🍁The sap is rising - and so are the people.

A lesson from the our maple relatives (and a vocabulary lesson from my client).

you were not born to be a machine, child. That’s the first line from a poem I’ve had on my altar for the last several months. Find the poem at the end of this post.

I’m here to remind you - that with all this pressure - you were not meant to be a machine of resistance. Keep reaching for nourishment. Keep connecting. Keep resting.

If you’re looking for ways to do that: I’d love to sing with you this Sunday. Come be in some embodiment practice with me in Beulah this spring as we deepen into the practice of listening to our bodies for how we might wield our power in this moment. (early bird registration ends this week!). Join us Monday for Nourish: a gathering with the SALT Coalition to tend our spirits and to each other. Join us for some connection and care. Grief is flowing these days - join my fellow grief tenders an online offering on April 10th 7-9pm! (Scroll down for more on these opportunities below.)

🤓 For now -here’s that vocab word and a lesson from the maples. 🤓

My client taught me a new word recently: “turgid.”

I was feeling for the word without definition in me - when I first heard it my brain and body felt like it must mean something rigid or constipated. Which aren’t unrelated sensations, perhaps. Webster’s definition is: swollen, distended.

My client clarified - she felt full. Full to the edges. Enlarged. In a good way, she said.

Later she sent me a picture and an explanation: “Turgid cells are healthy, strong, upright, doing what they are here to do.” She also shared that turgid is always taught in conjunction with osmosis. The cell takes in water to become turgid. When the cells of a plant are not turgid - it wilts, falls. Turgid cells are what support the plant to stay upright — to be firm and vigorous. There’s a fullness of life in a turgid cell.

There’s plenty to pause and reflect on here as we feel for our own state in this time.

• Do you feel full? In a good way? Like you can stand upright and be vigorous?

• Do you feel wilted, fallen away from the edges of yourself? What might allow you to receive, like the porous membrane of a cell, a little more water, a little more support?

All of this talk of turgidity (I really love using this new word) has had me wondering about how the sap flows in the maple trees. It’s sugaring season here, which means people are tapping trees and drinking sugar juice from these sturdy beloveds, as they keep vigil by the fire to make some of the best sweetness there is: maple syrup.

We tap a maple tree in the spring when the pressure inside of the tree is the most immense. It’s like when you pop a really full water balloon. A turgid cell. The sap flows in the tree because there is positive pressure in the tree. A fullness and a flow.

This fullness - however - only flows when there is a cycle of freezing nights and warm days. The tree draws up water into the cells which contracts in the freezing nights. When the sunshine and above freezing temperatures of daylight arrive - that water expands and the pressure builds. When the pressure builds, the sap flows through the tree.

The process continues as long as there are freezing temperatures and warming days. The flow moves when there is this fluidity of contraction and expansion.

It is pressure that initiates the flow, but it is not constant pressure. The tree only gives when there is slowing at night. Once the days and nights are both warm, the flow stops, and the tree focused on blooming and fruiting.

Catch this 9 min video on The Science of Sap from the Grass River Natural Area in NoMi

There is a sense of aliveness in this process, the turgidity of the tree that has fullness, strength, and gift for the world. It is vigorous, firm and flowing all at once. And part of what makes that possible is the undulation of the contraction and the release or flow. The trees “stop running” we say, and then they “run again.” And of course, all of this happens inside of the larger cycle of the seasonal year. This flow happens inside of a the cycle of the dormancy of winter, the blossom of spring and summer, and the release of autumn.

The intentional overwhelm of the attacks coming at us are intended to either have us run so hard we run dry. Or pull back and pull away. From each other and what we care about. This is intended to make us wilt and fall.

With the maple trees at our sides, I want to call in the the ebb and flow of our action - our rising and stilling. Our contraction and our flow.

Let’s keep listening to our bodies and allow ourselves to be still and slow when we need to, so we can keep rising and flowing. Remember: it is pressure that allows the sap to flow. How can we let the pressure of this moment organize us toward what we love? How does the pressure of this moment enliven you? How does it want to flow? And where or how can you be nourished so that it flows with intention and care?

You were not born to be a machine, child.

Be nourished, for the waves of rising up that are needed in these times.

I hope to see you soon.

Wielding the Wisdom - an 8-week small group coaching circle

Somatics is a path of practice that serves us especially when we are under pressure. Our bodies contain a universe of wisdom and possibility that can be a resource for us to use, or wield, with purpose. Come for the healing, connect with your deeper desires, you might just leave with more community too! 🐦 The first early bird perks — a free 1:1 coaching session and 10% off — end today (Fri, March 14)! 🐦

NoMi Song Circles - monthly singing for liberation!

Sunday - March 16th from 3-6pm at the Alluvion. Join us for a community song circle (no singing experience needed- you only need to think you might like it to sing!) Bring your voice, be held by the song. We do these every month - so if it doesn’t work out this time - follow me here and hear about the next one.

Nourish - practicing spiritual resiliency together

Monday - March 17th at 6pm at the New Waves Community House. These monthly gatherings, hosted by the SALT Coalition, are here to nourish us in this political moment. Rooted in a diverse body of spiritual traditions, we will gather for spiritual support amidst these times to build trust, community, and embody the world we collectively dream of.

                                                                 the journey

                                     you were not born to be a machine, child

                                    can't you feel the life inside of you
                                    the wildness that is your inheritance
                                    buried like the bones of your ancestors
                                    and all they created

                                    awaiting your excavation

                                    can you hear their voices
                                   *beckoning* -- they are within you
                                    deep within that hallowed
                                    cave inside your chest

                                    that is where this path will lead you

                                    and sometimes, you will fear the journey
                                    of course, you will doubt, and then
                                    you might remember these words
                                    and the way the sun warms your skin
                                    as it rises, the wind's embrace,
                                    the rocks beneath your feet, and the 
                                    ice cold water of the stream

                                    at night you might build a fire and follow 
                                    it's embers as they ascend toward the 
                                    fires burning in the heavens
                                    and you will know

                                    this is where you were always meant to be

                                                                      ~ Julia Flint, 2002