Nourished through our wounds…

In “The Joyous Body”, written by Clarissa Pinkola Estés, nature teaches us how to become nourished through our wounds, if we allow. On unforgiving mountains, in the barren starkness, beyond the upper limit, where trees were said to not grow, is where Clarissa formed her deep bond with the bristlecone pines. She shared her love – they shared unlimited wisdom in abundance.

The trees past the timberline, were not immediately visible, as they hunkered down, kissing the granite rock; to the unknowing eye, they could be mistaken for bushes. These trees, older than Christ, survived brutal cyclical elements. Then there were the trees, holding onto the furthest rocks, jetting out over canyons.

The trees, seemingly bushes, on the most unrelenting side of the mountain, stretch across the rock, instead of the sky, in order to grow. Clarissa mused on how many of us, have been bedridden, emotionally, physically, through life’s challenges and yet, we still grow. The trees balancing on jetting rocks, on the less windy side of the mountain, are again, where people say they can’t exist. The fact is, they have found a way to thrive, in the most remarkable of circumstances. Clarissa notes that what she witnessed in them, is the spirit in the psyche, even past 2,000 years. It’s that life force, streaming, unbounded, cursing through the soul of the tree.

What Clarissa learnt from these wise, magnificent teachers, was that they had adapted in body, to withstand all that came their way. As people, if only we “allowed” this “listening” between the self and body to occur – Clarissa describes the body as “our beautiful companion and consort” – we’d expand deeply in knowledge and wisdom too.

We have the same access to energy for vibrant health, as the trees do, however, if we do not bring light to our wounds and allow for the healing of our samskaras, then this shakti or life force is blocked. In Indian philosophy samskaras are “psychological imprints”, “mental impressions” or “recollections”, engraved on our energetic body. Michael J Singer talks in his book, “The Untethered Soul”, about old TVs, that had a couple of channels and if you switched one programme over, you could still see the last image, seeping through on the screen. That is what an energetic imprint is, something that has occurred in the past but still has left an impression upon us. We have vortexes of energy throughout our entire system, hundreds of them. However, most are familiar with the main seven vortexes, chakras, from the crown of our head, to the base of our spine. These energy wheels, get blocked, when we don’t let go and heal past traumas and disturbances.

In life or through doing inner work, the same trigger may occur, even when you thought it had been healed. For example, a trigger could be abandonment. This does not mean, that you’ve gone back to step one, in your healing. Consciousness is ever expanding, ever growing; it cannot go backwards. You are consciousness so you too, are not going backwards. All this simply means, is that you have expanded so much to the degree, that you have developed to the stage, of having a greater understanding of the samskara, in order to fully bring it into full awareness, to finally release it.

Like attracts like so if you have not healed a wound, then your emotional body will be crying out, for you to heal it and that is why vibrationally, there is a point of attraction within you, that in fact is seeking this discomfort to occur, in order for you to fully integrate it, through mental alchemy (from a negative to a positive) to become whole.

Life is always going to be about healing; that’s our duty, in the expansion of consciousness as a whole. There is no end point to healing. Simply new lessons to be learnt and experience to be shared. You can never sever your connection to source, as you are an extension of source itself. It is through connection to the world around us and people, that we learn. Life is our guru.

It is through this adaptation, to the surrounding elements, that the bristlecone pines were “tested” and subsequently, listened in order to thrive in their surroundings. Clarissa says “We live there in both those ways with the body, out there taking risks, hanging on, growing, developing nonetheless and also lying close to the ground if need be and growing nonetheless anyway”.

Clarissa marvelled about the fact that, the bristlecone pines, were written upon. Through deep inspection, L’s and T’s, R’s and A’s were engraved into their skin, by the wind that scarred them. The dust would settle into the marks, like beautiful, inky black tattoos. An untamed, magnificent beauty, etched by Gaia.

Clarissa then thought why, in our society, is being unmarked, a sign of beauty? The bristlecone pines were breath-taking in their beauty. Are we supposed to not have a history reflective of our survival stories. Clarissa said, “All I know, is that every creature that lives on the face of this earth, if they have dared to live, they are scarred, they are written upon in some way”.

The continuous, unabated ruthlessness of the environment, cause the trees, to anchor down, deep into mother earth, far enough so they are firmly held in her grasp. However, due to being on mountainous terrain, with rocky granite bedding, when it rains, the droplets are driven off the surface.

Amazingly however, there are insects that burrow deeply into the earth and feed off the tree root systems, making little bites across the entire root line. The beauty of this, is that the insects are in fact removing the hardened skin of the roots, allowing for when the quenching water does get past the granite fort, to nourish right to the wound of the root. This symbiotic relationship, that open up their “venous system” as Clarissa describes, allows the bristlecone pines, to receive the nutrition they require.

It is only through this allowance, of a relationship to form, can we understand the meaning behind our samskaras and bring our consciousness into a state of awareness. It is this relational development with our environment and people, that we need to let in, to shine a light on our deepest wounds. We can only expand in consciousness, through connection.

Let’s acknowledge our wounds, nourish them with the light of awareness. Be proud of the lessons, release the samskaras and wear our physical scars with pride.

If you require support on your healing journey, Melissa can faciliate this, via her Zoom Talking Therapy.