Weeding AND Feeding

Spring was rough – I experienced both physical and emotional challenges. After several family crises in the same week I sought salve for my soul in my backyard garden. It needed tending and so did I. In a two day period that offered temperatures in the high 90s, I broke down hunks of donated hostas into 25 individual plants to create a border of green and white.

The physical labor was good for me as I sweated and shifted the earth into a new arrangement. My mind was busy with decisions about how to best to divide the hostas and where to place them, not worrying about loved ones far away. At one time the far end of the very shady yard had been cleared to expose a wide swath of rich black earth, but was never fully landscaped. Now muddy and overgrown, it offered little beauty, which describes pretty much how I felt. I was determined to plant a deep border of hostas on that end, and a single line of hostas along the north side of the yard to fill the space, create some order and offer beauty to the beholder.

On the second of those days of hot, hard earthwork, I heard myself thinking for the umpteenth time that if we plant more of what we want (like hostas), there will be less room for things we don’t want to grow (like weeds). And then I had the epiphany that this is true for humans, too. Planting for humans is doing our self-care practices, mantras, prayer, meditation, fun, work we love, spending time with friends, etc. The more life is filled with these things (the ones we want), the less room we leave for worrying, complaining, illness and unhappiness - the weeds of life.

What are you planting today? Tomorrow? And all the days after that?

We are ShivaShaktiSynthesis

Recently someone asked me how to describe her style of yoga. She said, … “People call themselves Iyengar, Kripalu, Anusara etc. What are we?” I replied, “We are ShivaShakti Synthesis.”  What a wonderful way to get a conversation going.  If someone asks about your style of yoga and you say “I was trained through ShivaShakti Synthesis,” they are sure to ask what that is.  This becomes your opening to say what ShivaShakti means to you. ShivaShakti is about finding your authentic voice.  Acknowledge your tradition and use your words to let the world know what your passion and offer is. What are your feelings about this? And how would you describe your offer?