It is Lughnasadh today, go celebrate!
today is the festival of Lughnasadh (Celtic) or Lammas (Christian). Lammas is derived from the Old English hafmoesse, meaning "loaf-mass" and was held in celebration of the first loaves baked from the first grain harvested. Yum!!
The first loaves were taken to the local church, where they were distributed amongst the congregation. Observing this festival was believed to ensure an abundance of fruit and grain for the months to come.
Essentially this is the first harvest, when the first signs of the rewards of your labours should be evident. Not only is this relevant out there in the greenhouses and veggie patches but also in your life too. Now is the time to continue to work towards your goal, knowing it will be realised - a reflection of the fact seeds were planted many months ago in the soil and now voila we have vegetables and fruits and flowers. It is all a matter of tendering, faith and going with the flow.
Easy to lose sight of one's goal in the midst of life's challenges. I know that only too well and it is all too easy to forget to practice as we preach! Still the Universe has a way of bringing people into our lives, so that we say things to them that are also intended to remind us too - it is very funny listening to oneself giving advice to someone else, often that advise is exactly what we need in that moment.
What I find quite funny, now I come to think about it, is the fact that I did indeed plant many seeds back in the end of winter and early Spring and while yes, nature has been kind to ensure they have received plenty of water, on the whole I have left them to their own devices, confident that what will be will be. And most have weathered the storms so that the sweet peas are finally in bloom and the calabrese sustained me through many a dinner, without little, or actually, no effort on my part.
And I do wonder sometimes, in realising our dreams and goals, whether we are meant to tend only a little too...it is all too easy to try to force, to over water and over feed, and for what...just let things unravel as nature intended and in nature's own time frame - so very different to our own!!
So it is a day of celebration. Feeling rather satisfied with my lot as I prepare a dinner with vegetables straight from the garden, peas and beans and Swiss chard and curly kale. And then the nectarines and greengages and plums and Mirabellse are all starting too so we will soon be swamped by soft fruit. I just love picking. And eating the fruit straight from the tree - all that prana. Wonderful.
The sea is wonderful at the moment too. We have been going every day recently. High tide at Petit Bot only an hour ago and it was actually rather warm, and so cleansing. I cannot stress how good it is for us to cleanse with salt water and feet into the earth if stressed or suffering with anxiety. Even paddling will have some positive effect. So will simply sitting or lying on the beach for twenty minutes. It clears the aura and the head.
It is funny how Yoga transforms us. It is not about how flexible we can be on our mat, or what poses we can hold for a minute flat, nor about the number of sun salutations we can do. It is about how we open up to the world and people around us. How we come to realise that we are all one. All connected. All playing a part in the bigger picture of life. This summer, particularly, I am aware of it most. The world seems more beautiful than I have ever known it to be, and I can't help wondering if that is simply because I have slowed down, because nature has slowed me down, and life is not so busy, there is more being rather than doing.
Yoga helps us to fulfil our potential, whether that is as a Yoga teacher, or a mother, or a doctor or a gardener or a cook, or whatever it is. It helps us find the lifestyle that resonates with our being, regardless of what the rest of the world thinks. Not easy. But a possibility. It depends what we want from our life and how much courage we have to transform the darkness into light. How wonderful if we all shone like the stars at night.
Anyhow, I give thanks today for all that we have harvested and all we will harvest, we are indeed abundantly blessed. Full moon on the 3rd so we get to bask in that energy too. Could be a fun few days!!
With love xxxxxx