Life/Death/Life

Spring and Fall are my favorite seasons. Even their names are indicative of why I love them: the movement and transformation. The colors are intoxicating and stop me in my tracks over and over. Yet, both seasons are such a time of grasping for me. I'm enraptured by the blooms and want them to stay forever, perpetually bursting with life. That's not how it works though. As with all things, we must honor the life/death/life cycle. The growth of spring isn't only in watching it burst open, but also in learning to love it while it's here and embrace the transformation as it shifts into the next phase, the next season of life.

In Buddhism, cherry blossoms symbolize the transience of life: a tragically short, but brilliant and necessary blossoming forth, and a reminder that life is fleeting. By now we know that Spring won't last. The blooms will transition to green and the flowers will fall back to the dirt. We are asked to witness and revel in her beauty, live fully and appreciatively, and then let her go softly as her time to die arrives. It all just leads to the next phase of LIFE.

The cycles of nature teach us about ourselves. We are not so different from the trees, but we can learn from their generous giving and their quietly letting go. Can we bloom to our most beautiful selves and understand that our budding open means we absolutely must transition to the next phase of our journey, even if it isn't characterized by a soft and delicate flower, but instead by the sharp fire of transformation? It's all growth and it all must happen just as it does. When we flow with these cycles, the suffering diminishes.

We will explore our relationship to the wisdom of Mother Nature this June at the Women's Weekend in the Woods, a yoga and camping exploration for women looking to empower themselves and gracefully blossom into the next phase of their beautiful lives.

Join us?

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