Procrastination as a Symptom, & Overwhelm as a Cause: Tree Breathing Exercise

In this exercise we are understanding procrastination as a freeze response in the body. And this freeze response can be due to an overwhelmed system. Try this Tree Breathing exercise with the intention of releasing some of that energy that is related to the feeling of overwhelm.

Important Note: always seek guidance and help from a trained therapist or counsellor when experiencing difficult symptoms, energy work is just one part of the process that could improve how you feel while addressing underlying issues with trained professionals, including medical doctors.

There are many reasons someone could be experiencing ‘procrastination’ - or freeze response - and there are many remedies available, and promises made for results, do this, take this …

In the midst of a world which offers so much and gives so many explanations, I find this adds to that feeling of overwhelm. And if you find yourself in this whirlwind - which actually may evidence itself as the opposite, all the body can do in this moment is shut down, stop talking, stop thinking - the best thing to do can be to stop and breathe, to come back to yourself.

In a moment of feeling overwhelmed, and if you have the capacity, you can first focus on your breath, normal breathing. Focussing on the usual mechanical breathing process that we all do without thinking, bring the mind to follow air coming in as you inhale, and flowing out as you exhale. Closing the eyes and slowing the breath, becoming conscious of it.

If in that moment you have managed to enter a state where you can focus, then it could help further to practice this Tree Breathing and visualisation exercise.

This exercise seeks to create a moment in time when you can imagine releasing some of those causes of overwhelm - freeze reponse - without needing to question or identify them. Just asking your self to let them go. Setting the intention to release anything that is overwhelming your system in that moment.

Even if it’s for one minute in the day, and even if it can help to release even 1% of that feeling of overwhelm, then that is enough.

Step 1:-

Take a comfortable seat, and gently close your eyes.

Focus on the breath, inhaling, exhaling.

Then bring into your mind a tree, it could be any tree at all, the memory of a real tree, or it could be completely from imagination. It could be a tree you have seen in real life that really impressed you, or it could be one that you used to play near in the garden when you were a child.

Step 2:-

Once you have that image of a tree in your mind, you can now imagine that you are sitting opposite it, in your mind you could even be standing.

And now you can start to imagine breathing in energy, from that tree - effectively we are breathing in oxygen from trees all the time, they are recycling our breath taking in what we breathe out and transforming it back into something we can breathe in again. This exercise is no different, except we are breathing in energy from the tree, using our mind, our intention.

Then as you exhale, breathe out, you can release any energy you no longer need - in this case we intend to release anything that is adding to or causing our state of ‘overwhelm’, or ‘freeze’. Intend as you breathe out to release some of that energy that you no longer need, to let go, to create more space in your body and mind to allow movement and free thinking again.

Breathe in:- imagine breathing in energy from a tree, the image in your mind.

Breathe out:- release your energy down to the ground, the earth beneath you, imagine this energy feeding into the roots of the tree that are underneath you.

Repeat the cycle of inhaling and exhaling until it feels complete for now, it could be one minute or three, or longer if you choose.

Optional alternative practice:-

If you can, then it would be excellent to try sitting in front of an actual tree in nature, the instructions are the same. Simply notice if you feel anything different when you sit on the ground, earth or grass, with the real roots of a tree beneath you and branches reaching over your head.