Talk to the Trees Book Review

Hello! Sarah from Free Your English here.

Today, I am going to review a fantastic book called “Talk to the Trees: Wake up to Wisdom, Wonder and Calm” by Rachel Strivelli.

Let me read the blurb to you: “A natural antidote to the stresses of modern life In Talk to the Trees you will tap into the wisdom and beauty of your silent, supportive friends – the trees. When the world feels too loud or too sharp, the trees are there to lend you their stable presence, their wise knowings and a taste of the wonder and connection they feel. Psychic and deep nature-listener, Rachel Strivelli, will guide you through the relaxing process of seeing through the eyes of trees, so you can carry that calm with you in your daily life.”

A quick disclaimer before I talk a little bit more about the book: While “Talk to the Trees” offers a unique and peaceful approach to self-care and cultivating calm that really speaks to me, it is important to note that your religious or cultural beliefs may not align with the concepts presented in the book around communicating with trees or creating a practice of appreciating nature. We all have different beliefs and values and so I recognize that everyone has different methods of finding calm and peace, and “Talk to the Trees” may not be the right fit for everyone. That is okay, and I would just encourage you to celebrate and practice the things that help you cultivate calm that are aligned with your beliefs and values.

Okay, that being said, another thing I’d like to mention is that this is not a book you read and then put away. I would recommend that if you are reading a book in English you read it twice.

The first time, read the book while listening to the audio at the same time to help your pronunciation and just focus on the general meaning being conveyed. Then you could read it again to study the vocabulary further.

In the case of this book, however, it’s not a book you finish and forget about. It’s for me, more of a workbook that you return again and again to. It contains lots of active practices that you can keep coming back to time and time again to help you generate more mindfulness within your life.

In the rest of the video, I am going to talk about what the book is about, my reaction to it and I’ll read a short extract and give you a couple of speaking prompts.

“Talk to the Trees: Wake up to Wisdom, Wonder and Calm” by Rachel Strivelli explores the benefits of connecting with nature and offers guidance on how to do so through tree communication and other techniques. If you’ve ever felt peace around a family pet – perhaps your cat or your dog, or if you’ve ever sat under a tree and felt grounded and at ease then you know what I am talking about.

For me, Rachel’s book is a really valuable reminder of how important it is to try to balance all of our responsibilities within the busy modern world with how essential it is to remember that we are part of nature and part of the natural world. Research has shown that spending time in nature can have numerous positive effects on our mental and physical health, including reducing stress, improving mood, and boosting creativity. “Talk to the Trees” explores these benefits in a really unique way by giving a voice to the trees that offers guidance on how to connect with nature through techniques such as mindfulness and meditation.

As it says in the preface: “The trees have messages of support, grounding, and calm peace to share with you. The hope of this work is to connect you to calm, peace, resilience and strength in chaotic and overwhelming times.”

In chapter 12, which talks about the importance of rest it is stated that “In all the times, in all the lands, and in all the beings, there has never been another time that held the presence and potency that this time contains.” That line really spoke to me. Potency means the power of something to influence or make an impression. For me, it does feel like we are living in potent times and that we are being influenced, persuaded, pushed and pulled all the time by many different values and belief – not to mention events. I’m sure we all feel that in different ways. We live in a time of great change and great potential but also great unease.

It goes on to say that by connecting more with nature, “… you will begin to find and prioritise the methods, actions and beliefs that allow you to lay your head down and rest and restore, that help you to stay grounded and weathering the human electrical storms that surround you now.” I don’t know about you but more and more each year I feel like I am getting less and less real rest. There’s always something to do or think or respond to. I need books like this to help counter that – precisely because I learn and remember how important it is to connect to nature and to allow myself to rest… and then I forget… and then I remember again… and then I get busy and forget. It’s a continual process. I don’t have it figured out but books like this help me remember and reset and try again.

So if you are looking for a truly unique and interesting book that is well written, short and perfect for both helping you improve your English while also improving your wellbeing then I really recommend “Talk to the Trees” as an excellent read and more than that an excellent guide to practical exercises that you can do daily… or as often as you can… to help you find, as the title suggests, wisdom, wonder and calm.

As promised, I want to end by offering a few speaking prompts that you could use to record yourself speaking either on your own or with a speaking partner: What is your favourite way to connect with nature? Have you ever experienced a sense of calm or wonder while spending time in nature?

That’s it for this book review video of “Talk to the Trees: Wake up to Wisdom, Wonder and Calm” by Rachel Strivelli. I’ve included a link to Rachel’s book in the video description below. When I brought the book, I purchased both the physical copy and the kindle version. Why? Well I like to listen to books the first time I get into them. If you buy the kindle version, you can ask Siri to read it aloud to you. I then went and read the physical copy after as I find it useful to leaf through the book and put markers in where the exercises are that I want to return to. We call that dog-earing the book. Isn’t that a funny phrase! For English learners, I always recommend that you find a way to listen to the audio version at the same time as reading yourself as that helps your pronunciation so much. Rachel is also going to be my first ever guest on The Free Your English Podcast in a few days. I will put a link to that interview in the description as well once it is available. If you read the book, please do come back to this video and let me know which part of the book most spoke to you in the comments. Thank you for watching, and I’ll see you next time!