Yoga, Health, and Wellness Articles + Recipes

Spring has arrived. Every morning I walk past rows of yellow daffodils, an abundant array of colorful tulips, and blossoming plums trees. In my own garden plants I see my blackberry bush reemerging. Although, the Himalayan blackberry is an invasive species and grows easily, the plant still needs attention in order for us to enjoy the fruit. Last August, I observed so many blackberries on bush near my house -- some were even rotting. Excited about collecting the blackberries, I returned a few days later, with a bucket in hand, to find the blackberries shriveled, hard, and pruning. There was a hardly a good blackberry to be found. Across the walkway though, where there was a lot of foot traffic, and where berries were picked regularly, the bushes were producing plump and abundant berries.

It’s amazing to me … this life, this body we walk around in, our thoughts, our dreams. This entire existence we call life. I slept through a good portion of mine, mainly because I was in pain and didn’t really know how to deal with it. Had no tools at all! I kept running into pain and after falling down over and over again, I began to numb, to stuff and ignore my pain. Traversing through life above my pain was my coping mechanism. Putting it away for another time was easier.