Screen time runs high? Connect to the Wood Wide Web!

Dec 15 / Lisanne van Swigchem

Daily screen time runs high? Here’s a refreshing alternative: the Wood Wide Web. When you lean against a tree, you automatically connect with this extensive network. This brings you back into balance, and the grounding effect is healthy. Big Tech easily influences our minds. Therefore, it is wise to disconnect regularly and stay in touch with nature. 


The largest social network

The largest social network on earth is the Wood Wide Web. And strangely enough, most of us are not aware of it at all. This is so because this network resides in the ground. Under our feet, when we roam in the forest.



Trees appear to be solitary beings, but they are very sociable. When you abide in a forest, you’re surrounded by a lively community of trees who are communicating with each other. There exists, namely, an extensive network of fungi that grows around and inside the tree roots. Such a network connects multiple trees with each other and may cover many miles.

A lot of hustle and bustle

Through this network, trees can warn each other against approaching danger, like when there are harmful insects. Or giraffes eating their leaves. This way, the other trees are able to produce defensive substances in advance. And trees share food. But not all trees are friendly toward the others. Some kinds of trees attack other species around them.

This video shows the hustle and bustle of the wood wide web. Beneath the serene tranquility that we experience in a wood, there’s a lot of activity.
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A supporting network

Peter Wohlleben is a conscious forester in the German Eifel and author of The Hidden Life of Trees. In his opinion, trees have intelligence and memory. Even a hundred-year-old stump of a logged tree is still alive. It has been kept alive by the other trees via the Wood Wide Web. According to him, such a tree stump may hold much knowledge and wisdom, which is valuable for the whole wood.

The older trees, known as mother-trees, take care of nearby “kids” by providing them with nutrients. And some trees befriend each other closely. Their roots are intertwined completely. And they grow their crowns a bit apart to allow each other sufficient light.

Trees are each as strong as their supporting network of surrounding trees. No tree is an isolated individual.

Trees I like to visit regularly (chestnut and willow)

The Welsh phrase "Dod yn ôl at fy nghoed" meaning "returning to a balanced state of mind" literally means "to return to my trees". 

How to connect to the Wood Wide Web

Go to a place where there are trees, or where there’s a single tree; a wood, a park, a garden, a lane, a spot in nature. Look for a tree that attracts you.

Walk up to this tree and greet him.

Stand with your back against the trunk. Or sit down and lean back against the trunk.

Feel the trunk against your back. Be aware of the tree.

And be aware of the energy field around the tree, whether you can initially sense it or not.

This tree has roots going deep into the ground, into the earth. The magnitude of the root system may be two to four times the size of the crown. The Wood Wide Web is connected to these tree roots. This network spreads miles around and links this tree to other trees.

Focus your attention a bit more on your body. Feel your body. Let your muscles relax. You may release tension or emotions into the earth via the roots. Let go of your thoughts. 

Next, focus your attention on the tree. Feel the tree. And…. maybe the tree feels you too.

This tree and it's network may have something to give to you. A feeling or energy. Something that may help you. Tune into the tree and its network. And sense what’s there for you.

This may not succeed at once, perhaps you’ll need some time to practice.

Stay with this tree until it’s enough for you.

Thank the tree and say goodbye.


Which tree?

Some trees are a good match for you, and others not so much. Also, you may resonate with some species.

  • Willow - flexibility, femininity, intuition
  • Birch - fresh starts, new beginnings
  • Ash -  everything is connected; things go on
  • Hawthorn - supporting the heart
  • Oak - courage, strength, endurance

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                                 MaMuse - Lean back into the tree


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