Reflecting on the winter months and how the dark, shorter days can impact health and mood, I am reminded of the healing value of our connection with nature, with the wild. In these days of information overload, overstimulation and worldwide disruption and chaos, it is easy to lose sight of our innate and wonderful relationship with the natural environment. We have a biological and spiritual need to hunker down and be more inward looking for the winter season.
We share so many qualities with the natural world, and yet it can be easy to forget as the busy mind takes over and runs away with relentless cares and concerns. I think of how I have always loved stones, stopping to pick one up that draws my eye, feeling the smooth dense solidity of it. Stones are among the oldest living things on Earth. Stones, rocks and chunks of meteorite are the skeleton of our planet. Researchers have found ancient grains of stars in meteorite dust that are up to 7 billion years old. Rocks and stones probably have the slowest of all vibrations, such a deeply connected part of the Earth, pulling us back to grounding, stability, peace. Who has not been drawn to beach stones that have been tumbled, embraced and tossed around in the waves until they are smooth and kind? They offer a bridge – a balance between stable, solid energy, and emotional, watery energy.
Stones are record-keepers. Imagine what they have witnessed here on Earth. I think we humans have always had a fascination and affinity with stones and crystals. There are signs of amulets and talismans dating back to the beginning of humankind, and stones were used to make the first acupuncture needles. They also held an important place in ancient medicine. In many cultures, stones, crystals and gemstones are still considered living entities. The importance of stones and minerals to heal diseases was almost as important as the role of healing herbs. The healing power of stones was first recorded by Pliny the Elder in his encyclopaedia, The Natural History of Pliny. According to him, marbles were worn as amulets to cure headaches and snake bites. Pedanius Dioscorides (1st century AD) was a Greek physician whose famous work, Peri Hyles Iatrikes, contains information about 600 herbs and around 90 stones, including their curative powers. Past cultures knew that everything in nature had a purpose, a grand design, in which everything could be used for healing, and the resonance of everything melded and worked together to create balance. Deep inside us we still know.
We have such a biological and innate need to connect with natural life. We depend on nature for mental, emotional, spiritual and physical wellbeing. It regulates our entire systems, and without it we are depleted and withered. Wildness is becoming more and more of a necessity. I was listening to a TEDx talk the other day. Professor Graham Rook was talking about our microbial partners and how to look after them. He said that babies left to their own devices will consume a certain amount of soil each day from the environment, which adds to their microbiota in a good way, boosting the immunoregulatory mechanisms in the body.
Especially throughout winter, nature needs to be incorporated into our everyday lives, like a salve, a little going a long way, woven tightly into our days. Winter is our time to rest, go inwards, snuggle, sleep more, recharge, reflect on what were our biggest challenges this last year, what lessons we learned to take forward, and what we want to incubate and nourish in ourselves. That’s often hard when you have work and family commitments, so look for just one small thing a day. Take ten minutes to close your eyes. Listen to the dawn birdsong. Gather a basket of stones or pebbles you love. Take one and hold it, turn it over in your hands, knowing it has been on the Earth for so many of our lifetimes. If you see a rock in your path, pick it up, smell it, hold it. Maybe it has an old message for you. Breathe slowly. Step into your outside space. See what is around you. Notice the weather. Open your eyes to the sky, the sunrise. Lean against a tree and breathe in the bark. Sit by a stream or ocean and stare into the waters – this is to be present with something greater and to be enveloped in a much larger, eternal energy. For at least ten minutes in the morning, commit the day to unplugging and imbibing the restorative balance of nature.
As I write this, it is still autumn, and the day is full of autumnal sun – the last days of light. Despite the crazy list of things I ‘should’ be doing, I unplug and sit outside against the stone wall doing absolutely nothing except feeling the warmth seep into me, watching wasps eat the last of the grapes, the mint and sage blowing softly. I cup my hands around the lavender plant, still flowering, bury my face in it and inhale deeply. What I find are hot, sweet healing tears falling simply with the relief of connecting to this certain, vibrant, alive place right outside my door on the eve of winter.
“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes, including you.” Anne Lamott
____
Lizzie Mae Smith is a yoga teacher, homeopath, student of Ayurveda, writer, grandmother and artist. She loves supporting and guiding people to their full creative potential. On Instagram @lizzie_mae_smith
Published in issue 87. Accurate at the time this issue went to print.
