Bloom Where You Are Planted

Spring is here and the Spring Session is just around the corner. I first heard this phrase above from esteemed yoga teacher Betsy Downing from Garden of the Heart Yoga in Florida. I was taking a workshop with her and loved her quiet dignity in her presentation of yogic concepts with an accompanying fun and satisfying asana practice. The phrase is evocative for me. To bloom where you are planted: it makes me think that we should aspire to be firmly rooted where they are. To be "rooted" implies a recognition or an acceptance that things are already okay just as they are. “I am enough” is one of the phrases that helps me get by. And if I don't feel that way, then I will ask myself: can I allow what is to be, and then help to direct that energy in a way that will become a more favorable, more peaceful, more joyful expression in the world?

To bloom where you are planted also means that once one has those solid roots, then comes growth. And not just growth for the sake of more, but growth for the sake of adding more beauty, more wisdom, more light to the world. As I write this, the crocuses and daffodils and tulip magnolias are exploding with color. Spring is in the air and it is a time of transformation. 'Where we are planted' means to recognize the solid roots of where we as a community have been, with a deep bow to Kathy Donnelly and 32 years of mindful movement practices, and to ‘bloom' means embracing a shift that will allow the Yoga Center of Columbia to blossom for many years to come. Won’t you join us on our journey of renewal this spring?