A World Below

In the dark rich earth there is a world that often gets overlooked, trodden down, and covered up.

On an early Spring weekend in Portland, I had the good fortune of fine weather to begin excavating the backyard on a piece of dirt that will make a fine garden. Covered in leaves, weeds, and crab grass, what was once an ordered and tended plot of land had been turned by the hands of time into a neglected space. Nature was reclaiming that which no longer held human attention, and rightly so.

With trowel, spade, shovel, and rake the work of uncovering began. With machines powered by dinosaur remains, edges were drawn and a patch of earth was tilled. Across this not-so-vast territory it is easy to observe small animals - birds, squirrels, an occasional cat, and the lion/fox/bear/sometimes-dog Mack traverse and explore. But unless you dig down, and pay attention to what comes up, you would never see the entrance to the world below. Spiders, slugs, snails, worms, and ants infuse the soil. They create their own highways and byways, establishing an ancient symbiosis with the roots and the plants that grow out of the earth. Harder to see but just as important are the relationships of fungi with the rhizosphere root networks that inform the ecosystem from the ground up.

It is beautifully simple and wonderfully complex at the same time: everything is connected.

Taking account of how much life exists in some handfuls of dirt was a great reminder about how woven the wellbeing of the water, the soil, and the inhabitants of earth are. Spending time with the soil made it clear to me that it is not possible to spray chemicals of any kind, especially those that kill “weeds” without devastating consequences to the entire chain. One telling example worth mentioning is the decline of the western Monarch butterfly, whose population has been estimated to be 99% reduced since the 1980s.

BJ Palmer, the developer of chiropractic, made note of the potential for impact we can have with our thoughts, words, and actions. I intend to use mine well.

“We never know how far-reaching something we may think, say, or do today will effect the lives of millions tomorrow.”

The Season of Transform

Have you felt it?

This year, the influx of energy that accompanies the onset of Spring seems to be super-charged. There is a quality of density and richness, which can at times feel like trying to drink from an open fire hydrant. The art of being able to navigate, integrate, and harness the abundance of this energy is having a strategy and a practice. 

Within the paradigm of Reorganizational Healing, the “Four Seasons of Wellbeing” reflect an individual’s level of readiness for change at a particular moment in time. Stepping into the Season of Transform means changing the relationship to the body, to how energy is utilized, how attention is focused, and how movement flows in both thought and action. It describes a state in which energy is readily available and strategies are in place that allow for the constructive channeling of this energy.  

The strategy is the plan of action. What are some things that you have identified or that are asking/demanding you to re-evaluate how you are living? For me, this looks like changing my exercise routine, adding to and improving my diet, incorporating more self-care, claiming which areas of study and which opportunities to concentrate on and which to politely decline. There was never a more accurate tea tag than the one I recently read: “Energy flows where attention goes.” The strategy is the container that you create to channel where this Transform energy goes. It allows you to consciously have a say in directing the engine of change. The practice is simply employing the strategy. It won’t be perfectly executed. That’s why it’s called practice.   

And so, in the spirit of the season, I’ve crafted a Spring “To-Do” List. May it be as useful to you as the tea tag was for me.

• Harness the abundant energy of the season to consciously drive change. 
• Plant intention. 
• Water it with congruent action.  
• Tend it with refinement as it grows into form.
• Remember: the Field is fertile.

Seeds of Change

After the worst winter the city has had in a long time, Portland is waking up. Within a week of the vernal equinox, buds are on the trees, flowers are blooming, and color is starting to radiate against the perennial green and grey of Stumptown.

The past 6 months has been an immense period of transition. Both personally and in my practice, every person I know has been presented with a significant challenge in their life during this timeframe. For some it’s about the health of their body. For others it’s a change in relationship, home, job, or family. It has been an opportunity to change perspective, to stand up for what’s right, and to make a choice to let go of that which no longer serves.

Each year Spring reminds us that as long and dark as the winter might have been, it was necessary to cultivate these seeds of change. This is the time to choose which seeds to plant, which ones to water, and which ones we want to see grow.