10/05/2026
KHUSH RAHO WITH SANGEETA Stay Happy. Stay Healthy.
I Want to Be a Tree
When I was a child, there was a beautiful Amaltas tree just outside our gate. Every summer it would have a yellow canopy, shedding its flowers until the whole ground around it was strewn with gold. Come winter, it would shed most of its leaves and stand in bare, quiet branches.
In the trunk there was a hollow — an oval hole, just the kind you see in comic books where squirrels hide their nuts. I have a vivid, and now painful, memory of the young boys on our street stuffing firecrackers into that hollow every Diwali night, lighting the fuse, and letting the explosion tear through the tree again and again.
I relived that memory in a dream last night, probably reacting to news of thousands of trees being felled in our city. I found myself asking that tree for forgiveness. Because I know now what I did not know then.
Trees are, I think, one of the most sentient and evolved beings on our planet. Many of them have lived for thousands of years and found a way to live in balance — because what they actually do is remarkable. Through their roots they connect with other trees via underground fungal networks.
So while our image of a tree is that of a solitary being, they are in fact conscious members of an earth community. They have deep roots that go into the earth, drawing nutrients and water, connecting with her biofield energies. And at the same time the canopy reaches upward into sky, receiving the energy of the sun and the air. In perfect balance — drawing from the earth and the sky, growing in harmony with their environment and their neighbours. It grows in both directions at once, and that is precisely why it stands. The tree breaks down carbon dioxide to build itself, layer upon layer, and gives back oxygen — the very air we breathe.
Because it cannot flee, it has developed the most sophisticated survival mechanisms: releasing antimicrobial compounds to protect itself, while sharing food and information with its community through that underground web. When a great tree is dying, it pushes its remaining resources outward through the network, for the others. Its final act is one of generosity. It is a perfect being — one that works for itself and simultaneously for its community, in harmony. That is why I see it as a profound role model.
This week’s tip: Go and touch a tree — barefoot if you can. When you stand close, the tree releases compounds called phytoncides into the air around it. Research shows these strengthen our Natural Killer immune cells, the ones that protect us from illness and tumours, for up to seven days from a single exposure. And when your bare feet touch the earth, and your hand touches the bark, electrons from the ground flow into your body — measurably improving blood health by reducing clumping in your red blood cells. Five minutes. Barefoot. Hand on bark. Let the tree do the rest.
Small rituals. Profound healing. That is what Khush Raho is all about. Until next time — Khush Raho! Stay happy, stay healthy. 🌿 Sangeeta Bhalla is an Energy Healer, Instructor, Therapeutic Aromatherapist. Founder of 3000 BC Therapeutics & Anugnya Holistic Care
