Tree roots
I’ve had a place of my own since I was twenty; something I have since come to realize is not common, especially here in Europe. Not having a place that I can call my own has been an interesting and not entirely pleasant experience.
My first few weeks abroad saw me exhausted from constant travel, starved for a home-cooked meal (rife with dark, leafy greens), and trying to manage the radical dislocation I felt as a result of being immersed in different ways of thinking, being, and doing. Not having a home made me more vulnerable to these experiences. At one point, I began to question my sanity. Did sane people willingly trade in comfort for living out of a suitcase and all the things that arise when you step outside your sphere of familiarity?
Searching for an answer to that question lead me to examine exactly what place and home mean to me.
A place is merely a point on the map. It can be either known or unknown to you. I have been to and fallen in love with many places and there are at least twice as many that I’d like to know.
A home is something else all together. It is a safe harbor where all things are familiar and known to you.
As I pondered the ways in which I was affected by my voluntarily homelessness, I remembered a conversation I had with a dear friend months prior. During that talk, she said that when a person is rooted into their body, the body becomes home. Ever the curious sort, I decided to see if my body could indeed take the place of the apartment I recently gave up. So I reached into the vaults where I store the tools I use to maintain my spiritual integrity. Out came the rooting exercise my friend taught me all those months ago.
After a week of consciously rooting into my body, my daily experiences transformed. I felt at ease and safe in even the most transient of places. After another week of rooting exercises, I began to feel nourished and supported. My external reality quickly re-aligned itself to match what I was feeling inside and I found myself in places where I could make my own meals and practice yoga. I also made the acquaintance of others who are eager to support my projects and assist me in settling here in the Netherlands. I’ve seen first hand how rooting into your body greatly facilitates your ability to extract from your environment the things that you need to survive and thrive.
Enough talk. Here’s that rooting exercise compliments of Jeannette over at www.soulfulindustry.com.
• Find a comfortable sitting position; either Indian style or in a chair with your feet placed flat on the ground.
• Close your eyes and begin to inhale and exhale slowly in and out of your nose.
• Engage mula bandha by tightening your perineum muscles and lifting your pelvic floor. As you release mula bandha imagine sending a large orange root down through your second chakra into the Earth’s core (Mother Earth’s heart).
• When you apply mula bandha, imagine pulling energy, support, love, nutrition up this root. As you relax mula banda reinforce the presence of the root, feel your energy connecting you with Mother Earth.
• As you continue to work with this root, know that Mother Earth provides all you need. It is impossible for you to lack anything because you are connected to source.
