what the earth teaches

M A Y 0 2 , 2 0 1 7

“lay down and harmonize” // my old stompin’ ground -- leroy oakes, saint charles, il

“if you want a teacher, try a waterfall, or a mushroom, or a mountain wilderness, or a storm pounded seashore.”
{ terence mckenna }

i step barefoot into the light of the world. i lay my body heavy on the earth and let the enveloping warmth of the sun dissolve me.
the clouds show me truths in symbols. my body whispers for me to let go. deeper. trust the tide.

it’s sexy to seek transformation in faraway places. novelty is medicinal, to be sure. i’ve trekked through jungles, screamed beneath the pounding pressure of waterfalls, kept my cubs warm with mere body heat while camping in a colorado mountain blizzard, laid my body on a kayak far out on the pacific to stargaze adrift on the sea...

each of these experiences changed me, shifted my consciousness in some essential way. but so has sittin’ on my porch swing in the rain, watching the chickens forage in the meadow, working in the garden, climbing a tree, watching the sunrise from a local graveyard because it’s the highest point with the clearest view.

we need not journey far to connect down deep. the network exists everywhere : it’s right here beneath our feet.

we don’t have to travel in order to arrive.

i think we all crave the expanded meaning and personal transformation of an unknown// foreign place.

but living fully means viewing each moment as brand new :: our everyday experiences can be as foreign and exotic and compelling as a distant shore. it’s all in how we meet them. it’s in our perspective. in our presence.

the pilgrimage isn’t outside -- it’s within this moment, this body, this patch of earth we stand on. rumi said, “journey within yourself. enter a mine of rubies and bathe in the splendor of your own light." i’d add, “do it outside.” because this good green earth is the greatest teacher // guru // healer // friend we’ll ever have. whether we travel to the amazonian rainforest or a tiny front lawn, it’s all one body -- the same medicine // the same mama.

here are some of her teachings ::

+ nice and easy does it +

“nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” { lao tzu }

everything is simultaneously whole, and a work in progress. right where it needs to be, through each phase of becoming.
atom by atom, moment by moment, nature achieves her growth. a flowering quest of endless expansion.

she never says, “hurry up! let’s go! get a move on!” it’s always, “shhh. s l o w d o w n. come closer. drop in. close your eyes in order to see.”

“The trees that are slow to grow bear the best fruit.” { moliere }

evolution can be unfathomably slow, but it’s endless.

i crave radical change but need to practice gradualism… small incremental change is so much easier to integrate than rapid, disruptive revolutions (trust me, i know).

evolution happens slowly, until suddenly things are changed. {hallelujah}

+ we were made to create +

life is a continuous stream of self-expression. consciousness is the universe’s way of coming to know itself.

animism teaches that everything is sentient, everything has a spirit, we’re all made of the same starstuff. expressing, expanding, outward, beyond.

nothing is free from motion. nothing is idle. from the microscopic atoms that buzz within every corner of our beings, to the fierce sun that blazes overhead, everything in nature is humming with life, motion, purpose. even in dormancy, rest is an active step to conserve energy and optimize vitality.

we exist within a living network of creation. all energy is borrowed and one day we must give it back. let’s leave it better than we found it. let’s catalyze it to heal, transform, beautify, expand.

artists of consciousness // our reality is our most important creation.

“you cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. what you do makes a difference:: you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.” { jane goodall }

+ the harder something struggles, the stronger it becomes +

do you know the bristlecone pine? she’s the oldest organism on planet earth (over 5,000 years!). gnarled and stunted looking, wind-flagged, seemingly half-alive. she grows near the treeline in the harsh alpine climate of the rockies and sierras, with extreme conditions almost year round. it is precisely those conditions that make her so strong, resilient, masterful.

coral reef is another resiliency teacher. you’ll often find that the reef facing the inner bay (where the water is still and calm) lies stagnant, virtually lifeless. the reef facing out to sea is constantly slammed by waves and pulled by the tide (yep, i know the feeling), and it overflows with an extraordinary diversity of color, activity, life.

earth beams a transmission of wisdom:: struggle isn’t bad or wrong: it’s the foundation of vitality and strength. discomfort isn’t to be avoided: it’s the driving force of evolution. the motor of expansion. a well-lived life isn’t struggle-free -- it’s about finding the meaning, medicine and magic in struggle and success equally. it’s about letting life have it’s way with you, // carving a path through your inner wilderness // letting go of what you thought you should be in order to become what you actually are.

the crack is how the light gets in. gravity is what teaches us to walk the earth.

“the pain
it will leave
once it has finished
teaching you.”
{ pavana reddy }

blazing a trail is * always * harder than following one

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view.” { edward abbey }

deep snow teaches us: breaking a trail is always harder than following an existing path.  it’s so much more than getting from a to b. we have to wade, step by painstaking step, alone. it may feel dangerous, impossible. we might be filled with self-doubt, surrounded by criticism. we press on. we ache from fatigue, but we press on. there’s no guidance \\ no signs pointing to the destination, no certainty that a destination even exists. but we press on, knowing that when we reach the end, we’ll be the master of our own mountain. stronger braver wiser ; more alive than ever before. and with the most breathtaking view of all.

+ to everything there is a season +

(turn. turn. turn.) and a time to every purpose under heaven

the medicine wheel cycles, again and again.

sometimes the wait feels hard. we’re children of technology // instant gratification is the gold standard. patience feels like an affliction.

we want the juicy fruit without the labor of planting, fertilizing, nurturing, pruning, lifting the heavy bushels and spending hours and hours sweating over a hot stove preserving the harvest.

if we aren’t careful, we can trick ourselves into believing that waiting for fruition is somehow wrong. we want the bloom without the fear of being the seed buried deep in the dark, without the effort to burst through soil, without the taut pressure of growing too big for our bud, yet not quite ready to bloom free.

things take time (usually lots). we can push and strive (sometimes this is what’s needed) but oftentimes things just need to evolve at their own pace. in their right season. don’t worry -- nature’s good for it :: “the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.” { rachel carson }

might as well sit on the front porch and drink some tea // enjoy the ride.

everything is medicine (and so are you)

{ asia suler }

my unofficial masters degree is in alchemical healing (i’ve put in my 10,000 hours).

every organism on earth harbors an innate ability to heal and recalibrate after being knocked off balance. every medicine we ingest (pharma, plant, or otherwise) merely replicates / stimulates the vast chemical pharmacy within our own bodies.

it’s all right here. (we have been given all the tools)

the medicine is inside. epigentics shows us we can invoke it at will (change the environment, change the gene expression). as above so below. the outer experience a clear carbon-copy mirror of our inner experience.

healing is the journey of earning greater and greater self-mastery over our inner environment.

wild healing takes us outside and inside simultaneously. nature drives embodied presence vastly deeper // offers a safe and sacred mirror to reflect - confront - witness the patterns of harm that keep us sick + stuck. our thoughts, emotions, conditioned behaviors are medicine or they are poison. choosing consciously = embodied alchemy.

we are the poison and we are the cure. what a great game!

i’ve spent much of my adult life tending the wild gardens of my healing, licking my wounds, uncovering my medicine.

i’ve arrived at a deep belief that illness is merely a stage of wellness.
“let it gut you, then hold it in your hands and let it heal you.” { corrina snow }
be mindful what you wish for so that you can recognize it for what it is
{ p r a y e r s a n s w e r e d } { d r e a m s c o m i n g t r u e } !!!
when it shows up on your doorstep looking like chaos and feeling like death. Because if we’re doing life right we’ll do lots of dying before we die.

illness is a potent path to the promised land (where we learn to turn poison into milk + honey) :: we just have to be careful not to get lost along the way…

+ we have been given all the tools +

a direct transmission from working with amanita muscaria. profound, life-changing, radical. never the same.

you can read the full story here (it’s a good one).

she sent me deep into the rock bottom of “not enough” and then transported me to revelation:

“ e x p a n d y o u r p e r s p e c t i v e “

she showed me how to shift my focus from the objects of my attention (desires) to my attention itself, where the structured container of my perception dissolved as my peripheral vision opened and expanded // sight becoming clear, vivid, dazzlingly lucid.

chronic tunnel vision turned inside out. where once i was lost, now i am found.

i look all around me, surrounded by tools of ascension : ladder, grappling hook, rope. “you have been given all the tools.”

magic hidden in plain sight. tears of holy water stream down my face.

i understand :: the epitome of stuckness is focusing on where you’re not // have not // are not. be here now, expand your awareness in whatever ways you know how, and a world of shimmering possibility will bloom open at your feet. whatever you want on the outside can (must) be grown on the inside.

our dreams come through us, not to us.

practice presence and clear seeing, and gain access to the living network of abundance all around you. heaven is now, “under our feet as well as over our heads.” (thankyou thankyou thankyou)