Deep Medicine

Last weekend I had the opportunity to participate in a healing retreat through @deepmedicinecircle — It was held on the Te Kwe A'naa Warep farm on Ramaytush Ohlone territory. Otherwise known as San Gregorio. The produce grown on the farm will be distributed entirely to people who are in need, in an effort to address food insecurity in marginalized communities. How cool, right?!

It felt refreshing to be in community with a group of like minded people working in the health professions. People who not only understand, but firmly believe and work ardently towards a future wherein fresh food, clean air, water and housing are not viewed as extensions medicine — but rather as medicine itself.

While at the farm, I got to learn a lot about, well, farming, and more specifically about what it really takes to go from a seed scattered on soil to a meal prepared and served at the table. While walking the land, I got to learn from experts in indigenous plant medicine about the unique qualities of the plants we were seeing — the distinct value and robustness of each flower, each stem, each leaf.

I have been thinking a lot recently about my own lack of connection to nature in a way that feels substantial and meaningful. I see a flower and I think — pretty!!! Or I watch the waves crash along the coast and I think — nice!!! And there isn’t much more too it... and I think maybe I’m missing a greater appreciation or reverence for it.

And what’s more is that I have been yearning for some sense of stillness. Wishing that I could stop time, to be more present and savor the fleeting moments of my every day. On the farm I realized that I have a lot to learn. And that the land invites itself as a space for that very learning. And that if you offer yourself the permission to be still, to listen and to be in relationship with the soils, the streams, the creatures, the vegetation and the brilliant sun... then the learning will come to you.

I hope I will continue to offer myself that permission. And if it’s something that you want, then I hope you will too.