Image Credit: Gaia Earth Flowers Goddess
When I was growing up, my family (with no ill-intent) would often notice me daydreaming and say something along the lines of “Norah’s in Norah-land” or “Norah-world”. It never offended me, it just made me aware that I seemed to be different in this way; that I spent a lot of time in the space of mystery and wonder.
I thought often about the mystery of nature, how fascinating it was that nature, which was all around us was, in fact, just another form of life. I wondered if it felt anything. I wondered how it felt to be a plant growing, or being cut, or stepped on. I wondered what it must feel like to be in the minds of our sweet dogs Winston and Sebastian, joyful English Springer Spaniels that found themselves locked within the confines of concrete pavement in the middle of Philadelphia. I wanted them to be in nature. I thought about how amazing it was that the sun and the moon and all the planets seemed to magically operate on their own, in some sort of mysterious union of energy. And the magic of the clouds, how they formed rain to care for the earth and help it continue to produce life. I lived often within these mysteries, and it was beautiful there.
I recall around the age of 8 or so, that the material world was scolding me to stay here on earth more. That if my head was so often “in the clouds” I would not finish my homework, I would miss what my teachers and elders were teaching me. And so, I started to cower to social conditioning and allow my inner critic to emerge who would suppress my urges to get lost in the clouds. I continued to question, but the questions became much more centered around the human beings around me and why they did the things they did and thought the things they thought. It was fascinating in its own way, but incredibly puzzling and sad to me. It seemed that there was a disconnect with many people that I couldn’t put my finger on. Like they were disconnected from the sense of magic and wonder and beauty that most of us feel early on in life. I’ve struggled with this puzzle for much of my life.
A few years ago I decided to start a garden. I wanted to dig my hands in the soil like I used to when I was young. I wanted to care for the living things around me and help cultivate that living world. So I started learning about the soil that is needed for certain kinds of plants, vegetables and flowers. I started learning that every plant has a unique set of needs: certain types of soil, certain sun exposure and watering needs, how the moisture and drainage affects them, and all the living things like insects and birds, and deer and rabbits and squirrels that love to come and fill their bellies. And I started learning about natural, compassionate answers to the puzzle of disconnection.
Here’s what has begun to grow in my internal garden. We are all simply energy in form. The energy we emanate, manifested in human form, is a reflection of both our DNA but also masked by the energy we’ve accumulated over time from our interactions with other energetic forms, our encounters with humans, our interactions with our pets, with wild animals, with nature; energy accumulated from our thought patterns, from our choices, and from the reactions to our choices. If we could unravel the energy that we had accumulated like expelling magnets from a refrigerator, we could uncover our natural state, the state we were born with.
So how do we shed negative energy that has accumulated in our body? Since we are of the universe, perhaps the answers exist there.
Like living energy in human form, planets, like the earth, also interact with and can take on energy from their surrounding environment. This energy can come from the Sun, other celestial bodies, or internal processes. Planets reflect some of the Sun's energy, absorb some of it, and can also release energy through various processes like volcanism. So what is volcanism and can humans replicate it?
Volcanic eruptions can range from gentle lava flows to explosive blasts, releasing gases, ash, and solid rock fragments. Through the process of eruption, the planet is purging excess energy to return to homeostasis. Practices like yoga, pranayama, and any form of exercise that increases the heart rate and body temperature, work in a similar way. When the body reaches an internal temperature that is higher than homeostasis (98.6), it must release that heat and it does that through the breath, through sweat, or through the production of waste.
Similarly if we have accumulated energy that is foreign to our natural state, if our bodies are healthy, it knows to expel it, as in the case of a kidney stone, a splinter finding its way out of the skin, or a decaying tooth being expelled by the body. That is not to say that medical intervention isn’t sometimes required even with the healthiest of bodies, but it is our body’s natural function to get rid of unhealthy forms of energy.
In our natural state of homeostasis, we are energetically alive, connected to the universe and its magic, and yet also grounded. So, if we want to experience that state of flow, that natural state of bliss and connection, of wonder and awe, we must heal the body through movement, natural excretion of waste, and through the natural remedies that the earth provides us (herbalism or vitalism).
The answers are all around us and within us.