With the sun at its zenith our senses are enlivened to nature’s colorful, musical and textured expressions. We might also notice that after months of Covid Constriction, more light is being shed on various aspects of our personal, public and planetary lives. Midsummer is a wonderful time to practice full-body awareness to the life blossoming around you. How many minutes can you walk in nature without a chattering of commentary in your head? How many details can you pick up about ordinary things in your day? Ever notice a song sparrow’s throat feathers ruff-up when it sings? Or how afternoon light on rattlesnake grass glows their pods pale green? What about the expression in the sloped shoulder of a masked shopper at the store? Attention to sensory detail is grounding to our nervous system and thus stabilizing for our bodies. Reaching out to hug a tree or brush the velvet petal of a poppy (things you can freely touch!), dials down the volume of a busy brain, letting us experience the present moment, which is where the body actually lives. This begins the important alignment of head with heart and body.
Plants invite us to be open to non-verbal expressions. You may have enjoyed the bloom of coastal Cream Cups, Gold Fields and Indian Paintbrush. As you walk by, what messages are they passing on for you? Flowers can invoke our feelings and if we tune into the feeling, we may receive its healing, perhaps through a word or image or song that comes to mind. Flower remedies are the vibration of flowers captured in water to subtly tune our energy. The cheery Sea Thrift (Armeria maritima) that bob their pink pompoms on sturdy stems, show us that how a plant looks and grows, gives us clues to its qualities. Sea Thrift flower essence helps us stay well-grounded and maintain a core equilibrium or inner harmony no matter how erratic our environment. It is taken to free the circulation of mental, physical and spiritual energy for a more balanced state of being. Just hanging around these plants will impart this.
While you stop to smell the roses, take time to get to know them as a fellow beings. Cultivate a curiosity in what their existence offers us in deeper understanding of the world and our place in it.
