothing new to me. I don't think I've ever seen a tree of this sturdy type droop before. I mean it's not a weeping willow slender kind of tree. None of the other trees are droopy like that, at least not to the extent this one is. It has always managed to put out buds and leaves each spring. That's why it's kind of lulled my husband into passivity. He would never have left up a tree that he thought was really badly off enough to be a threat of falling over on either people or onto the house itself. I would always question one clearly rotted out dead part of it but he'd point to the rest of it and say that it looked fit enough to him.

At some point AFTER it's been "laid to rest" I'll try and post a picture of it as it looks now. I'll wait until after it's gone just so that I incur less risk of giving away my privacy and identity on the off chance one of the neighbors or local passersby (who have the unwelcome habit of cutting through my yard and startling me when I'm weeding the garden) peruses ATS.

I want to thank everyone again for the respect and consideration I've been shown in this topic. I was expecting a far less open reception than I in fact received. I'm truly touched by your collective kindness. May it all come back to you in many blessings.