Even the most ‘non touchy’ sort of folks on earth would perhaps pledge allegiance to the wonder entailing from that very warm embrace in mostly emotional understandings of what we fondly covet as a hug. Hugging indeed is one of the many physical ways through which humans build up connect with other humans and not just in the arousing nature of what physicality might pertain to. Other modes of the skin touching practice including cuddling and kissing and holding hands and caressing and fondling too tend to be as enamored expressions in giving and receiving love, again in both romantic and non romantic affluences of them. But hugging still feels somewhat more special, evoking a certain warmth of safety and calmness, holding one almost in a trance of what feels indeed like one of the ultimate blisses to live in.
So prominent is this power of hugging that humans do not just hug others of their kind but also extend the same warmth in belongingness and comfort to their pet animals and birds and even to inanimate objects most classic in such occurrences of a pillow most prominently or photos of their dear ones or even dolls or toys of stuffed such agents in squishiness as a very universal behavior.
One particular rendition in this regard that stands out though for reasons emotional still but in an essence also a bit more nuanced relates to the specific scouting of trees for the hugging purpose. Purpose we say for it is purpose indeed that leads us to harbour so much of a fancy for the hugs irrespective of the subject and object of its dwelling except of course when it is not the one desired out of. That makes for a different altogether matter of exploration and one beyond the purview of what we intend to emerge as a maverick character in whatever and whoever it might be with whom we further our hugging predispositions.
Returning to the premise of the trees it seems we quite love to cling to in being all overpowered by that intense feels of the emotions, this is a notion of the hug interpreted in such terms as being harbouring of a green conscience. Generally speaking though, tree huggers surprisingly do not enjoy really the favourable response that one would expect from such association that concerns by and large the all important ambits of the environment. For in all its ‘notoriety’, tree hugger is a reference somewhat unflattering rather in being alluding to such people vocal indeed in their support of environmental causes but often viewed as being a bit too showy about that passionate interest of theirs even when it might be genuinely rooted in the core ideas of environmentalism.
And yet, derogatory or not, that isn’t by any means the meaning that we choose to interpret here when we evoke mentions of tree hugging. The scope instead is one that relates most essentially to the hugging benefits of what is the conventional manner in some sort of emotional healing almost. Surprising it might be, albeit pleasantly, to come to discover that hugging trees tends to be a therapeutic extension in as much prominence as that of the ‘ordinary’ hug mechanism. But honestly, it should not be so much of a revelation to gape at for all things pertaining to the wondrous world of nature has long been known to be impeccable agents in leading humans to happiness and peace and contentment. And trees specifically yields even more a substantial reputation in this context, what with these life giving elements of nature being well established now as providing succour by affording a detour from the worldly worries of existence and woe.
Tree hugging thus is a form of therapy that can lay as much claim to bearing the benefits of hugging and in as much assertion of potency as well. And to add to it all, much like a human hug that works by offering the dual solace of hugging someone and being hugged back, it turns out that tree hugging can be as prominent a two way process in working as well! For trees do indeed hug us back, at least some of them, or if that sounds too far fetched an idea to ponder over in the exact reality of it, then consider the more conducive sounding proposition in trees being definitely able to recognise the human hug which points therefore to a more empathetic assertion of them being as likely to respond to it as well.
To begin with though, the far reaching effects of being a tree hugger is one that substantially elevates one’s mental state of existence. Much like any other commonly taken to exercise in hugging, the tree entailing too is one that leads to an increase in the levels of the oxytocin hormone in the body. And oxytocin being so popularly celebrated as being the love hormone that it is in all specifics of its role specially pertaining to the whole human existence by way of occurring as the key across a range of birthing experiences, the induced basis of its production to optimum levels in hugging is what makes this inclination in physicality so rewarding and relaxing a manifestation in essence.
Alongside the love drug at work are also a couple of the happiness hormones namely serotonin and dopamine that further contributes to this heightened assertion in hugging, whether trees or humans in as much exemplariness of its experience. But even outside such physiological basis of lending unto us the calm and solace and comfort and relaxation that one expects to avail out of the hug, tree hugging also comes across as a deeper experience in ‘vibing’.
That is to say, when one hugs a tree it isn’t just the awareness of having something to hold on to tight and snug and more than divine indeed in its life giving status. It also is the awareness that emerges as one of an energetic rendition, operating through and across the vibrations that necessarily characterise any sort of even wholly physical connections fostered anywhere along the extents of the living world.
When it comes to trees, the nature of their working emerges to be such that makes them fairly aware of the pressure waves that reach out to them from external sources as in such instances as exact as hugging it. That for sure is scientifically devised evidence galore of the perceptibility of our hugs around the trees even when it does not really substantiate whether these ideals of greenery harbour similar such reciprocative feelings for us as well. But considering the energy that they transmit in such dawning upon us of whatever it is that we desire in very loving, healing, embracing awareness of it, this is a love affair most certainly two sided.
The proposition might sound ridiculous enough to further on the back of the scientific elucidation we have attempted of this phenomenon but with everything cathartic of this sort that relies so much upon what one feels even over and above the glaringly apparent details through which they supposedly work out, one would be better off believing that trees do indeed radiate the inherent goodness of their nature to anyone embracing these essential sustainers of life itself.
Of course the fact of the matter would be more thumpingly asserted if we were to present the biological way of working of things. Because even in all such romantic, surreal almost summing up of the calms and the cares, what ultimately transpires is that the effect is one availed out of the release of a certain odorless gas by the tree upon sensing an attempt to establish a contact with it. And it is by breathing in this secretion that the tree hugger experiences for themselves the dawning of a calm that only nature is known to bestow from its coffers of many wonders.
Forego all sense of it and one would still experience the sensation to swear by in what they live through this mere effort in tree hugging. As one engaged in this peculiar seeming act in whatever it is that they want to avail out of its practice would know the peculiarities of its essence does not limit itself to being just a therapy in healing. It also is as much a way in affirming one’s own strength through acquiring of such values and virtues as patience and gratitude while also learning the many intricacies of power and strength and support that the tree identity have imbibed within itself. Tree hugging is meditation almost and it is in this particular exploration of its nature that this form of giving and receiving the hugs emerges as so therapeutic a technique in rejuvenated living.
And yet it isn’t the greater depths of the mind that trees attend to in all hugging behavior ‘enforced’ on them. The vibrational pattern that trees dwell along in that particular moment(s) of the human connection forged is potent enough to positively impact the bodily existence of our species as well. Whether it be conditions of poor attention and concentration or depression and stress or more physical assertions of an unfavourable health status experienced in such discomforts of headaches or low immunity, tree hugging is your regular therapy indeed. But it also is much more than that.
Even if one does not quite dismiss their apprehensions as to whether trees can actually relay so much of energy to us, they still will be acknowledging of the reality that hugging a tree might aid so much of our attempt in happy living simply by allowing us the privilege to breathe in its fresh air even for the shortest duration of time possible. A part of the larger spectrum of what forest bathing and such other establishing of emblematically and as essentially natural connections foster, tree hugging is once again another way of tapping into the potential that mother nature nurtures within her as being the ultimate panacea of all ills. It indeed is seeking recourse in nature that one can claim to have discovered for themselves the most effective and ‘natural’ way of existence- in health, in happiness and in harmony for what sums up the holistically wholesome life experience.
