Phlegm

Cleansing is a Natural Process of Both the Earth and the Body

There is a season in Vermont we call Mud. The end of winter when dirty snowbanks still line the roads and new flowers are eagerly poking up from the ground, sometimes only to be killed by a late frost or a hungry beaver. Things are still dead and brown. In many cases, because of the wildly fluctuating weather conditions, sickness overtakes even the heartiest of yogis.

Somewhere between the sunny flashes of warmth and the last minute snowstorms, the virus I had been fighting off from Montreal to Florida and back again overtook me. Possibly the stressful conditions brought on by the movement of new directions coupled with unexpected events and newly acquired family proximity lowered my natural immunity. Whatever the reason, I was feverish and in a state of delerium for days.

Resistance to change found me like a small naked child stranded on a desert island, staring into the approaching tsunami of challenging new events seemed overwhelming. Homeostasis is the body's attempt at balance, a natural equilibrium.Suddenly faced with gaining and then losing everything important in life within only a few months of each climactic event, my body, which had become accostomed to the last long plateau was thrown into an abyss. I faced it head on.

The season of spring evolves and breathes new life into the crevices where the winter has filled and nourished fertile soil. The fermented residue must somehow join the compost pile, the toxins must be pushed out. My body is trying to eject the poisons from my system as well. The white knights of my blood cells chasing the vile invaders out. They are hiding in the moat, waiting for the dragon to burn them out, breathing fiery coughing phlegm. Forceful pranayama.

Final days of mud are drawing to a close. Feeling the vital blessing of mother nature restore us, even on the Northern shores of the East Coast, to abundant health again. I know this phlegmatic seasonal lull is drawing short. The verdant bloom of spring is already budding.