Hi, my name is Oriini, I am a mother. So that's taking up a lot of my time at the moment. I find it really weird that people find it weird that we can connect with trees. And that they don't find it weird that we're dumping rubbish in the ocean. 

So I find this rerooting course is actually helping me to find a more natural balance with who I truly am. It's helped me also to become reconnected to some trees in my life that have already made big impacts. So I whakapapa to ngati kahungunu and ngati awa in the Bay of Plenty. 

On the way to Kawerau, there is a tree called the Wishing Tree. And this tree and the surrounding trees of that area really have a resonance of being ancestors or having a strong connection with the tangatawhenue of the land. And when you drive through this, these roads around those trees, it can get really quite treacherous with the weather. And every time I drive down there, I always feel so protected and so guided by their essence, or their tree essence, that I don't really worry and if I want to go slow, I trust that my guides with my ancestors are there with me because of those trees.  The trees actually go over the road, so you feel protected. 

Through this rerooting course, I've really discovered another layer of myself, and felt that through the  module of creating a sculpture, I was able to really connect more into that lesson of balance and trying to find true harmony.  I really do feel like that came from my connection to the trees that we have the honour of being around right now. 

So a tree that I'm currently rerooting with, at the moment, it's the one at our local dog park. Something that I do recognise when there are groups of trees is that you can work out which one's the grandfather tree, which one's the grandmother tree, mum or dad. And at our local dog park, there is a grandfather tree that I am feeling a really strong connection with.   I climbed it the other day and felt super childlike.  I felt like I was climbing over my grandfather as I did as a kid. And that connection is really helping me to find that more natural flow of being outside and being connected to trees. And now with my son, we're walking through the park and he's running to the grandfather tree we have, not like we're not close to his grandparents right now physically. So in a way he does have that sense to have how  magical tree connections can be. 

I really do feel like the connection that we can have with trees can really benefit our mental, emotional, physical wellbeing because we learn different lessons through that connection. So with me on the course with the creative module of creating a sculpture,  I was able to learn about balance and harmony just by that moment or that 10 minutes of connection. 

If we had that connection with a tree on a daily basis, that means that we will be blessed with that amount of inspiration to grow. And I think that will benefit society as a whole because it feels like we're very disconnected at the moment.