banyan tree – Holistic Yoga & Spiritual Guidance

I still have such a love for Hawaii; I lived there for over nine years. I’m just heartbroken over the fires that have destroyed Lahaina on Maui: a town full of such beauty and history. Dozens of people have died, hundreds of structures have been destroyed, thousands of people evacuated. I can’t imagine what it must have been like to be there. Some dramatic online videos are available showing people slowly driving through roads with fire all around them.

And since I have always loved trees (they were my first connection to Spirit as a child), I must say I’m so sad over the scorching of Lahaina’s famous banyan tree brought from India (the birthplace of Yoga) in 1873. People in Lahaina are unsure whether it will survive. Earlier this year, the town had a 150-year “birthday party” for the tree. The tree had grown to the size of an entire city block! If you’ve never seen a banyan tree, it puts down roots from its branches which can become additional trunks of the same tree. I remember walking around underneath this fascinating tree in the 1990s. I’d never seen anything like it – so full of beauty and Spirit. I imagine many people over the years experienced times of profound meditation under this sacred tree.

My heart and my prayers are with the people of Maui during this most challenging time.