Heart - Core Energy

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." Anais Nin

It has taken me six months to muster the courage to write this post. Turns out the Heart is a hard one for me, little did I know! For some reason I couldn't bring myself to research or to address the Heart chakra. But then, like a beacon of light, my heart caught fire to the idea and I felt the warmth of inspiration.

I learned something over the past six months through making some life changes. The first is that living with a closed heart is not living. The second is that opening your heart is hard only initially (W-D 40 might be necessary), but once you start it is really hard to close it up again. The third is that paying attention to the heart means listening, through stillness, to your feelings (yikes - scary), but again, once you start tuning in you get pretty blown away by what you hear.

So how does this relate to plants you ask? Damn good question! Let's see if I can get this out in under 200 words!

My take has been that you can pretty much think your way through anything that life sends your way. If you are creative, employ some ingenuity, and add a dash of guts on the side, you can manage your way through the challenges of life - both the cool ones and the crappy ones. It was a "mind-over-matter" mentality and let me tell you it has worked pretty well for lots of years. This life tactic can be a great skill, but in the absence of some heart centered grounding it will only take you so far. If per chance the adversity you face no longer has you at the center...let say your parent's lives start to fall apart, or your child almost dies...then what? Where's your illusion of control now? Where is your power coming from? Mind-over-matter? I think not! Something else has to kick in. WHAT?

I have been asking myself this question for about a year now. I have been told time and time again to sit, be still, and meditate. That is like telling a monkey to hang out with a bunch of bananas and not feel any cravings! I mean ME sit STILL? Seriously though, I am working this meditation thing hard. BUT what I do when my brain gets so itchy that I felt like scratching it with a screw driver is I go to the plants. I walk and talk to my gardens (I know, certifiable). I take deep breaths and envision the oxygen I take in as a gift from the plants. Then as I slowly exhale I give my gift of carbon dioxide back to the plants in reverent gratitude. Little by little, through this practice, my heart started to warm up and I started to feel - OMG did I! Like years of it. All the hard work to keep it shut and safe behind some artificial barrier began to unravel and the thing is I couldn't stop it. And when I felt like I'd get swallowed up by it...I went back to the plants.

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. ~Dalai Lama

Turns out that the Heart Chakra energy is symbolized by the color green; the color dominated by the Plant Kingdom. The element represented by the Heart Chakra is air; the air we share with plants everywhere. Anahata is its sanskrit name which means unstruck or unhurt. This confused me initially, but the idea is this; under all the hurt, worry, and suffering is an energy center more resilient and whole than we give it credit for. When you look at plants you can see heart energy in their greenness, and you can witness it in their resilience. Think of the strong oak, the flexible grasses and all the fabulous flowers that come and go each year without giving up - even though they "know" winter will come and kill them off. Think of how love works...it is an amazing force within the human soul that drives us forward far more powerfully than any measure of will ever could.

A plant that is revered in folklore, herbalism and even conventional medicine is the Hawthorn. This tree symbolizes the trust and safety we can all feel by embracing an open heart. This plant, it has been suggested, is instrumental in the functioning of blood flow to the heart. Add to that the beauty of this tree as a landscape specimen and it becomes a "must have" for those wishing to work on their heart: Crataegus viridis 'Winter King.

In yoga there are poses to increase the flow of energy through the Heart Chakra. Often they are hard back bending poses that may require assistance (well, unless you are a yogi). But asking for help requires opening to it, trusting in it, and then accepting it. WOW, you know that's a tall order for a do-it-yourself kinda chick like me. But life's circumstances have demanded that I wake up and smell the skunk cabbage. Asking continues to be difficult, but I am practicing the best I can. This I think is what the Dalai Lama meant by self compassion.

The Heart Chakra sits in the middle of the chest and it is a pivotal point between the lower three chakras (see past posts) which symbolize matter (yeah, I'm good with those) and the upper three chakras (yet to come) which symbolize spirit (more challenging for all who are tethered to the material world). The heart is a balancing force that helps us communicate between the two realms. Ever notice how plants can do that too? An expanse of healthy lawn dotted through with lush gardens, lightly shaded by trees; a bench in the distance calling you to come rest, breathe and get centered - balanced. Gardens are brilliant like that.

Every parcel of land, no matter how small, bubbles with this potential to assist in balancing the energies of our bodies and our earth. We, as humans, in the heavily (sometimes harshly) developed world have the gift of mobility, creativity and opposable thumbs. We can garden and nurture plants, so they can nurture us right back!

I am still working on this one. It just may take more than a blog post to get right. Gardening and communing with my plants are a mainstay for sure. Yes, I'll keep practicing the meditation thing too - monkey mind and all. Most importantly though, I think I finally get that I need to stay open and compassionate to myself as well as others as I navigate life. Oh yeah, and we all need to remember to BREATHE!

Happy Gardening!