The time has come for us to move!
Change can be hard + scary. But fear not. Change invites growth.
And so you can find us here, at our new home >>> http://www.animaldelatierra.com
Stop by on your travels. Rest your feet and take a deep breath. There are many more stories to be shared!
*Que exit music*
This past Spring, while the birds and bees were out buzzing about, I was in a classroom taking an Anatomy and Physiology course. On a particular class, a licensed Acupuncturist, Herbalist and Medical Qigong practitioner came in to talk with us about Chinese Medicine theory, Western Medicine, Acupuncture, Herbology, Nutrition, and very importantly, “the birds and the bees.” In short, she questioned where we stand physiologically and mentally with our own sexuality. Bet you didn’t expect that to be brought up at an Anatomy and Physiology course. Well, neither did I…but it did turn out to be the greatest A&P class I’ve ever taken!
We gathered in a circle to share stories, and watched an enactment between practitioner and client, and seriously played with our wonderment at the birds and the bees. And more specifically, why do we culturally refer to sex as the birds and the bees?
Birds build nests to prepare for their offspring and bees are busy bumbling to all the pretty flowers in the neighborhood, spreading pollen so that plants can reproduce. The magical work of these animals is definitely overlooked if we only work with their nature when we’re educating about sex. Don’t get me wrong, sex is important for our well being physiologically and mentally when we share a healthy outlook on it. I joke around with my friends about the statistics you hear of young men who think about sex every ten seconds. I don’t joke about it in any way that would be shameful, but I just wonder, what if every ten seconds, boys were literally thinking about birds and bees? If this were our reality, I believe the awareness around colony collapse disorder and rapidly disappearing species would be spread around the world so fast, we would have a cure to save all the birds and the bees in one day.
Juliette de Bairacli levy has said, “where bees can live, man can live. With the bees disappearing, this is a warning. Man cannot exist without the bees.”
I recently came across a very special woman who likely thinks about the birds and the bees more often than anyone else; and has transformed her vision into magical, healing action. The woman’s name is Sophia Rose. She is the founder of La Abeja Herbs, which is Spanish for The Honeybee. Sophia is an herbalist, a nomad, an inspiration. This is her completely true story of how she came to find love in the honeybees:
La Abeja was borne out of the passionate devotional love I felt and continue to feel for Honeybees. In 2011 I was completing training and clinical residency at the North American Institute Of Medical Herbalism. At that time I was in the clinic seeing clients a couple days a week and in the midst of writing my thesis, the Magikal + Medicinal Uses of Solomon’s Plume. My greatest joy that year was gathering and crafting all of the wild medicines for the clinic’s apothecary. I felt as though I had truly found my calling. Up until that point in my life, I’d felt that my Soul’s Path had been fairly clear–I’d always known my next step, even if only vaguely. But as my graduation from NAIMH drew near, I felt totaly uncertain as to how I wanted to proceed, as an herbalist or otherwise. One evening, I was alone in my bedroom–high up in the Rocky Mountains–four months into the punishingly windy subzero Winter. I was watching Queen Of the Sun, a movie about colony collapse disorder and the implications of life without bees. I was suddenly overcome with a mix of grief and joy and fervor. Tears streamed from my eyes and I clutched at my breast, gasping. And while I was moved by the film, it wasn’t the reason for my tears. They were, rather, the result of my realization that I was meant to devote myself, totally, to the stewardship of Honeybees.
Photo Courtesy La Abeja Herbs
La Abeja Herbs is currently stewarding the growth and continuation of life for all in many unique places. I would joyfully travel to any one of these places Sophia Rose calls home to meet her and collaborate with the work of La Abeja Herbs. I hope we cross paths soon, though I can’t say where. Honeybees are so footloose, they can’t be pinned onto a map. Again, these are animals which hold up a radical mirror reflection of our own nature. It seems, most of us have forgotten what the birds and the bees really stand for: growth, regeneration, healing and interdependence with all life.
It’s time we listen closer to the softest and sweetest sounds of those creatures who we surely couldn’t live without. You can learn more about the work of La Abeja Herbs here. And you can find more information about how you can help the bees here.
Photo Courtesy La Abeja Herbs
For all of those things in your life that you delight in, and maybe don’t always remember to share your gratitude for having it in your life, thank the birds and the bees. What world would this be without them? What would we think about every ten seconds without them?
When learning a new language, any good teacher will stress the importance of immersing yourself in it. You can do this by surrounding yourself with fluent speakers who will aid your brain in truly taking in whatever new way of communicating you’re studying. This way, you’re not just learning it; you’re living it.
Photography and Art by The Lexicon of Sustainaibility
My absolute favorite source for immersing myself in the language of sustainability is The Lexicon of Sustainability. The photograph you see above was created by the Lexicon as a project to help students discover and reconnect with their local food systems called “Project Localize”. The project has been a huge success and continues to inspire students and teachers to take their knowledge into their collective community and strike a match for sustainable change in their local food production system. I urge you to sit down and take some time to browse the education that The Lexicon of Sustainability has made easily accessible through picturesque scenes translated into just-the-right-combination-of words and short documentary videos available on their website. Find the beauty here: http://www.lexiconofsustainability.com/
Photography and Art by The Lexicon of Sustainaibility
I’m especially excited by their work because many of the farmers, ranchers, lexicographers, artists and researchers happen to have roots near my native habitat. This means that when I gaze out on the land that holds my heart and that still holds many mysteries for my mind, I smile to imagine these caretakers making change happen right over the next hillside. And as the effect of their efforts ripples out, I’ll feel and see the change in my homeland. Their research is thorough and their practices are the product of trial and error and an earnest desire to preserve the health of this place for the next, (hopefully) more sustainable generation. Their work is multi-faceted and unique to their livelihood, and similarly compelled by the Ancient saying, we do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.
Photography and Art by The Lexicon of Sustainaibility
So now that you know what awaits you at your fingertips, (as there is a true abundance of information on the language of sustainability once you decide its time to immerse yourself in it!) I’m going to change the subject, unfold a layer, or even be so bold as to pull on this thread and see where it’s connected to the rest of the world. Because frankly I can’t help but connect these random tangents that excite me back to the source that wells in my heart. Now, are you ready?
Here we go!
The one thing that all of these innovators, pioneers, and educators whose stories are shared on The Lexicon have in common is that they have dedicated themselves to undergoing an immersion in what makes their hearts beat and their minds race so that they can lead by example. The immersion I undergo in learning my beloved languages of Ayurveda and Animals is for one sole purpose: to learn to live it so I too can lead by example.
Photography and Art by The Lexicon of Sustainaibility
It is a simple lesson, but also a constant, difficult one: Those of us who want to change the world are told that we must first change ourselves. And those of us who stumble awkwardly and fall down constantly trying to be that change we want to see in the world then ask, (something like) “how did Ghandi make this look so easy?!” And the answer we receive is more often than not, “Why are you asking me? I don’t know. He was just being Ghandi.” However soon enough we inevitably find that Ghandi, for instance, didn’t just speak the language of change with grace, but he lived it with all of its growing pains. Finally then, the story of free and easy living and saving the world is demystified as we find it’s time to let go of wishing we could only be Ghandi, for example, and decide to learn to live this language that speaks graceful truth.
And so the fun begins!
Elizabeth Gilbert wrote in her groundbreaking novel Eat, Pray, Love as she set out to change her relationship to pleasure, devotion, and balance in Italy, India and Bali:
Destiny, I feel is also a relationship- a play between grace and willful self-effort. Half of it you have no control over, half of it is absolutely in your hands and your actions will show measurable consequences. Man is neither entirely a puppet of the gods, nor is he entirely a captain of his own destiny; he’s a little of both.
We gallop through our lives like circus performers balancing on two speeding side-by-side horses – one foot is on the horse called “fate” the other on the horse called “free will”. And the question you have to ask everyday is, Which horse is which? Which horse do I need to stop worrying about because it’s not under my control, and which do I need to steer with concentrated effort?
Our relationship to language and the way that we speak and live it, is one of our greatest tools for healing ourselves and realizing changes we pray for. We can pray for change, happiness and peace in our lives and in the world, but as Gilbert writes, our free will and fate is a relationship and half of the job is ours. We will see change when we immerse ourselves in the language that speaks to our hearts longing for happiness and our minds love of the greatest mystery, peace. I can’t tell you what that language is specifically for you, but I do believe that fundamentally and at it’s very core, it will embody the practice of Sustainability.
Photography and Art by The Lexicon of Sustainaibility
Sustainability is the ability to continue a defined behavior indefinitely. And if you’ve never cared to learn the definition of the word sustainability before now, well then I assure you could still be living a sustainable life, only you aren’t an etymology geek like myself. I cared to learn the definition and see how it’s changed throughout history, because if it isn’t embarrassingly evident by now, I am really interested in the roots of languages and how they are used to sustain relationships.
There is one frustrating, stubborn and hot-headed aspect to language that I have a problem with however, and that is it’s ability to cause a real lack of communication. Think of political jargon, empty promises and manipulating framing. The reality of language is, some people use it to show how much they care and others use it to show how much they know. Those of us who use language, whatever dialect it may be, to talk our way into the hearts of those we want to help are using it as a tool to show how much we care. This style of communicating can build a strong bridge to someone’s heart that will make words, eventually, unnecessary. And the opposite style of communication, which is not specific to any one dialect, is the use of language as a tool to show how much you know. This kind of use of language is tricky, as if you aren’t careful to spearhead communication in conjunction with the language of how much you care, you will become increasingly more reliant on words. This form is often abused by people acting selfishly or without consideration for others.
It can be hard for some people to pick up what place others are communicating from if they aren’t aware of where they are coming from themselves. However, the intelligence and intuition of animals can always detect what place people are communicating from; genuine or ingenuine. When working with animals, communicating how much you know will get you absolutely nowhere, unless they know first how much you care. This is something I’ve learned from the great Horseman and teacher, Buck Brannaman.
The Lexicon of Sustainability connects the dots and builds a beautiful language based in sustainability studies that’s easy on the eyes ~ http://www.lexiconofsustainability.com
Learning to communicate from a genuine place of caring so that we can get across how much we know is the foundation of the language of sustainability. If we can come from these places in our interactions with all things, then whatever language we speak, we will be speaking our graceful truth. My teacher of Ayurveda, DeAnna Batdorff says that if we speak equally from our hearts and our minds, our voice will come together and always communicate graceful truth. Our voice is a gift, and we are responsible for taking great care in sharing it with the world.
How much care this takes, in immersing ourselves in the language of sustainability is dependent upon what our graceful truth is. You’re the only one who knows what it’s like to be in your body and live with your heart and your mind. All I can really say knowing my body and the way it communicates and relates to the world, is that if I want to sustain my feelings of happiness in my heart and peace in my mind, I need to be working with animals to play with grace and willful self-effort and utilizing diagnostic tools of Ayurveda to help myself find that balanced place of belonging in the world where there is a hole in the shape of me, and live there.
To simply conclude, I suppose that living in a sustainable way for me, requires as much care as I truly care to sustain.
Photo Courtesy The dhyana Center
Posted in Healing, Homesteading
Tagged ayurveda, graceful truth, homestead, language, local, love, mother earth, relationships, respect, slow living, sustainaibility, The Lexicon of Sustainability
I rounded a bend in my perception of our relationships with animals when I started studying fiber and natural dyes.
Photo Courtesy La Abeja Herbs
My environmental science teacher encouraged me to find a mentor to help me learn the fiber arts, and ultimately helped me find the most best mentor I could ask for, who was a short distance from my home. This person is a huge influence in the fiber world, working locally to start a revolution that is spreading like wildfire across the country and the world. Her name is Rebecca Burgess, the founder of Fibershed. In high school, I had only wanted to learn to make clothes, but what I learned from Fibershed, the organization that is based in the bioregion where I was raised, ignited a much bigger wonder. Rebecca gave a lecture at my school and put in our hands a map of the producers, farmers, ranchers, designers and artisans within 150 miles of our home that were a part of the process of making our clothing. She handed us this map so we could use it to connect the dots of what it took to dress ourselves, however unfortunately most of our clothing we wear is stitched by a map that stretches at least 1000 miles from our home.
The more immersed I am in this map where the dots between fiber production, design and processing are close together, (within 150 miles of one another), the more I feel connected to the revolution of shepherding good ideas and good feelings. Brittany Cole Bush gave a presentation at the Fibershed Wool Symposium 2013 in Point Reyes that rejuvinated my understanding of where the potential in the Fibershed map really lies. I’ve attached a link to this map at the bottom of the post and encourage you to watch it, be entertained and inspired! To me, what Brittany spoke about, “Shepherding animals, people and projects” really boils down to the transformation of being able to see how the animals who produce raw fibers are cared for, getting to know the methods and perspectives of the people stewarding these animals, and getting a glimpse at the artistry behind crafting the finished clothing piece.
Brittany Cole Bush is a new generation of Shepherdess, working to “shepherd animals, people and projects” ~ http://www.brittanycolebush.com
This revolution reminds me that our obsession with wearing the right thing and shopping for a fresh new look isn’t honestly all about just looking good. What the revolution is really about is good feelings and nourishment, or feeling warm to the touch. And these feelings are not only gleaned by the end product of the fiber industry, but should be felt and seen through each step: the raising of animals, the sheering, the skirting, the spinning, the designing, and the processing and wearing.
FIbershed, changing the way we look at clothing ~ http://www.fibershed.com
Resources:
Videos from Fibershed’s 2013 Wool Symposium in Point Reyes ~ http://www.fibershed.com/wool-symposium-2013/live-stream/
I like to see magic all around me.
I was born and raised in Sonoma County in Northern California, a very magical place. My family transplanted itself here because my Dad was a Sea Urchin diver, and the market for Sea Urchins was booming in this region. Coming from a picturesque Southern California town, my Mom initially saw the place that would come to be my hometown and said, “I wouldn’t be caught dead living here.” Today, here we are caught dead living in a small bohemian town in Northern California, a short drive from the Ocean, the City and the Mountains; pinch me. Having lived here my whole life, sometimes I see this place as a sleep-inducing field of lotus’ and want so badly to wake up. Traveling to foreign places is surely a wake up call. The things I take for granted in this place are luxuries in other places. If for nothing else, we should travel to remain humble that life is a gift. Sometimes I drive out to the Ocean and plunge into the cold salty depths nearly naked, and let my whole body become numb and I never feel more alive. And every chance I get I drive out to a horse ranch on top of a great hill where my two horses live and I run and muse about life with them. They are great listeners, but above all they are great communicators. I will share their stories, do not worry.
Animal as Medicine is a seed. It is years old in being dreamed, and still at this time I do not know what it will grow into, (though still, I dream). Looking back, it seems its creation began when my relationship with horses began. My journey with horses began when I was six, and finally at age eleven, I embarked on a deeply connected journey with a sweet mare called Jasmine. At the time my Mom had remarried and my Sisters and I moved to our new home in the country, which had a yard built to house horses. An utter fairytale. My hands have also cared for many wild horses, who have come into my life either as a companion for Jasmine or a teaching project for me, and have set wildfire to my dreams urging me to study in depth the true nature of horses and wild creatures.
I’ve heard a powerful healer say that we can believe what we want to believe, but the truth will always be the truth. Horses are a strong medicine for us; my favorite Ayurvedic herb that I use for regenerating the tissues and strengthen the reproductive system is Ashawaganda, literally meaning Strong like Horse. The incredible healer who taught me all about this herb, DeAnna Batdorff, is the reason why Animal as Medicine was rooted and given life through Ayurveda. I actually learned what Ashawaganda translated to mean at an introduction to Ayurveda class at the dhyana Center in the Summer of 2012. And right then and there, I gave up my plans and scholarship to study Natural Horsemanship at the University of Montana Western, and signed up to study in the Clinical Program in Ayurveda taught at the dhyana Center that Fall.
My life has been blessed with so many healing influences. I feel so deeply connected to the animals I take care of, my wild and beautiful friends and family, and Ayurveda as a lifestyle and a lifelong study, that I can’t honestly draw a line between where their influences end and mine begins. Of course, life is never without it’s trials and tests of character, and I hit walls and run into boundaries at times. Early this morning, my dear friend left a message for me to encourage me through a hard time I am facing and I want to share it with you in hopes that it may medicate your day too. I feel the need to share it not only with you but with all the animals around me. I always want to give them some sort of explanation as to why the whole process of domestication was beneficial to both the human and animal side of the equation, but I also feel they need now more than ever to be given permission to be wild again. It doesn’t mean that we will care for them any less than we do now, but that perhaps we will take better care because they will be in tune with who they truly are: wild beautiful creatures.
My wild and beautiful human friend spoke these words of advice that I love so much because they apply not only to me as she was intending, but to all the magical animals who I call medicine:
“I just want you to know that you can define yourself. It’s so important to support what you have, you’re so lucky to have family. But make sure that you nourish yourself and that you take care of yourself because after all what you’ve got is your own two feet, and your head and your beautiful mind. So don’t let your soul get mangled by what’s going on right now. Just stay grounded and be strong, because you are so much stronger than you might think you are. I know you can do this, I know you can get through it.” – A Wild and Beautiful Creature
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