root before you rot

this blog was originally posted on 10.01.2020.

“root before you rot”

a lil’ planty saying that’s been bopping around my head since I first heard it on Bloom and Grow Radio. in the context of the episode on propagation, the pod host Maria & plant expert Leslie Halleck were chatting about [in much more science-y detail obvi]  how you can take cutting of some plants, drop them in water, and new roots will emerge *but/and* rather than get that potential plant bb in soil and leave them in water too long-- the fleshy leaf tissue itself will begin to turn to mush and rot. 

Now there are some things you can do to reduce the risk of rot, ya know change the water or make sure the glass you’re using can hold the cutting without too much of the leaf stem or leaf itself touching the water. But still if you never pot that cutting, the roots on a cellular and functional level adapt to aquatic life. There’s still the possibility to get that bb in soil but it’s gonna be a rough and potentially shocking path.

Many of us here and I mean human people not plant bbs are trying to grow new roots and some are even growing new worlds. We are souls incarnate. And as such are both the eternal & absolute divine AND the fleshy, real, soft tissue of nature and we [as much as some modern humans like to deny] are subject to the cycles of nature [creation, sustenance, dissolution] or [birth, life, death….rebirth]. this cycle is non-linear by nature and also is not solitary. Most of us are in a place of creation in some aspects of our lives, sustaining in other aspects, and dissolving some parts completely. 

“Rot before you root” reminds us that when we only set the conditions for growth in our lives, meaning we:

read the articles

sign up for the webinars [*side eyes self @ the 2 online workshops waiting to be started]

join discussion groups

even send the donations

we’re setting the conditions. and i'm not knocking any of the above they are needed and can be highly impactful depending on intent but when we only set the conditions for growth, learning, intellectualizing, and academicizing about “making the world better place” [justice work, anti-oppression work, anti-racism work]  but/and don’t get our hands in the dirt and apply the knowledge into practice in our daily life….we rot.

Of what value is it to only intellectually know how our individual privileges or our internalized oppression, or a internalized illusory superiority and how the unconscious manifestations of them can harm others, or to only have an eye through the historical lens that brings context to how we got to where we are….what value lies in just that?? And *of course* we live in a toxic dominant culture that values academic intellect [as a symptom of whyte supremacy] at the expense of embodiment, in these conditions the above sure can sure feel a lot like value… 

This is how all those fancy words...intersectional and spiritual bypass are the first to come to mind but there are many.... this is how all those fancy words lose their meaning when they hit the mainstream. in a Bhagavad Gita study session last night, Kaya Mindlin said “we can’t just take this intellectually because then you run the risk of spiritual bypass”. And to liken it to this metaphor, we run the risk of rot and missing out on new growth, a new way of being.

To put it very plainly, if you 3 months ago posted that Black Lives Matter or last week posted about Black Women Mattering or Protect Black Women and you read some books or listened to some podcasts and you still microaggress the ish out of Black folk in your life….that’s rot. If you, consciously or unconsciously, look towards Black women as the saviors of this mess of country or as mammys and then put unnecessary emotional labor on their plates, that’s rot. Feel free to extrapolate to other identities & intersections there of as needed.

A personal example: I’ve learned that as a cis person that introducing myself with my pronouns can help ‘normalize’ the use of them so trans, non-binary, genderfluid folk don’t have to be the first ones to do so, etc. So I put my pronouns in my bio, but didn’t introduce myself with them in my classes. Rot. I’ve made it a point that when I introduce myself during my classes to always share my pronouns but then when I was in a space someone else was holding and going around the circle for introductions I forgot. Rot.

I share this as a reminder to myself that none of us are exempt from the laws of nature. 

If you’ve been in my studio classes this month, along with movement + breath + stillness, we’ve been planting seeds of contemplation around the Yamas [the behavioral restraints, the relationship to other, virtues in my words: the we we can be together], and please know this me hoping to set the conditions for growth. 

And it may feel like enough, because hey some other teachers out there aren’t even bringing in the texts/yamas/philosophy/etc/whatever*, but does that feel satisfying for the world we seek to build? Satisfied not in the individualistic, hedonistic way but rather in the “i know there’s more to be done and i’ve done all I can until i do again” kinda way? 

[I’ve moved away from asking if things are “enough” to “am i satisfied with that” thanks to adrienne maree brown who teaches me about satisfaction and Angela Davis who reminds me that as long as there’s oppressive systems till functioning we haven’t done “enough” (that’s a post for another day but here’s the insta-post reference)]

It’s on you to take the teaching ‘off the mat’, another phrase that in some circles has lost its meaning. If we’re just talking about the way we relate to others in movement + breath + stillness on the mat but not shifting the way we *actually* relate to others out in the world, we rot. 

If you’re still here <3 wow cool, i’m honored you’d spend your time reading my words <3  and i leave you with a few lil’ prompts to find your divine timing in planting your roots. You may find answers in words, internal sensations, or a deep knowing [if you like me are still cultivating that connection with deep knowing and also have anxiety, please look into intuition vs anxiety!!]. However your answers or seeds of come to you as you engage with the prompts, know that even this is still the water, it’s on you to get your hands in the soil and plant.

i know I’m growing new roots when ______________________

i know I’m transplanting my new growth into soil when_________________

the first signs of rot are ___________________

i know i’ve adapted to living in water when__________________

___________ is a concept i’ve learned by ______________ and i will put in to practice by ______________. ____________ will serve as a reminder.

sending love & ease today,

Aa