Yes, I know what you think of me. You never shut up, never shut up, never shut up, never shut up, never shut up, never shut up, never shut up, never shut up, never shut up, never shut up, never shut up. I'm almost sure that they are grieving with me. Welcome to Never Shut Up.
I'm your host, Rose Krast. Today is April 24th, 2026, and we are speaking with trees today. Ah, now I'm almost sure they're grieving with me, going into nature, connecting with the mother tree to connect with the mother of us all. This reminds me of the interview I heard the other day with the author of Twilight Forest, which is an elegy to the Ponderosa Pines.
And in the interview, he talked about living in northern Arizona and going into the trees like twice a week and climbing a Ponderosa Pine that he said was lucky enough to have a low branch. And he would climb up there and he would just cry and grieve his father and how the Ponderosa Pines had helped him to grieve his father had brought him present. So speaking with trees is about that energy where we connect with Mother Earth to hear the wisdom of the trees and the trees bring us present. The trees are here right now.
They are watching. They are breathing us as we breathe them. So, of course, there's an invitation here to go find a tree and spend some time with a tree. It doesn't matter if it's in a park or your yard or if you have to drive a little ways to get there, but connect with a tree.
Find a tree and talk to it. What do you say to it? It doesn't matter what you say. You can whisper your hopes and dreams into the bark.
You can whisper the things that you want to let go of. If you can hold the tree, it doesn't matter. Be with that tree. At the yoga studio in Albany that I teach at, in the mirror, there's the tree branches formed, the Aum symbol.
So as I'm teaching, I can see trees speaking about the connection of life to me as I am teaching my yoga class through the image of the Aum that they have created. It's a really beautiful gift. So how else can we speak with trees? Well, we can embody the tree with the pose of Rikshasana, which means tree pose.
So we're going to need to come to standing on the earth, on our mats. We can be inside. We can be outside. We can be in our kitchens.
Take a moment here to ground down through the centers of your heels. Pressing, exhaling, pushing through the center of the heels. Soften your toes. Your big toe mound is there to help kind of ground and connect, but the real strength and power comes through that connection through your heels.
As you exhale and press down, feel the rebound of energy as it lifts and lengthens your spine. Begin to shift your weight into one foot without collapsing into the hip. So you're still lengthening and lifting. Soften the other foot until you bring a little bit of weight onto the ball of the foot to rotate the knee open.
And start with your heel just above your ankle, the ball of the foot touching. I call this banyan tree. Inhale. And then with the exhale, start to test your balance by lifting the toes up off the floor.
Anytime you need to, you can place your toes down. Exhaling, lifting the toes up. Anytime you need to, put the toes down. If you have your balance, take the sole of your foot up and press it on the inside of the calf.
Do not have any part of your foot anywhere on your knee. Inhale. And then on your exhale, press your foot and your leg together. Feel how that helps you engage and lift through your abdominal muscles.
Inhale. Soften. Exhale. Press.
Lengthen. And then bring your arms into any tree branch representation you would like. Breathe here. Simple breaths in and out.
And when you're ready, slowly release your foot to the earth. Resist the urge to adjust anything. And instead, like a tree, be present to the sensations in your ankle, the soles of both feet, the thighs, the hips. And then when you're ready, we go to the other side.
Not because we need to, but because we choose to. And with that, I thank you for joining me and Nori for a little mental yoga today. Remember, 5 minutes a day is so much better than 60 minutes once a week. See you tomorrow.
Bye. Speaking with trees, speaking of my grief, speaking with trees, I'm almost sure that they are grieving with me. When you left, emptiness, since you've left. I've been hiding garages under a treehouse.
Don't be surprised. I cannot let you go. You will be safe here. Safe in the treehouse.
It will protect you of this. I am sure. How am I hoping, closing, speaking with trees, I'm almost sure that they're igniting memories for me. I'm almost sure that they're igniting memories for me.
When you left, emptiness, since you've left. I've been hiding garages under a treehouse. Don't be surprised. I cannot let you go.
You will be safe here. Safe in the treehouse. It will protect you of this. I am sure.
You only know when you know this. You only know when you know this. You only know when you know this. How do you cope with your losses?
Feel their arms around you. Feel their arms around me. Speaking of kings. Speaking of kings.
Speaking of kings. With trees. Never Shut Up is a production of the Sideway Society. For more information and links to things mentioned on the show, please visit us online at songsvittorianus.com.
Yes, I know what you think of me. You never shut up. You never shut up. Thanks.