Spring Winds and The Vata Heist
It’s Springtime!
Is anyone else feeling a teensy bit crazy?
The bulbs are popping, showing off their gorgeous colors! The fruit trees are full of pale pink and white blossoms enticing the bees, bzzz bzzzz! The days are filled with sunshine and temps are steadily climbing up encouraging me to start putting away the wool sweaters and pull out the dresses. And here in the southwest, the wind is kicking up the dust and my internal crazy mind! To even write this newsletter is a monumental feat of herculean proportions. Why? Because I need to start my seedlings and practice my non dominant handwriting. Oh! And I cannot forget that I am also committed to learning Spanish. I should practice that too! And what about calling my friend I haven’t spoken to in way too long? And Qigong! I should practice that before writing this newsletter so that I am in the right state of grounded zen mind…Oh! And I need to remember to surrender. Yes. Definitely need to let go and dance. Should I do that now or after I cross off the already long and growing more daunting by the nanosecond list cluttering my head?
If you do not have any clue what that terrifying rambling of commandments just was, let me properly and with the best of my remaining sanity, introduce you to Vata Derangement.
Vata Derangement. It is fun to say. It has a quirky, effervescent taste as one utters it to some unfortunate soul that is in its wild, chaotic snare. I did recently did just that to my mom. My parents are in the midst of preparations to put their house of 35 years on the market and move from Houston to Santa Fe. My mother hasn’t lived anywhere else since she was 7 and I could hear in her voice the untethered mania shaking her nerves and I diagnosed her. I declared her VATA DERANGED and encouraged her to drink some dandelion root tea. Like drinking tea will release one from the full blown grip of wind rattling your insides! Very unlikely. Once wind has taken a hold of the body and mind, even a bath of dandelion root is a futile attempt.
Vata, in ayurvedic practice is the dosha or constitution, ruled by air. People with this as their dominant dosha tend to be quick witted, inspired, chatty, small boned, and prone to anxiety and overthinking. Vata rules the season of Fall and also is fueled by wind. Here in the desert, spring also stirs Vata in people. When there are fierce winds, Vata Derangement is always a potential for individuals with a desire to fly high.
It can be fun for a bit. So many ideas, revelations, things to share and discover! And the caffeine to fuel it is fun too! Inspired, frenzied conversations hopped up on espresso where everything tingles, is electrified, and the possibility of figuring out world peace is at hand. It can feel like gravity has no hold on one’s rocketship abilities - until it is not fun and one feels uprooted, tired, cranky, and afraid.
So, what to do when like Icarus, we have flown too high to the sun and our waxen wings begin to melt? When the meltdown begins, it is time to lie down. On the ground. I recently had my first real-deal Vata Derangement meltdown of the season. I honestly admitted to myself and to my husband that I felt like a mess and didn’t know what the FRICK I was doing and certain aspects of my life felt out of my control. Now, there is truth and not truth in those weeping, snotty confessions. The truth was in coming back down to the ground. I let go of the story that I had to keep flying high, even when there was confusion and grief and loss that needed to be expressed. Until I can allow myself that, all the other steps to calm the winds are only somewhat “successful”. For me, Vata Derangement manifests from a fear of new beginnings. And spring is a new beginning. I shake off the hibernation of the dark winter nights, and emerge into the sun, ruffling my petals, asking the world what this year will be? What will I grow? The unknown of it can be exciting and also terrifying if I have lost touch with the ground. With my roots.
After I flail around, snotty and crazy-eyed on the ground, what do I do? I practice taking care of what is right in front of me. Folding the laundry. Returning phone calls. I do drink dandelion root tea, roasted, because I like the taste more. I take baths instead of showers. I practice Qigong, especially the water forms. I walk outside, when it is not windy. And when it is, I stay inside. I stretch. I stretch. I stretch and I breathe.