SOUND HEALING IN SEDONA

On Saturday, Taylor and I hopped in the car early morning and hit the road in search of flowers. We wanted to find Sacred Datura out in the wild. The featured flower in next month’s Flowerevolution, we wanted to get photos of it.

It’s a Moonflower - it blooms under the star and moonlight, but if you find it early enough in the morning you can still catch a blossom. When we got far enough out of the city on a dirt road, we found two huge flowers, but they were a bit droopy, having reached their full bloom hours earlier. We drove north, thinking we’d look for huge Datura plants, so we could come back at night for some moonlit photos.

In seeking out the plant, we learned something really interesting about it. It grows mostly where there are humans, where it’s needed.

I remember being surprised years ago, when I realized that the most compressed traffic areas on the freeway in Seattle were lush with Lupine flowers -- the de-stress flower right where drivers needed it! Similarly, it’s common to find Sacred Datura growing right near the roads, where those who need it most are passing by.

It reminded me that plants often grow where they’re needed, whether by humans, animals, unseen beings or the environment in general.

Eventually we found ourselves at the creek between Sedona and Flagstaff and saw so many other flowers that are in our collection (that I imagine we needed that day, and didn’t even know that we needed them):

Columbine

If you feel drawn to Columbine, there may be something you’re internally wrestling with. You may be weighing options, going back + forth in the ultimate spin cycle of dualism: good, bad, want, don’t want, like, don’t like.

This flower makes you feel like the world has your back. You are supported and take solace in the recognition of inner and outer support. Also known as 'Silver Queen,' this flower helps you become your own fairy godmother, with the same feeling of relief when you rest your head on her lap. You don't have to bear the weight of the world alone, as there is an army of support behind you and within you. Read more.

Stream Orchid

If you're attracted to Stream Orchid, you may have something in your heart that has gone unexpressed? Alternatively, you may be curious about the healing power of sound. Stream Orchid helps us tap into the healing powers of our own voice. We can liberate stuck energies in the body through vocal expression, and expand our potential as healers by gaining a deeper experiential understanding of the healing power of sound. Read more.

Banana Yucca

If you're attracted to Banana Yucca, you may have experienced a recent urge to ‘break out’ or have felt a desire to experiment with how you show up in the world and how your ‘work’ manifests into physical form.

Banana Yucca brings hidden talents to the surface. It dissolves insecurities around our capabilities and enhances our ability to make unexpected leaps and bounds in our progress toward reaching our goals. You may surprise yourself with what you’re capable of! Read more.

Being out in nature was such a great reminder that flowers bloom when we need them most. They offer their healing powers so generously -- even when we don’t even know we need them.

I spent the rest of the day wading through the creek, gazing at the sky and the trees, observing butterflies and crayfish and finding myself again. My mind was blown when I could once again feel my most peaceful, powerful, spacious self arising.

Isn’t it funny that we don’t realize we’re so far from embodying our most powerful essence … until we’re reminded of what it feels like. The contrast is illuminating.

I want to make sure you know that the whole LOTUSWEI team is waiting on standby to support you. The best way we know how to do that is with flowers.

Drop us a line. Give us a bulleted list -- how you feel and how you want to feel.

If there’s a flower, a podcast or a practice that we can offer to amplify how you want to feel, we’ll share it with you.

In the meantime, I’ll be out in the wild, looking for new flowers to collect.

Love + flower petals,
Katie

P.S. Here's a poem that I wrote that day:

the icy stream numbs my bare feet
I choose my steps carefully
and cross to the other side

there is a bank with wild stream orchids
green and yellow, with red jaws that snap shut
and a handful of sticky monkey flowers

eventually I lay it all down
defenses and tension
curling up on the cool rocks

I can melt onto the shoreline here
underneath treetops, blue sky, and fast-moving clouds
nestled by the sound of trickling water

I want to let Mother Nature have her way with me
I beseech her for the latest wisdom updates
*teach me your magic!

I want to become the fierce, jagged edges 
and seductive, smooth curves of your cliffside
I want to be that majestic and otherworldly

I want to be as friendly as the forest
as sweet as the honey nectar
in the tiny bulbs of the wild columbine

I want to understand your timelessness
your savage fearlessness
wild regenerative power