Earth Day: A Thousand Ways to Kneel and Kiss the Earth
- David Motzenbecker
- 3 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Today, we mark Earth Day—as a sacred invitation. It can be an opportunity to remember what we have always known but often forget: that we belong to the earth, not simply on it.
Earth Day and I are the same age this year. We both came into being in 1970. So we've both had a bit more than half a century to embed ourselves in our surroundings, our communities... It has certainly taken that long for me to begin to understand what a powerful entity this planet truly is, and how losing the life-force existing, only at this address in the universe, would be catastrophic.
As I guide people into the forest, I often speak of relationships—how each tree, each breath of wind, each birdsong is not separate from us, but part of the quiet web that holds us together. Forest bathing is not about learning something new, but about remembering what our bones already know: presence, reverence, reciprocity.
Rumi once wrote,
“Let the beauty you love be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth.”
To me, this is the very heart of Shinrin-yoku. Each walk, each slow step among the trees, is a kind of reverent kiss for the planet that allows us a place to call home. A bowed head to a patch of moss. A prayer spoken in silence beside the trunk of an old oak. The hand trailing over bark with the care one offers to one they love.
There is no single way to honor this planet. Some will pick up litter from a trail, others will plant trees or advocate for policy. But I believe there are softer ways, too—quieter actions, but no less powerful. To pause mid-step and really feel the texture of soil underfoot. To witness the soft unfurling leaves of a fern. To breathe deeply and thank the forest for the gift of clean air.
On Earth Day, I invite you to consider your own way of kneeling. Not out of guilt or urgency, but out of gratitude. Let the beauty you cherish—be it a stand of birch, the shimmer of lake water, the flicker of a fire—guide you toward action that feels true to you.
In every Motz Studios forest bathing experience, we are practicing this gratitude and attention. We are building relationships with the more-than-human world. And in doing so, we are healing—not only ourselves, but the places we walk through, and the stories we carry.
This Earth Day, may we each remember: the earth is not asking for our perfection. She is asking for our presence. Find your own way to kneel. Find your own way to kiss the earth. And let the beauty you love be what you do.