While there are many sources of inspiration behind the symbology of our business logo and the name Arbor Vitae, the heart of meaning lies in a deeper understanding of the earth and all of nature. Before we go into the philology of the name, let’s look into our underlying approach to health and healing here at Arbor Vitae Wellness.

Any conversation about health and disease is fundamentally a conversation about pattern, communication, and relationship. The one constant in life is change, and when a system does not adapt and bend to that flow disease will emerge. At the extreme, extinction becomes a real possibility. Just as water takes a certain form in its movement through a healthy watershed, when the ecology of that watershed is altered, the pattern of that form (flow) is also altered. Subsequently, the movement of water through a broken ecosystem can have dire consequences. We must realize that when a single stone is dislodged by the foot of a passing animal in any given place, the entire ecosystem that track is found within changes. While these small changes are often dismissed as trivial and inconsequential, in quantity and over time the changes can be huge.

A prime example is how the reintroduction of wolves to Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming literally altered the course of the rivers there due to the domino effect of wolf predation on overpopulated elk herds. By thinning the herd, plants and shrubs grew more readily along the riverbanks, stabilizing them and preventing erosion. More diverse wildlife was able to feed and find shelter there, and stream flow and turbidity changed in a positive way, affecting all fish and invertebrate activity in the water. The ecosystem began to regain balance.

That was a natural ecological example. When I talk of ecosystems, I am also referring to our internal, individual and interpersonal ecosystems, because we are a part of nature. Our nature includes our physiology and psychology, as well as our ‘social ecology,’ our social patterns through time and space. When we can begin to look at our lives in this way, we realize how much influence events and experiences from years ago have on us in the present moment. We also realize how impactful our choices are now, regardless of whether they are positive, negative, or neutral choices. Our choices change the direction of flow, can shift the direction our lives are moving in. Too often we seem to dismiss our own experiences or, conversely, refuse to challenge our own perspectives. Healing includes the return to a state of interactive communication throughout an entire system. To more clearly understand the streams of communication within oneself and how we communicate with others we need to become trackers again and open and use all of our senses. This includes the ability to listen, to feel, to emote, to respond.

Healing requires a fundamental shift in how we approach life. It takes courage to go beyond the surface meaning and sound-bites and dig in to the heart of things. Ultimately you are the only person who can change your life. How we approach and interact with our environment is a choice. Each choice we make in life is a track on our personal tree of life, a record of all the paths taken and not taken, all the decisions made consciously and unconsciously. Our life’s journey becomes a trail of so many choices, and this trail of choice is what we leave to all future generations. What will your legacy to be?

We cannot be healthy and ‘well’ without healthy ecosystems, a healthy earth. We all need clean water and air and healthy soil. Unfortunately every ecosystem is drastically out of balance in our world today. But our actions have influence, not only for us, but for future generations. And not just humans, but all of life. When we make a choice, all our subsequent interactions are then influenced by those choices and we can have a positive, negative, or neutral influence on things. As we heal we diminish our reactions and judgements, and our choices, actions, and communications then have more clarity and come from a place of meaningful contact. We must stop the cycles of ignorance and reach toward the core of who we are. When we choose to be good stewards of our internal environments, how we relate to the external will follow suit. We must look beyond ourselves and begin to include all of life on this planet when we talk about health and wellness.

Ready to touch what is real?

Arbor Vitae Wellness is a place of healing where people find deeper connection to life and develop stronger resiliency in the face of change. We address conditions such as chronic stress, anxiety/depression, and chronic disease by providing massage therapies and integrative healing services.

We recognize that our health and wellness is interdependent with the health of every ecosystem, internal and external. Arbor Vitae Wellness encourages you to live an empowered life rooted in real peace, deep love,
meaningful purpose, and boundless joy.

SOME INSPIRATIONS

Thuja Occidentalis

Northern White Cedar, Thuja occidentalis, is a tree native to the northeastern region of North America. It is one of the oldest growing trees in North America, the oldest being recorded at 1653 yrs old on the Niagra Escarpment in Ontario, Canada.

This tree has been revered for ages for its medicinal and utilitarian properties, as well as its spirit. Its crushed bark provides useful fire tinder, and whole sections of bark can be used for shingling roofs. The graceful and armatic fronds contain many medicinal applications, and can also be used as an insect repellant. Its wood can be used to make fire-by-friction kits, posts, splints, and more. The roots can be used to make crude baskets, and the boughs used for shelter.

European explorers traveling near Quebéc in the 16th century began to develop scurvy, an ailment deriving from a deficiency of vitamin C. After receiving a tea of the frond-like leaves given to them by the indigenous people of the land (most likely the Ojibwe) their deficiency was cured and they named the plant/tree arbor vitae, Latin for ‘tree of life,’ since it was a tree that helped bring them back to life while at sea. The genus was subsequently imported to Europe and has since become a popular cultivar in landscaped gardens both in Europe and North America. It is indigenous to North America.

Many birds and animals eat the seeds and cones, including the Ruffed Grouse, Pine Siskin, Common Redpoll, Slate-Colored Junco, and Tree Sparrow, as well as the Red Squirrel.

White-tailed deer will seek shelter beneath groves of northern white cedar from the heavy snows of winter, and they also find nourishment eating the fronds and young shoots. Pileated woodpeckers will excavate holes in the trunks of older trees as they search search of carpenter ants. In time, the old woodpecker holes become home for many types of wildlife, including birds and flying squirrels.

The dense foliage also provides good nesting habitat for many migratory songbirds such as the Cape May Warbler, Blackburnian Warbler, and Golden-Crowned Kinglet. The Ovenbird also constructs its nests on the ground within stands of Northern White Cedar.

Northern white cedar, *Thuja occidentalis*.

Cerebellum

The arbor vitae is the pattern white matter makes in a cross (saggital) section of the cerebellum. The cerebellum is a part of the brain that processes sensory and motor information, responsible for such things as ‘muscle memory’, that is, learning/correcting the needed movement responses to more accurately adapt to the environment/intention.

Sacred Geometry

The designation ‘sacred’ here refers to geometry found in nature. It is from a study of these principles that many internal philosophies find common ground. The ‘Tree of Life’ is a map (of sorts) of archetypal realms of consciousness.

Phylogenetic Tree

The center of this image represents the last universal ancestor of all life on earth.

The different colors represent the three domains of life: pink represents eukaryota (animals, plants and fungi); blue represents bacteria; and green represents archea. The presence of Homo sapiens (humans) is second from the rightmost edge of the pink segment.

Mychorrizal Networks

The quality of our food depends on the health of our soils.

Soil is a living thing, rich with the decomposition of organic matter. Filaments of fungi one-cell thick branch endlessly throughout the (healthy) ground and interact with moisture, bacteria and the roots of trees and plants. Through this interaction there is a very real system of communication between myriad taxonomic kingdoms.

Laniakea and the Cosmic Web

Superclusters – regions of space that are densely packed with galaxies – are the largest described structures in the Universe. The known cosmos has now been mapped according to the flow of galaxies across space. Our home supercluster has been named Laniakea, which means ‘immeasurable heaven’ in Hawaiian.

A note on death

It is so odd how we have become a society that removes itself from the earth even in death. We pump our bodies with preservatives and lock them in anaerobic coffins made of plastic and steel and treated wood. It is almost like we refuse to let go because we identify our being-ness with the transitory state of the physical. So many mysteries. But the process of preservation sure has some very insightful applications!

Preservation of human body showing blood vessel networks.

Laniakea, our local galactic supercluster. Yellow section is ~500 million light years across. Lines show direction of galactic flow. http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/info/press-releases/Laniakea/

Silicon atoms imaged with STM. Light spots indicate individual atoms.

Tree_of_life_SVG.svg.png — Phylogenetic tree

Evergreen sprout showing the mychorrizal/fungal network (white) in the soil connecting to its rootlets.

Satellite image of the Lena river delta in northern Russia.

Cosmic web. Bright areas show higher densities of galaxy clusters forming filaments, with voids between. Line equals 31.25 megaparsecs.

Arbor Vitae Wellness is a place of healing. We help you make deeper contact with life through embodied connection in yourself. We address conditions such as chronic stress, muscle tension and chronic disease by providing massage therapies, integrative healing services and programs rooted in nature.

Our health and wellness is interdependent with the health of every ecosystem, internal and external.
Arbor Vitae Wellness encourages you to live an empowered life rooted in real peace,
deep love, boundless joy and meaningful purpose.

Find yourself here.

Arbor Vitae Wellness

Arbor Vitae Wellness LLC, 253 Main St., Suite #1, Yarmouth, ME 04096, USA

Arbor Vitae Wellness .November 1, 2021Arbor VItae Wellness LLC