"Earth-friendly" has become a big marketing catchphrase. But have you really tried to become friends with the Earth? Taking time out of your busy life to spend it with Mother Earth can refresh your mind, body, and spirit. Building a personal relationship with the Earth--one that you make an effort to maintain like other relationships--has the reward of bolstering you with the Earth's motherly nurturance.

By hiking, camping, rafting, or even taking a walk in your local park, you can get in touch with the Earth's spirit, which is actually a higher part of human nature. It's the part of us that can love unconditionally and endlessly, like a great mother. When you spend time in nature, be conscious of the plant and wildlife, even the soil and rocks under your feet. Take a moment to observe a particularly beautiful tree or flower, and give thanks that you have the opportunity to experience it. Take in the wondrous world around you with all of your senses, and breathe in the life-giving air deeply.

When we form a personal bond with Mother Earth, it becomes much easier not to hurt her with thoughtless actions or endless consumption. Even more than that, it becomes natural to want to give something back to her in gratitude. Your compassion and consciousness in relation to the Earth grows, and evolves into one that is more concrete, determined, and vital.

As Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangar Maathai has said, "There comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness. [...] You raise your consciousness to a level where you feel you must do the right thing." Ms. Maathai fought the Kenyan government's policies of deforestation, and led women in planting over 20 million trees at farms, churches, and schools.

By following in her and many others' footsteps and planting a tree, cleaning a park or beach, or rescuing animals, you can make the part of you that is like Mother Earth stronger. And you'll be sharing it with your fellow humans by making their home a better place to live.

Since April is filled with Earth Day activities, check with your local community to find fun and rewarding ways to help others raise their consciousness and connect to the Earth. You can also go to www.earthday.org/ to find activities and activism going on all over the world. Once you feel your own personal connection with the Earth, it's easier to spread the message that we all need to take care of the mother upon which we depend for everything.

In the many spiritual traditions of the world, there is a common belief that an inherent, pervasive life force exists in the universe. In some traditions, that life force is called ki. It's not something mysterious, but something in your body to which you can become sensitive and experience for yourself.

With training in energy practices such as yoga, tai chi, ki gong, and some combative martial arts, you can even move and manipulate ki. These techniques bring you automatically into the present moment because ki can only be experienced in the present moment. In that moment, you can let go of your fears, doubts, worries, and attachments. Then you will be able to connect beyond your body with the energy of the earth and the cosmos.

Through this connection, you can experience the truth of oneness--that the greater universe, the earth, and the humans on it are all one with each other. Therefore, connecting with ki is important for spiritual growth and completion. The truth of the oneness of the universe cannot be fully realized through hearing and reading about it. It needs to be experienced through the ki energy flowing within the body.

When you master ki, you connect to the greater wisdom of the universe, with which you can more easily face life's challenges.

Ilchi Lee has his own distinct way of thinking about the earth. He's not out there saving whales or building more ecologically friendly cars, though he may think those activities are important. He's not a shaman who teaches Native American traditions, though he honors those traditions. Nor is he a geologist who studies the rocks we stand on, though he studies the work of scientists. Ilchi Lee is a teacher and philosopher who has a deep love and reverence for the earth.

His mission is to help others feel the earth's loving, motherly energy for their own healing. Through this connection to the earth, we can realize intuitively how all humans are also connected to one another. We have the opportunity to understand that we are all citizens of the earth before we are citizens of a particular nation or group. Ilchi Lee's dream, which he believes is also the earth's dream, is that when enough people come to this realization, we can all live in peace and harmony with each other and the planet.

Two of Ilchi Lee's books, Mago's Dream:  Meeting with the Soul of the Earth and Earth Citizen:  Recovering Our Humanity, convey his unique philosophy in detail. But beyond explanation, he provides inspiration and hope. He also offers specific exercises and meditations that you can do to create a profound and precious connection to what he calls Mago, or Mother Earth. Delve into Ilchi Lee's wisdom with these books, and create peace and harmony in your own life as well.