Let's get dirty
The Importance of Soil in our Journey towards Embodiment. If we don't have that, what's it all for anyway?
On Saturday I planted our garden. Only three hours of work but I still was tired. A very good kind of tired.
In fact, when I lay down in bed that night I was amazed at how good I felt and it took me some moments to fully name the feeling.
Oh, right: Complete Satisfaction!
Not being able to place it straight away only shows how seldom I experience it on such a deep level.
And it's not at all because I am hugely dissatisfied with my life. It's more like the depth of it: the experience itself on a cellular level.
It's an inner emptiness that fills my whole being. A refreshing simplicity with nothing to add to the experience. No analysis, no insights, no revelations…in fact just the opposite. The beauty of the absence of all ideas of myself and the deep inner knowing of my body's energy well spent: taking care of the land.
Have you seen the movie ‘The Biggest Little Farm'? If you haven't, please do yourself a favor and watch it. Especially if you need to be re-inspired about the world and what's possible to bring back life to what feels dead.
Ever since watching the movie, a deep realization hit me: the fact that everything is related and connected.
I know what you might think: Duh, Kasia, really? You are getting it only now?
Yeah, yeah, I know. I might be slow. But actually, I don't think so. I think we are all just waking up to the fact of what that (everything is connected) truly means.
And I think the movie shows that in an incredibly beautiful way. Interconnectedness on all levels, even the pests are part of that great belonging.
Because it goes so much deeper than just 'we need to grow our own food'. Yes, sure, we do. Of course! we do.
But unless we are doing it, i.e. literally getting our hands dirty, we won't quite grasp what that will do to us. Unless we are taking care of something so fragile as an ecosystem, we won't really get the depth of it.
How much it feeds not just our bellies but our souls.
The context of belonging in which we get to experience ourselves is invaluable. We are just one small part of nature. We can literally not exist without all the other parts.
Think about it!
Who would we be without a tree? Without the sea? Without insects? Without soil?
We wouldn't be alive.
So how can we go about healing ourselves, our deep wounds of separation and dis-embodiment without reclaiming that connection? Without literally experiencing ourselves as part of the wholeness?
That's exactly the question I was left with after watching that movie.
That we can do all the healing work we want, but unless we BELONG ourselves back to nature, we will still be left with that nagging hole inside of us.
We need to know that we don't do the work on ourselves just so we can live ‘our full potential self’ as so much of the Spiritual/New Age industry wants us to buy into.
Heal this, and then you will be abundant. Or have your dreammate. Or dream job. or whatever.
(Goddamit. That whole mindset is part of the problem!)
It's still embedded in a mentality of separation and exploitation.
It's still about me, me, me. ('I need to be special or less f*** up at least’ - which implies better than xyz- AND 'what's in it for me?’).
No, we do the work, because it's the right thing to do. Because when I come into balance, I give everything and everyone a chance to come into balance too. And because when my environment is in balance I feel deeply satisfied, held, and nourished and I know my place in the world. That's priceless.
And that’s maturity.
I cannot heal myself without the context of my environment. Because we are one. Literally.
That of course also has the opposite implications: Can we truly heal when we are in a toxic environment?
How much of our inner pain and turmoil is actually not ours but a direct result of the overload in toxicity we live in? How much do glysophate, electromagnetic radiation, and other interferences affect our sense of embodiment and well-being?
How much do we blame ourselves for our shortcomings when it's actually not our fault at all?
The more that I drop into this inquiry, the more I feel compassion for all of humanity. So many people struggle with depression or anxiety or other problems…and would they be if they lived in an environment that was more balanced and healthy?
I want to mention (if you are not familiar with him yet) the work of Dr. Zach Bush and his research on the microbiome. This interview with him gave me goosebumps.
To me, he embodies what a true doctor should be: an alive human being connected to his intellect, heart, and gut.
What is so powerful about him, is the genuine love he has for humanity and his relentless curiosity to simply ask the questions we have stopped asking:
What is health as opposed to how do we get rid of disease?
In this interview, he explains the importance of the microbiome for our gut health and how that affects our mental and emotional health. (the implications are mindblowing!)
And here we come full circle again.
Maybe we can't answer the question of who was first the chicken or the egg? (Did we get traumatized and disembodied first and then from those levels of disconnection created a toxic environment that creates more disembodiment, disconnection, and trauma. Or did we create a toxic environment first and from there we started disconnecting more?)
It might be a matter of conspiracy. Maybe there are aliens trying to eff us up, the evil elite trying to enslave humanity.
Or maybe it's just a matter of common human failure. In our desire to survive, we created a system that now makes us slaves to our own folly. The only culprit here being the normal human vices: greed, laziness, fear…all based on ignorance. A vicious cycle feeding on itself.
Frankly, who cares. Because there is a more important question here that is begging to be asked.
What are we going to do about it?
The answer is simple (even if not easy): the best we can.
But with the awareness that we cannot do one without the other. We cannot just work on our neurosis without connecting ourselves back to nature and think that will do the job.
And likewise just working on the land and never being in touch with our internal processes or experiencing true intimacy with others, will also not do the trick.
Those two worlds go hand in hand. As above, so below. As outside, so inside. The macrocosmos is reflected back in the microcosmos. You know the drill.
According to this documentary: The Need to Grow, there are only 60 years of fertile soil left on the planet. If this is not a reflection of our dis-embodiment then I don't know what is.
I know some of you may read this and go: we are fucked.
Some might think, I want to be closer to nature, but I live in the city, what can I actually do?
Honestly, it all starts with the attitude. If you are stuck in a little apartment somewhere, grow a plant on your windowsill. Maybe some parsley or basil. It may sound trivial and inconsequential to you…but caring for life in that way, will activate something in you. I promise.
Check the community gardens. Find out how it's possible to compost your organic waste (that part is so important…not just to the environment but to our spirit. It viscerally hurts me seeing organic waste going in the same bin as plastic…so much wasted potential).
Humanity is waking up to this dimension more and more and that means that cities now do provide opportunities for being part of this movement back to nature.
Consider it as much a necessary part of your healing journey as your yoga/meditation/ or therapy sessions and go out to look for it. You will never know what I am talking about unless you have gotten your hands dirty. Over and over again. It's a practice.
Meanwhile, I am back in my garden after spending hours in front of the screen writing this article. Experiencing so much more than words will ever convey. I'm grateful it welcomes me with its simple silence and beauty. My hands get dirty, and I'm breathing in the scent of the soil that is deeply grounding (maybe because of the microbiome?).
My heart is caring for all the seedlings I planted. I am in touch and awake to the process of life unfolding outside of myself. My mind is calm, mother earth seemingly absorbing all my anxious thoughts like a sponge.
(Is there a word, I wonder, that adequately describes this connection between the psycho-spiritual and the earth?)
In return, I am receiving the nourishment and pleasure from the salad we will have for lunch today. Such a simple joy and satisfaction. Feeling part of this cycle, what else do we need? I revel in the experience of rightness and contentment.
And I pray for all of us to find our way back to this simplicity.
If you like what you read, you can buy me a coffee! Thank you!
Kasia Patzelt is an Artist, Laughter Yogi, and Embodiment Coach. She helps people to release trauma and learn the art of self-compassion through embodiment practices and creativity.
This is amazing, again ! thank you dear Kasia.
You know that I only recently discovered the healing quality of stepping into the cycle of life, meaning seeding a seed, watering it, seeing it grow. plant it. nurture it, and at the end, eat it. It's truly profound and brings me back to the basics. I so can relate to this deep feeling of being enough, of no more separation. Becoming one with this magic cycle of life is nurturing me on deep soul level... because it makes me realize I am just that little seed, I can be crushed by a big animal, or I can be nurtured, waters, grow and flourish. We all have that birth right, and nature provides. Nature is enough in itself.
Too bad some powerful people on this planet somehow like to un-earth us, maybe by making organic farming illegal in a distant future, ( just wrote a piece about that) to be able to sell their gene-edited shit (to get even more filthy rich)...in the name of climate change. We won't buy in to this, it is their limited world view, that they try to impose on us, because of fear.
Sadly, it still resonates with the masses, until the masses slowly dissolve in many empowered human beings. People have a simple choice these day, you're either crushed by the anti-human build back better agenda, or rise up on the barricades of truth and love and life.
The elites are not calling the shots, the masses actually created them, otherwise they could never exist. This will end when we will take our power back. Ahoo, the movement is growing, and the awareness of giving back to the land is crucial., This is the sign that we are healing. We heal ourselves when we care for the land again. And everything and everybody on it. No exception.
I see so many young people (well, younger than I!) interested in regenerative agriculture, and this makes my heart glad. Thank you, Kasia. I shared it on my FB page so that others can see.