Lessons from the Lilies

This week Carolyn West, senior teacher and trainer for the Stress Reduction Clinic and Oasis Training Institute, offers a reflection on learning from the ways of flowers… Carolyn tends her garden in Ludlow, Massachusetts.

It’s mid-July and the day lilies in New England are blooming—opening and closing, coming and going with the rhythm of the summer days. Shades of yellow and orange, blood-red and tangerine, their softly fluted petals curl back each morning, spreading their faces to the rising sun. I’ve been noticing how they seem to settle and be happy most anywhere, planted purposely in a garden or making an unscripted appearance among the Queen Anne’s Lace along the rural roadside; and I’ve been noticing, too, how their long, reed-like, surprisingly sturdy stems stretch and arc naturally and predictably away from the shade and toward the light…No instructions needed…no staking or training…no resistance or grumbling…something in their essence sensing—knowing—responding to what they need.

I’ve also been noticing more stiffness in my body these days—this, too, a natural response to the seasons of life, and meeting me in the mornings, especially: Fingers a bit less limber, shoulders and neck registering some tightness, back muscles less immediately pliant. There are mornings when I simply push through the discomfort, ignoring the messages of my body and collude instead with the mind’s insistent pull toward its insatiable desire to do and accomplish. Most days, though, I spread my yoga mat along the broad open floor, a fitting place to receive this body and the effects of the night. Lying on my back in resting pose, I immediately experience some release… No longer in a hurry, my body easily offers a knowing of what is needed…in response, I lift my arms and stretch long and full, allowing my eyes to close and the sensations of the stretch to be savored. Releasing, limbs and torso, bones and flesh sink more deeply into the mat. I roll my head slowly from side to side, sensations emanating from the back of my skull and neck, facial muscles softening… …No agenda, here…the body finely attuned to what is enough. Now a stretch, a holding, a release…this movement, this twist…nothing planned or forced…my body leading the way.

Day lilies, our bodies, we have this in common…an innate knowing of what is needed, what will serve. The day lily receives no argument from the stem as it reaches for what will nourish it. We humans, on the other hand, have a mind that can easily override the body’s wisdom, postponing until later or another day, that which nourishes.

I roll up my mat, slip on my shoes, and move downstairs, the mind is quieter now, my body more at ease. I am grateful on this day: I listened.

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What a pleasant reminder of your wisdom in an everyday mid-summer event. As I read your words I am brought back to our space and a warmth and joy has come over me. A great way for me to begin my week in the world.

Peace and thank you.

Mike

Thanks, Carolyn! We seem to be in sync. This past Saturday, to add a spark
of nature’s colors in the summer CFM All-Day room, we placed a bouquet of
day lilies, orange, yellow and peach. Even as I write, the lilies are also
blooming in the garden just outside the MBSR classroom. What a gift!

Beautiful. Thank you, Carolyn.

Dearest Carolyn, this is my first time back on cfm since PTI. I found the group photo taken at the end of the course and this wonderful blog entry from you. Both are beautiful reminders of all the wonderful gifts and learning I received at PTI. Tomorrow I teach my fourth class. I feel nourished and encouraged by reading your words and seeing everyone once more.
With much gratitude and sending you much Metta.
Stephanie:-)

Lovely, it brings to mind an earlier exhortation to mindfulness?
‘Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.’ Mathew 6:28

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Beautifully said. May we all remember to listen!

– David

What a beautiful reflection. I fondly remember our time together in Ca and Mass and the many moments of mindful movement there. “What’s called for now?” is the refrain I brought home and continue to live into and ask the participants in the MBSR class. Thank you for the photograph. It’s a stunning example of nature teaching us over and over how to be in the world- " …sensing-knowing-responding to what they need."
Thanks so much.

Beautiful reflection. 🍃