In this episode, Meilin Ehlke reflects on the forest in fall as a living example of how being fully ourselves helps others shine too, much like the red maple stands out beside the evergreen. She encourages you to embrace your true nature, take courageous steps toward your path, and nourish yourself with the beauty, medicine, and connectedness of the natural world.
Meilin presents oneness as a return to our natural state through attentive presence in nature, where listening with curiosity and honoring differences helps us feel more fully ourselves and connected to others. She uses the forest in fall—its colors, textures, and sounds—as an “orchestra” that invites reflection on transformation, courage, and the changing self. Barefoot walking and noticing the earth beneath us become practices for drawing up earth energy and meeting cosmic energy in the body, creating balance, vitality, and a little “oomph.” She also emphasizes that nature itself models connectivity and shared rhythm, as trees and plants move through subtle differences together while still belonging to one another. Ultimately, she urges people to show their true color, share their stories, and enrich others through their authentic presence, making life more beautiful for everyone.
(00:00:07) Fall Colors and the Orchestra of Oneness
(00:09:09) Barefoot Earth-Cosmos Energy Meets in Mid-Center
(00:15:56) Shared Rhythm of Trees, Water, and Belonging
(00:20:29) True Color Wisdom That Uplifts Others
Moving to oneness, Nourishing curiosity, Embracing differences, Becoming one.
00:00:37 - Meilin Ehlke
It puts me at awe, walking through the forest, enclosed or surrounded by these beautiful fall colors, this palette nature creates or shows us of this beautiful earth tree tones, greens, browns, yellows, oranges and reds. And it's underneath you, it's in front of you as far as you look, but also all around you. And these bright colors, or also those muted colors are juxtaposed to these beautiful stems standing erect if they have not fallen over because of their age or of the wind.
00:01:33 - Meilin Ehlke
But a certainty, an elegance, I don't know, there is a pose to it, I should say, that makes me feel great, gives me a little oomph. It livens up every cell, smelling the wetness and the dryness at the same time, right? You have the coolness you're walking on, but still there is this bristling. I don't know if this is the right word, but the sound you make when you walk on those fallen already little dried leaves and this orchestra of sounds created by these different instruments because of those different forms or some trees already have lost many of its leaves, others are still full with leaves. And then the wind just softly rushes through here and there with a stronger burst and it plays. So all of your senses are heightened.
00:02:38 - Meilin Ehlke
So how do you experience this movement through nature, a fall of change? And what does it do with you? Let's go on this exploration today. Hello, I'm Meilin Ehlke, your host of the Moving to Oneness podcast. And I welcome you. These colors, they do something with me. I'm a spring girl, right? I love when everything bursts open, but there's another bursting in nature. It is when the true color of those leaves are exposed or they show them to you and how they can transform.
00:03:23 - Meilin Ehlke
Each leaf has like a certain period speed when it transforms from one color into the other. On my terrace here, I have in a pot I brought back from America, I don't know, 20 years ago, and I bought a small maple and put it in there now, 12 years ago, and it is growing every year. And this year it has certain amount of grace to it. And you can see how it changes from this light green to the orange to red orange to the burgundy, but always glowing.
00:04:07 - Meilin Ehlke
And now slowly, there's coming a bit more brown tones into it, and it has a glow of still, a liveliness and presenting itself. And this is what I wish every person, that's what I wish for you, that you show yourself the way you are. And as I look outside, as I'm Speaking with you. And look at this beautiful small maple presenting her beauty in her small. With her small leaves. Right. You can see big maple trees out here. And it's not as in America.
00:04:46 - Meilin Ehlke
I remember my maples were all over. It is juxtaposed by a green evergreen tree behind it with fine needles, so the red pops out even more. But why does it pop out? Because it is in conversation, in relationship with this huge tree behind it or next to it. There's a bit of grass between. But take a moment and think about it, how you shine brighter or are being seen better or easier because there's someone else, something else next to you also in his or her brilliance, in her elegance, in his presentation of knowing who I am. And I'm walking what I am. I'm expressing who I am so that you can better express who you are. But at the same time, conifer tree next to it also is seen more in its brilliant green because of those red tones. So because of you. So the more I am who I am, the more you are who you are, the more we can be who we are. This is beautiful because when I am who I am, you are who you are. And he or she is also who she is, but he is.
00:06:20 - Meilin Ehlke
Our beauty is making an impact, an impact of presence, an impact of acknowledging who's standing next to me, living next to me, and giving this person, this being, this plant, its place that it needs. Are you taking in the place you desire? Are you taking in the place, the volume with your movement, with your expanded body, where you are loose enough, relaxed enough, calm enough, peaceful enough, within that, all of your cells swing in a relaxed state. So that would be your natural state. Then are you in your natural state? Is your partner in his or her natural state? Your children, if you have some, your co workers.
00:07:30 - Meilin Ehlke
But it's the same for your pets. I'm looking right next to me. I have two sleeping beauties. After being outside in this fresh air, playing with the textures that we were speaking about with going in connection with the earth they have been walking on, taking in that information. So did you walk barefoot? Otherwise, I invite you to walk barefoot. Or at least if you feel uncomfortable walking barefoot, even though it may be a little cool or a little wet or even a little slippery. Yeah. To soak in and acknowledging through that touch that you're exploring who you are and at the same time you're exploring what is below you and around you. So if you may be on the next walk into the forest or over a meadow, take off your shoes and socks. I know I'm a little crazy and I'm a little bit like a hobbit with my harpet feet, but that gives me a little oomph. It makes me stand upright like those trees in an evergreen. Not an evergreen in a deciduous forest, right? Growing upward, standing upright, coming out of the sluggishness or bending over, right? What.
00:09:09 - Meilin Ehlke
What life has pulled us down or the day or the hour, and it. It pops you back up, it pulls you upward, it pulls you down, right? Because the connection to the earth energy, it invigorates you. It moves up your legs into your mid body. But also the energies from above, they come into your body also all the way into the mid center, and then they go up again into a conversation with you.
00:09:38 - Meilin Ehlke
But they also connect within you as they connect in each tree, in each plant, or in each cat and many other beings. So the more present you are to this connection, the more you can feel it tactile. I think we have lost so much the tactile or tactability. And I know it doesn't exist, but maybe let's start using that again where we. So alert, alertness to the change in every step or even in every single inch or centimeter of your soul, of your foot or on your hand or on your face. But so you get pulled up. And we need these both energies, these two energies, the ones out of this beautiful earth and then out of the cosmos, so we can stand upright.
00:10:35 - Meilin Ehlke
Otherwise we would be a pancake. There would be too much, maybe gravity pulling us down, but we're not. And we're even able to walk, to create movement. And in the rhythm you desire, slow or faster, maybe you are a jogger or you maybe want to dance in nature, right? And even when you do jogging or you just stroll, go a little bit off the path, find the energy lines that are in the ground. Maybe you can see some the deer or the foxes or the rabbits have created under rabbits, they jump left and right. But other animals, even the dogs, if you go for a stroll with your dog, watch where he or she is walking and follow their lines. You may have young children now, they are also in tune very much with nature. And they follow the energy lines. Follow them, see where it takes you into the woods, along the meadow. So off the beaten path, right? And take their beaten path maybe, and see how it feels. What does it do with your body? Because it invites you to go into a different rhythm, to explore a newness within you.
00:11:56 - Meilin Ehlke
So maybe that's why I also like walking barefoot because there's always a new. A texture within seconds. Yeah. Maybe here there's a rock and then you have pavement. Then you have maybe asphalt or concrete you're walking on. Then there's some sticks. And it's like acupuncture. It is revitalizing or waking up something in your foot. A few cells because it goes a little deeper. New muscles are invited to not enact. What's the word I'm using? Ignite.
00:12:35 - Meilin Ehlke
Right. Get ignited, get into connection. And that also creates newness in our thoughts. That brings you new ideas, that creates creativity. Why? Because we are beings that love to be connected. We are one with everything and everything is one with us. This is amazing. And our homes are off our buildings. They separate us a little. So, yeah, go out and it doesn't matter even if a little rain comes down. Or if there's maybe this mystical mist that you can find now, early in the morning or in the evenings, the clouds hang deeper. Or maybe you live long. A creek or a river. Yeah. These different colors and exploring what these colors do to you. Right. They ignite the cells behind your eyes. The light is different. What are you invited to create? Or maybe this is also helpful if you feel a little stuck. Right. And when life has pulled you down, it gives new impulses. It gives you new impulses. It gives you vitality. And this ignition. We speak so much nowadays. I think about longevity. Now. This is really making everything crisp and waking up. Tunes the tones in the air. Right. We were talking about the sound that is created when the airflow goes over these leaves or needles.
00:14:30 - Meilin Ehlke
What does it do to your ears? And how much can you hear? Can you maybe stand still for a moment and listen? Totally quiet. What do you hear? Birds, insects. Maybe a car very far away. Or an ape. Airplane. But an animal like a mouse or a chick monk, wherever you are. We have squirrels here. Or maybe there's some dripping, some drops. Or the sound that the rain creates when the drop.
00:15:10 - Meilin Ehlke
Raindrops. Yeah, the raindrops fall onto the leaves. Or maybe you hear someone else walking. What does it do with you? It invites you to think larger, more vast, further ahead, but also inward, deeper and acknowledging more of how you are. And then it is easier to live who you are. And it's easier for me to live who I am. And this was how we started out today. Right. Is each tree out there now looks so different? And even in the microclimate, the situation, it's the same tree.
00:15:56 - Meilin Ehlke
They have bloomed same time. Are now going into fall color at a Certain speeds together. There's also this connectivity, this togetherness, this community. Maybe here and there it's a little lagging because of, as I said, the microclimate. Maybe there's a little less water or more water, but still they're moving forward together. So you can feel part of all of this. And I think so many people are so lonesome. Are you lonesome? Do you feel alone or disconnected of other human beings? Even though we always connected and you're never alone, right? You have this beautiful nature around you.
00:16:44 - Meilin Ehlke
You have all your spirit beings supporting you. But it lets you see. It lets me see, lets us see what we're missing. And it lets us ask the question. Lets me ask the question, or ask yourself the question. What do I desire? What do I need to do to get there? What do I need to learn? What do I need to change in my life? And it gives you little oomph.
00:17:17 - Meilin Ehlke
It gives you this certainty. I was talking about, like this beautiful tree or bush standing there and showing, presenting it in its way. It is with the sound it carries that you feel comfortable. And then you let others do that. But you're then not so much afraid. You have more courage to take tiny steps or bigger steps of slower or faster steps toward how you want to create your life. And maybe you're already creating a beautiful life exactly as you are. So that's even better than all others will be able to see and feel you. And it gives them strength because you are expressing why you're here on this earth, right? It empowers others.
00:18:19 - Meilin Ehlke
Even in your family, if you feel pulled back, if you do one little step that you desire, it opens up them to also do that or not that you have enclosed them or made it tighter. But it is an encouragement. It's an automatic encouragement. And then it, you know, it plays off at each other because we play off each other. It's this dance. And we are all moving forward now. We're all moving toward living more and more our natural state.
00:18:55 - Meilin Ehlke
And in a way we desire, right? Less and less artificialness in the way of being, acting. What we're wearing, what we're eating. And the more we ask that everything is medicine for us. What we eat, when we move, clothes, the more you can be and take in the nutrients of sound, color, food, drink, laughter, friendship, peacefulness, love and light from our.
00:20:29 - Meilin Ehlke
Thank you for these beautiful tones and sounds. Aren't we blessed? I'm so blessed. I'm so happy to be here, to be able to speak to you, to enjoy the company of those two beautiful brothers laying next to me and being enriched, comforted by the beauty I look and experience every moment. When I look outside, or maybe later again when I step outside of nature, it's balsam. It's like cream to put on your body. It's magical and it's true and it's pure. So enjoy these beautiful colors, these sounds. Explore those textures. Explore yourself and share what you are about. Show your true color. Also the changing color. So share your stories of life, your experiences with others. Enrich them with your wisdom, with your knowledge, with your beingness. And create through that this beautiful canvas, all those beautiful colors on it, textures and tones. Wish you all the best. I'm Meilin, your host of the Moving to Oneness podcast. Bye Bye.