....a day in the life

Yogis,
Much of my experience in summer is done through my feet!

During vacation I watched the fascination that my six month old grandson had with his feet. One of life’s early rites of passage. As soon as he lies down for a changing, the feet fly toward the ceiling, the hands grab hold, and into the mouth they go. Chewing and slobber ensue. A sensory delight. Our feet are one of the first body parts we become aware of and they then take us on every step of this magical journey of life.

Summer is the time to set them free! Have you been outside with bare feet yet this summer? Have you given them new experiences? Our feet tell us much about the world around us. I’ve been noticing a day in the life of my feet.

In the mornings after my shower, I don’t put on shoes. As I move through my morning routine they feel the cool smoothness of the wood floors and softness of the area rugs. They notice if something is sticky. Or wet. At times when I walk through the foyer I feel sand and an image appears of Phoebe romping at the river’s edge. Out comes the dust broom or mop.

My feet head outside, loving to walk through the morning dew on the grass. No matter how hot or heavy the air is, my feet are cool as a cucumber. The clover tickles my toes. Walking in grass quickly brings back memories of summer childhoods. Soft. Lush.

Next on the agenda is a stroll through the vegetable garden for some weeding and harvesting. My feet land on the bare earth which seems so dense compared to the grass. Solid. Grounding. Home.

I walk the flagstone path of my wheel which runs north to south and notice how completely different it feels from the mulch path that leads from east to west. I stand on one of the rocks that create the outline of the garden so I can reach in to cut a flower. Noticing how my toes leap into action to keep me steady.

To get back to the downstairs door I walk across the gravel driveway. At the beginning of the summer I do a considerable amount of ‘ooh-ah- ing’ as I walk gingerly on my pale winter softened feet. But by July they are tan and tough and I am walking the entire length of the driveway. I know it sounds silly but there is something about being able to do that which makes me feel powerful!

Mud, puddles, hot sidewalk, the sand, my yoga mat……..my feet tell me exactly where I am. And when dirt gets stuck between my toes, I head for the hose for an exhilarating foot shower.

Finally, as the sun is setting on Phoebe’s last walk of the day, the still warmed blacktop of the street feels heavenly.

Happy feet,
SARAH

....ficus

Yogis,
Is it possible to have a relationship with a plant?

It’s hard to believe she and I have been together for over twenty years. I still remember her arrival. My sister-in-law was moving and didn’t have a good place to put her in the new home and asked if I would take her in. I had the perfect spot for her in the corner of our newly built family room against a wall of windows.

When she came, she was already established and I was a bit nervous. Memories flashed of the ficus my mom had when I was young. I had learned quickly that she was a temperamental type of tree. Lush green one day, yellowing the next and soon proceeding to drop every single leaf. When she is unhappy, she lets you know. She isn’t big on change and here I was giving her nothing but that.

She settled in nicely, however. Before long I began working from home and that family room became my office, so we spent much of the day together. I hung a tiny birdhouse on one of her branches. Each Christmas I strung her with twinkle lights and small silver balls. She shined.

Fourteen years ago we made the move together to the house next door and she took a prime spot in my new sun filled office. She heard every one of my conference calls and watched my daily yoga practice. Before long a reiki table made its way in front of her and she presided over us during sessions with her calming presence.

In summer she moves to the deck right outside my office door so we can still see each other. She, like I, looks best when the days are long, the air moist and the moon shines brightly. Birds land on her, occasionally a storm knocks her over and when the gutters overflow she is bent by the deluge.

A few years back, summer was extremely wet. We were having daily rains and the air was heavy. One afternoon I walked out and she had grown long stringy roots from the bottom of all of her branches! She was trying to create a banyan…… How funny!

Her health fluctuates. At least once a year she gets some sort of bug infestation and the telltale yellowing and dropping of leaves ensues. I leap into action. Spraying her with neem oil. Talking to experts at the local nursery. Wiping her leaves. Putting a crystal in the pot with her. Last year even going so far as to finally transplant her into a larger pot which I was incredibly nervous to do. She and I survived.

She has a lean to her. In her early life, one side of her trunk had softened and I was certain that at some point it would give and that would be her demise. Much to my amazement, one summer she quickly grew a strong kickstand from her trunk to the dirt, creating a new found stability. Amazing.

Somehow she always pushes through.

Friday night we had dinner on the deck before yet another rain. I glanced over and saw something yellow in her pot. On closer inspection it was an adorable mushroom. I looked it up and it is called Flowerpot Parasol. By morning I could see why.  How perfect is that!

My ficus and I have a relationship. Ups and downs and all around……. She has brought me much joy and I believe she feels the same way.

Do you have a plant relationship?
SARAH

......manifesting

Yogis,
I spent this past week in Stone Harbor NJ, one of the most beautiful beaches on the east coast, and had the joy of hosting all three of my sons, my two daughter in laws, and all three grandchildren. What could be better than that!

This annual event began the year my first born was turning one. Next week he turns 38.

Already the years with my three early rising, bursting with energy boys are blurry. I can best remember snippets. Those things that we did each year like clockwork. Digging the big hole on the beach. Standing in the long line at Springers for ice cream cones, which one of them would inevitably drop on the sidewalk. Watching the fireworks from beach chairs. The rituals.

Fast forward many years and now it is the grandchildren rising at dawn, eagerly asking me what I want to do the moment I walk out of my bedroom rubbing sleep from my eyes. I know that in the future these years too will be hazy without some markers. Being the nature lover that I am, I started the ‘nature walk’ a few years back.

One morning I announce that I am taking them to walk the trails in the bird sanctuary which sits at the end of our street. I ask if they remember doing it the year before and what we saw. I watch the wheels turning in their head and see sparks of recognition. Shoes on and off we go.

‘Maybe a turtle will be laying her eggs again’ my grandson says. ‘I hope we see bunnies!’ exclaims my bunny loving granddaughter.

We come to the entrance and there she is, smack in the middle of the path. Mom turtle digging vigorously with her back legs. Leg goes down. Claws grab dirt. She lifts her leg out of the hole and deposits the dirt. Over and over. Not fazed by our closeness, she has a job to do and is doing it well.

After a while we enter the sanctuary. A few steps in we hear something and see movement in the brush. A bunny hops out of course. She looks over. We ooh and aah and continue along.

‘We haven’t seen any frogs’ says my grandson as we turn the corner. As if on cue, I lift my foot to plant it for the next step and a frog leaps out from underneath. We visualize, we speak……we manifest.

They are now excited and start running. ‘We aren’t seeing anything!’ they announce. I call them back. I explain that the eyes required to see nature only turn on when we move very slowly. Nature is always there…..we just have to slow down to see it. Not a minute later we ‘see’ another turtle. A spider web. A mouse.

My manifesting skills have been a bit rusty lately. Being around the free spirit that sits unencumbered in children provided a much needed tune up. They believe. They fantasize. They expect. Therefore, they create. A turtle, a bunny or the dream job. It all works the same way.

My hope is that 38 years from now when they are asked about their childhood trips to Stone Harbor, the ‘nature walk’ will make it to the list, and they will still be effortlessly producing what it is that they want.

I create,
SARAH

.......peaks

Yogis,
The anticipation begins for me in April. One day I open the door to leave the house for my morning run and there is the slightest hint of light in the air. Night has officially ended and I can feel morning right around the corner. Dawn has begun. After running in complete dark for more than six months, this is a thrill.

As the weeks go by I do the calculations in my head. I still have the rest of April, all of May and three weeks in June where each morning will be brighter. It seems like a long time, but before I know it the calendar says mid-May. I still have the rest of May and three weeks in June. Plenty of time to savor this light.

Then in a blink of an eye it arrives. The summer solstice. The longest day of the year. My favorite day of the year!

At this point when I leave the house it is only minutes before the sun lifts herself completely over the horizon. I can see everything! At the bottom of the street my eye is drawn to the owl sitting on the lowest telephone wire overhead. Good morning owl!  The next street finds me in a stare down with a doe. The birds are singing and joy is in the air. Every year the solstice never disappoints. She always delivers the magic. I am in heaven.

The summer solstice is my favorite day. But while it is my happy day……it is also one of my saddest. By even the next morning I could swear it seems a little darker. How can one day be both?

I have a similar relationship with the moon. I love the week leading up to the full moon. The anticipation of her in all her glory on the full moon night as I sleep under her beams. Yet on every full moon there is this inner voice that reminds me it will be a whole month before I experience this again. Joy and grief.

I hadn’t really noticed this about myself until a teacher pointed out to me one day that I am addicted to peaks.

Huh. Yes, now that I look deeper, I clearly am.

I do the same thing with Christmas. Vacations. My garden. Even on a rollercoaster I am the happiest as I crest the top of the first big hill. The whole world below. And isn’t life just one big rollercoaster?

There isn’t anything inherently wrong with being addicted to peaks. It does mean though that I am attaching my personal happiness to specific external occurrences that happen only occasionally. What about all of those days where it gets darker one minute earlier? Wouldn’t it be better if I loved each of them too?

It’s like when we grin and bear Monday through Friday in order to enjoy the weekend. Couldn’t we let Monday be Monday and see the unique gifts she offers?

I am a work in progress…..but I will admit that on the winter solstice I am down but also cracking a big smile inside for what is to come.

Peak lover,
SARAH

....a clear connection

Yogis,
I’ve been thinking about the bluebirds. They nested and raised a family here in May and I have not seen them once since the day the babies fledged. I read though that they typically have at least two broods a season and was wondering if maybe they return to the same house. I shared these thoughts over the course of a day with at least four people. That night as I’m on the deck looking into the woods, mother bluebird lands on the closest branch and looks me in the eye. ‘Hi!’ Just then dad soared in like a streak of blue light and he too landed and looked my way. ‘I was talking about you all day! Welcome back!’

At that moment my connection was strong.

I am not a fan of having my phone in the bedroom for a variety of reasons. It stays downstairs on the kitchen counter with the volume turned high. I’m confident that if someone needed to reach me, I would be woken if it kept ringing. But I do need a morning wakeup, so I have the old fashioned clock radio. I have it set to our local news station as I would rather be woken by a voice than an irritating buzz.

Each Thursday night as I set the alarm I also turn on the radio to make sure I still have a clear signal. Thursdays my cleaners are here and at times when they dust the bureau they accidently hit the dial which sits on the side of the radio. Those dials are very sensitive and the slightest movement to the left or right takes you from a clear connection into the land of static or silence.

On the older radios you had to have a light touch. Turning the knob ever so slowly back and forth until you hit just the right spot. If you were impatient you could jump from hard rock to Christian gospel with one flick of the wrist. If you want a particular channel and want it clear, you must be mindful.

The universe, like our local news, also has a channel. A frequency that when you tune in with focused precision, comes in loud and clear. I have been having a hard time locating that channel recently.

When our rhythm isn’t in sync with that of the universe It’s like when you are in the car with a friend looking forward to quiet conversation and they turn on their favorite pop station and crank it up. It doesn’t feel right. In these times life feels harder. Things break. Unexpected bills. Fears creep in and you aren’t clear which direction to take. A stuckness sets in.

On the other hand, when you are tuned in to the universe’s hum, life is a dance! This is what everyone refers to as being in the flow and you know it when you are in it. You know what to do and change feels effortless. The past is released and the future feels bright. Even obstacles swiftly float on by. Life guides you with a loving hand.

I’m never sure exactly how my dial gets bumped off the station but eventually I notice that what is playing isn’t want I want to hear.

It’s time to put my hand back on the knob and mindfully realign. This usually means go outside more. Put the phone down. Stop looking things up and checking social media. Allow more silence. Talk less. Listen more. Stop trying so hard. And ask to be reconnected.

The bluebird encounter means I hit the channel as I was moving the needle back and forth. I know I am close…….

Happy Father's Day everyone,
SARAH

....she loves me back

Yogis,
Many people give me plants as gifts. Often a new type of plant enters my garden as a seedling dug from a friend’s garden. Others give me house plants and quite a few orchids have passed through my door.

An orchid always arrives in robust health and covered with blooms. They are beautiful! There is something magical about an orchid flower. Dainty yet sensual and I swear I see a tiny angel when I look deep inside each bloom.  They are also finnicky. By the next year with no buds in sight they go into a slow decline. I have not been successful with orchids.

Until this one…….

A friend gave it to me two Christmas’s ago. I read up once again about the best way to water and waded through conflicting advice. I went with the three ice cubes once a week approach. I paid closer attention to which windows received the best sun throughout each of the seasons and moved her accordingly. The following Christmas I started watching. January passed. February. Until one day I saw the telltale stem beginning its ascent. She was magnificent! This year she once again shone. I feel like she winks at me from across the room each time I pass.

Was this a different type of orchid, or had I somehow done my part better?

I was given a snake plant many years ago. I had it in the window of a guest bedroom on the ground level. For years she did what I would call ‘ok’ but not a whole lot of change and her tall leaves were always flopping over. One day as I was in there changing the sheets I glanced over and I swear she asked why she was left alone in this bedroom. Oh, alright, as I carried her up to my reiki room where many of my plants live. This room has music, essential oils, reiki sessions and my breath. She is now absolutely enormous and even flowers! Who knew?

In the clearing of the strip of woods next to my house I uncovered a redbud tree that for fourteen years I never knew was there. I removed all the vines, gave her a trim, fluffed her up and made sure there is space around her. Every day I go by to check on her and touch her leaves. I tell her how happy I am to have found her. In return, when the sun points in her direction she beams at me. I can see her aura and it seems like she has already grown if that is possible.

We often talk about how we must love the earth to have any hope of healing her, but I recently read an essay which asked, ‘Does the earth love us back?’

What do you think? Can she love us? ‘Yes, yes, yes!’ I answer without hesitation. No matter how much I do to take care of my garden, the earth gives me it back tenfold. Like any loving relationship we both have a role.

Weeding…..giving them a drink……planting a seed……brushing against them…..my attention……trimming……leaning in to smell them……placing them in vases in my home……eating them in my salad.  All the ways I show my love. A flower……a cucumber…….butterflies……..the hummingbird……. shade on a hot day…….dragonflies…….the smell of mint…….the first firefly. Her return.

Earth is a being. I know she wants to be in relationship with us. The more attention we pay, the more we receive. Like a parent, she will love us even if we don’t fulfill our obligations, but its so much more fun to hold hands and skip together.

I hug trees,
SARAH

....I am excited

Yogis,
Friday was my planting cucumber seeds day. Back corner of my fenced in herb and veggie garden. I always put them in the same place because it seems to work. Enough sunlight but late afternoon shade so their roots stay moist.

The first step is clearing out the area. Lambs’ quarters, plantain and grasses which have all sprung up during spring have to go to create open space.  Dirt turned, compost mixed in, and a trellis set to give them something to climb. Cucumbers like to be planted in little mounds, so I dutifully mold the dirt and poke my finger in. And no matter how many years I do this I am for some reason amazed how the seeds inside the pack look exactly like the seeds in a cucumber. One by one I drop them in.

Seeds has been planted. Cucumbers will come.

While planting I reflected on the state of our world. It’s hard to absorb the news these days. The world heating, insects disappearing, and anger palpable. Freedoms and rights which felt guaranteed only months ago now threatened.  Economy teetering. Women’s faces once again covered in Afghanistan while Ukrainians fight for their existence. Then the unimaginable happens…… yet again. Nineteen innocent children. A parent’s worst nightmare. Is there no end…..

I find myself thinking words like ‘never’, ‘can’t’, ‘no solution’. Discussions with others end on a low note as we wonder how to turn this ship. What does the future hold?  Nothing will change. This is how things are. An aura of divisiveness and complacency.

Therefore, these are the seeds we are planting.

I listened to an interview last week with Elon Musk. I wanted to hear his views in his own words and not through those of the media. Right off the bat he was asked about his view of the future. His answer? ‘I am excited about our future!’ This hit a chord.

Now regardless of your thoughts on him, he sees the world from a different perspective. He visualizes what is possible and plants those seeds……and by the way has been pretty successful at it. He doesn’t let the confines of our limited systems stop him from creating.

I am excited!

What he uses is referred to as the ‘I am’ energy. Choosing what it is you want to be/feel/have/create by setting your vibration to that channel. Because after all, the external world is merely a mirror of our collective internal worlds. What is it that you want?

I am choosing to be excited about the future. Each morning as I sit quietly in meditation, preparing my inner garden by making open space, I consciously drop the seed of ‘I am excited’ into my fertile soil. I state it and consciously turn on the energy of feeling excited. Every day.

The ‘I am’ energy is the quickest way to manifest what it is that you want. If you want to be more confident…..say to yourself ‘I am confident’ and turn on the vibration of feeling more confident. Try it! Close your eyes now and say ‘I am heavy’ and turn heaviness on. It’s instant. You are now heavy. I am healthy. I am compassionate. I am joyful. I am patient. What do those feel like? Try them on. Don’t think about them…..be them!

What you want is only a seed away.

Notice what you are planting in your garden,
SARAH