Dyer’s Woad????

Here we are just a few weeks shy of Summer Solstice, in the last few weeks of Spring. Spring is about growth and starting over, you can’t help but notice all the new growth and green everywhere. My Spring days are filled with pulling dyer’s woad. Dyer’s woad is a pesky weed that grows just about anywhere. If you live in the west you probably have seen it in vacant lots or fields. Let’s just say the only purpose of dyer’s woad is to reproduce and reproduce is what it does.

Dyer’s woad is a biennial - it exerts all of its energy during the first year to create a solid stable root that can be up to five feet long. The second-year it focuses on the growth of plants (usually about 4 feet high) with tiny yellow flowers that will produce thousands of seeds-to produce even more dyer’s woad.

You have basically three ways to rid yourself of the woad- poison, shovel, or pull. All ways are tedious and time-consuming and let’s just say the woad always wins.

So you are asking yourself- “What does this have to do with yoga?” Maybe nothing, maybe I’m just exhausted from all the weeding, but I tell you I have a lot of time to think when I’m in the field pulling the woad.

Let’s first discuss roots. As I stated before the roots of dyer woad are deep and strong. Roots are so important to humans. If you study your roots you can identify-  your history. It can help you identify why you do the things you do, the family values you have, patterns of behavior. You know the saying “apples don’t fall far from the tree”. And yes folks, history does repeat itself.

The root of a woad plant spends a year exerting all its energy on the root. That is one stable root. The root is all about survival, the more stable and steady the more apt to thrive. A root that is solid is able to withstand most storms and actually learn and thrive and grow.

Waking Up to Obstacles-

The biggest obstacle of getting rid of dyer’s woad is those darn roots! I can’t help but think and compare what is the biggest obstacle in my life right now? After much thought (haha)  and of course woad pulling I can say in one word- “thoughts”. 

A quick internet search on thoughts suggests that the average person has over 6,000 thoughts per day (95% of those thoughts are repetitive) with 80% of those thoughts being negative. Yep, that’s true, at least in my life, I often find myself questioning, “why am I having this thought again”.

Humans are just repetitive creatures we like patterns and our brains look for patterns, that is what our mind likes to do. Have you ever got in the car and drove home and wondered, how did I get here? Keep in mind most of your behavior is repetitive and follows a pattern. If you don’t believe me,  just try to change something you’ve gotten used to. Just simply changing the location of a wastebasket in your home, can help you start to understand how pattern-driven humans are. 

Negative thoughts are literally more than 50% of your thoughts. Negative to yourself, others, situations, or just life. These thoughts are not true, most of the time, they are just a collection of pattern behavior that you have just grown accustomed to. The thoughts are well, just thoughts. I would just like to suggest stopping running (yes literally) from your thoughts! We spend all this time and money avoiding our thoughts - shed the light on the dark on those thoughts and freedom will occur.

How do we release those negative thoughts? Just accept them with kindness and compassion. Yes just accept them. The serenity prayer says it beautifully………..

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

The way I see it you can heal yourself by darkness or light- thru suffering or seeing the goodness in everything. When a thought arises try to notice and identify if this is a repeated thought. Just noticing the thought will bring the thought to the light. Then just hold the thought (not the story that follows the thought) and ask yourself where you are feeling the thought in your body. Send your body the love and support by just acknowledging the thought, “ I hear you, I love you.” Self-love is never wrong. If you want world peace, just start with yourself and end the war within you.

Ways to become more mindful-

Watch your breath- the breath always brings you back to the present moment. The breath follows a perfect cycle of holding and letting go. There are so many pranayamas to choose from. I find the simplest breath to work the best. Just watch (be a curious observer of your body without judgment) and notice the breath coming and going in your body, just doing its own thing.

Getting back to the basics and remembering the basics with a beginner’s mind (fresh mindset) without any judgment from the past or reflection or concern on the future is always helpful in becoming more mindful. The best thing about mindfulness is that it just evolves, there is no goal or control. In fact, mindfulness is just what is, noticing with all your 5 senses involved.

Yoga is a moving mindful meditation, that is why it is so important to slow down the process and let the body and mind connect for svadhyaya (self-study) to occur. It may be difficult to slow down the process at a yoga studio but a home practice allows this to occur. When you first get into a pose try to find the space where the pose becomes effortless, if the pose is difficult, modify the pose, use props (blocks, blankets, walls, chairs, etc.). How do you know if the pose is difficult? The breath is your teacher, if the breath is labored, shallow lighten up on the pose. The breath should be even and deep. Become creative on how to modify the pose. This is where a one-on-one yoga session with a teacher could really help. Remember the magic happens when you are able to release into the pose and go into mindful meditative mind space. This is the goal of yoga.

The Warrior- 

Virabhadrasana II is a strong, energizing, and stabilizing pose. Holding this pose for a length of time brings balance to the body and mind. Virabhadrasana II (Warrior II) is the perfect pose to connect to the present moment. Imagine your feet firmly rooted into the ground or the present moment your neck can turn toward the arm in front and project into the future or can turn your neck to back arm and project into the past. Your body (the core) is perfectly balanced in the present moment with your past and future. 

Balancing Act-

Balancing poses, in general, helps you stay in the present moment. It’s very difficult to multitask in a balancing pose. You must be present and focused. Connect with all the warriors inside of yourself and challenge yourself by slowing down the practice and holding each Warrior I, II, and III  for 1-3 minutes. Just be a curious observer and see where your mind takes you without judgment,  or if you are judging follow that journey but just be present and connected to the moment. Remember you are not your thoughts and you are not a prisoner to your thoughts. Thoughts are just random puffs of smoke to take you out of the present moment. Think of it as a little game and see how long you can stick with the present moment. All the magic is occurring in the present moment. 

Much love and peace my friends - Namaste🤍