......in your element

Yogis,

The construction on our small humble hilly street continued throughout the month of May. After months we have become accustomed to the consistent deep rumble and other times earth rocking vibrations of the oversized dump trucks and jackhammers. One of the crew even joked that he is now getting his mail delivered here. 

One morning I glanced out the front window to a scene of 10 men in hardhats working on a curb across the street being directed by my neighbor.  They were all still and listening as she pointed and spoke. Even with her back facing me there was no mistaking that at that moment she was in charge.  An engineer by training and an action-oriented organizer by nature she looked at ease.  I snapped a picture and texted it to her with the comment ‘in your element’.  She shot back that she was a foreman wanna be. Yes! She would be a perfect foreman.

This week my good friend was staying with me for her annual return trip to the ‘hood’. She occupied that same house across the street for twenty years.  While sharing a story about visiting her friend’s incredible garden in Maui she made the remark that as her friend is leading you through her lush tangle of plants, she is ‘in her element’.  By the description alone I could feel it.

Flashback to a couple of weeks ago in my first Medicinal Gardening workshop where I shared how to create a garden that becomes your own medicine chest. I was teaching, introducing the plants and sharing the healing potential right under our feet while the two hours flew by. Tired, sweaty and dirty, I couldn’t have been happier. I realized that I was ‘in my element’.  It took so many of my loves and rolled them neatly into one package.

What is your element?  Where is it or what are you doing when time has no meaning, the body is at ease and you feel complete? Where your soul sings.  Where that quiet inner voice shrieks ‘Yes!’ 

When I was offered the retirement package from Xerox, that inner voice could no longer be quieted. Even though working there only five more years would have made everything much more secure, the scary leap was one that my heart had to take. Waiting wasn’t an option.

Being ‘in your element’ is the nourishment for your soul.  It is where your unique gifts come alive.  It feels simple, invokes passion and will indeed take you where you need to go. It is your dharma – the reason you are here. 

But it’s not only in employment. You want to find ‘your element’ in your social group. Finding your tribe. Those others who connect with you at the soul level.  Who feed you. Seek out ‘your element’ in where you live, the house you choose, your hobbies and sometimes even in who you consider your family. How will you know?  You feel it.

Moments are precious. Why waste them being out of sync? Be ‘in your element’ and live vividly.

Living in my element,

SARAH

.......to the rescue

Yogis,

My plant passion began innocently enough back in probably 2002. I had begun trying to tame the growth bordering the woods on one side of the house and was discovering hidden plants buried within.  A large bunch of daffodils that came into full bloom once I removed their cover. Bushes that began to twinkle in the spring with their small white flowers and old crumbling cobblestones I unearthed as I tried to edge the garden.  Someone had clearly been here long before me.

I decided the clearing job, poison ivy and all, was too big for me alone so I hired someone to help.  Unfortunately I thought his English was better than it was and the only word he was positively clear on was ‘clear’….which he did with gusto.  I came home to barren earth.  I went upstairs and sobbed.

The replanting of that area is what caused an unearthing in me that released a buried deep love for all that is green. 

I have heard many other landscaper stories.  My sister’s beautiful organic raised garden bed suddenly filled with clearly non-organic dirt. ‘Weeds’ pulled which were actually herbs lovingly planted. Weed killer or fertilizer spread when food to be eaten lies close by, sharing the same earth.  None of this done with ill intent but simply not understanding the majesty of the plant kingdom. Here is where I come in. 

My neighbor’s yard has some wild Mullein plants that I always admire as I pass, sending them a little energetic hello.  Mullein is a sturdy plant.  Rather large soft fat leaves all growing from a center stalk, that can reach 4 feet before bursting with small yellow flowers.  She is casual and quiet, yet you can’t help but notice her presence.  In a human body I feel she would wear old ripped jeans and play the guitar, and of course, be barefoot. 

Walking Phoebe the other day, dressed in a skirt and nice shirt, I noticed the neighbor having yard clean up done.  As I rounded the bend I saw the large pile of discarded plants and the edges of some mullein leaves barely peering out from the center.  Help….they yelled!

Oh no!  As I threw on my invisible plant rescuer cape, I marched into the garden and asked him if he had dug them by the roots as I lifted one out.  Not sure he understood me, but I rustled through the pile anyway uncovering four and told him I was taking them. Good plant – he asked?  Yes! The best lung healer there is.  Gave them a little shake and wrapped my arms around them, dirt and all.  Ok Phoebe let’s go!  And off we went, Mullein in tow. 

Since then I have been contemplating this role I have chosen to fill and have decided I need a title. My superhero name. The right one has not come to me. The words green, weed, wild, protector, renegade, savior, plant have been swirling in my head, but nothing.  Any ideas out there? If anyone comes up with a suggestion that I end up using, there will definitely be a gift!

Connected to plants,

SARAH

......life on the floor

Yogis,

I always tell my yoga students that if nothing else, coming to yoga once a week gets them up and down from the floor several times over the hour and a half.  An important ability which is second nature to children as they flop down, a little more deliberate in young adults and a lot creakier and less frequent in midlife.  One of those ‘use it or lose it’ life skills.

I have always thought of myself as someone who spends much time on the floor. Teaching, practicing, playing with Phoebe and working in the garden. But as I sat on the couch and opened up Yin Yoga, the book I was to read for my course, the first page said to get off the couch or chair and get down on the floor. To read the entire book on the floor.  So I did…….

I then went to Vancouver and spent 7 hours a day on the floor for 7 straight days! And I noticed differences. Then and there I set the intention to continue living more of life on the floor on my return.  Luck would have it – thank you Universe! – that a neighbor had recently given me a large very low coffee table that is perfect for reading, eating and computer work all while my butt makes contact with the ground below.  I am sitting here now as I write……

Many say that two of the worst inventions for human health were the chair and the toilet. I will save the toilet for another discussion, but we were not designed to sit in chairs. And we spend a whole lot of our life in them!  Working, eating, driving, reading, socializing and watching tv.

Studies are finding that the ability to get up and down from the floor without support or many touch points is one indicator of longevity.  That alone can grab your attention.  

But there are so many other benefits! The hips and ankles begin to slowly open, it is relaxing to the nervous system, the back muscles strengthen for improved posture, the heart receives more circulation and overall flexibility increases.  

Try it! Give it a month as it takes 30 days to make something a habit. Perhaps you set the intention to do all reading on the floor. Or whenever you use your phone to talk or email.  Maybe eat one meal a day there.  

As you sit, you can move about as much as needed.  Sometimes I am cross legged, and then it will feel good to spread my legs wide or send them straight forward.  Other times I sit on my feet or even curl my toes under and sit on my heels for a minute of two (counteracts the effect of our shoes). Maybe soles of the feet together and knees apart.  Doesn’t matter!  Simply get down there and stay for some period of time. Often. Make it a lifestyle.

Others may look at you funny. Your dog will absolutely love it. The view will be new. And over time you will notice changes……..

I would love to hear how it goes! Send me a report - from the floor of course.

Floor dwelling,
SARAH

......unknown

Yogis,

Complicated.  The word most commonly used. Emotional, changeable, unpredictable are others thrown about loosely as if being a woman can be rolled up and tucked neatly into a single word.

Unknown would be a better choice……..

I am the goddess. The feminine. The creative force. The Divine in motion.

To know me is to feel me.

I cannot be known from afar. What you see as I pass by is only my mask. The character I chose to play that day as I stood naked in my closet. I can change it at whim or stay in my role for years to come. No one suspecting what lies beneath this exterior I inhabit for this particular human journey.

To know me you must come closer.  Even closer, for my eyes hold the windows to my soul. Only when you fall quiet, dropping all judgment and fear to gaze within can you begin to dive into the many layers buried in this creature you call woman.

You think I’m hard to follow? That’s because you are looking for straight lines where I only have curves. Release your grip and go for the ride. Swim in my beauty and flow on the kindness, gentleness and compassion I offer up as my gifts. Lose yourself in my intoxicating aroma while I watch over you.

I am the scent of the flower, the juice of the ripest berry, the golden sweetness of honey and the endless hues of the rainbow.  I am vibrant, succulent, juicy and sensual. But don’t be fooled. Oh no. I am not weak. There resides in me a steady burning flame. Her name is passion. I am powerful, protective and fierce when the world around me or those I love are wronged.

I am earth. The all-knowing mother. I am the cool caress of the moon’s soft light. Tides and the never-ending miracle of changing seasons are me. I am abundance. I feed you, heal you and offer you a place to rest.

Complicated? I think not. I am life itself…..moving, changing and messy.

Know me,
SARAH