...Where being come,
Instruction's pleasant air
Refreshed my senses which were almost dead,
And fragrant flowers of sage and fruitful plants
Did send sweet savors up into my head.
And taste of science appetite did move,
To augment
Theory of things above...
(from
Rachel Speght's A Dream, 1621)
Now that Spring is
fully engaged and gainfully employed, I begin to notice the somewhat less pleasant effects of this engagement and employment: Allergies! There is pollen in them thar Camellias and other lovelies we find so attractive at first and then a bit annoying. SAM says he has been taking a Claritin tablet every day to keep from wheezing and coughing. Apparently, Tallahassee is renowned for its pollen and subsequent effects. When we lived in Illinois, Spring was my season of misery. Yes, I know; it's supposed to be a joyous occasion of renewal and celebration. It is, as long as you have an arsenal of weapons to fend off those annoying allergens. Some people choose manmade chemical weapons; some of them choose a more natural approach. Guess which one I choose?
When the handwriting is on the wall--or the bark, in this case of a pine tree--I see evidence of a great force at work in the Creation/Nature. What protects a tree from the likes of invaders such as the destructive pine beetle? Plants have a natural defense working for them 24/7:
Essential oils. It's not clear why sometimes this natural defense works and why it sometimes fails. I try to employ it as often as I can. It makes more sense to me to glean from nature what works for nature than to rely on manmade chemicals produced in the laboratory.
SAM gave me a gift at Christmas that I just redeemed today: a massage from my favorite licensed massage therapist (besides Daughter). She incorporates specific essential oils into this Raindrop Massage and targets areas of imbalance in the musculoskeletal system. Boy, do I have a lot of imbalance going on there! She found it, using more pressure on areas where I needed a lot of help: the lower spine, scapular area, calf muscles. I was tempted to jump off the table at times, but I practiced something I learned in childbirth class years ago: deep breathing. It helps with the removal of toxins and relaxes the body. The oils she used found their way into my tissues via the skin as well as my respiratory system, a double whammy of introduction. The last time I got a massage from Tina Brito Stebbing, she chided me for not breathing deeply enough. I did not hear any complaints this time so I must be learning how to behave as a client. Sometimes all it takes is a little Instruction.
Please visit
Ramblingwoods.com for this week's Nature Notes/Signs of the Season post and other bloggers' links to the same.
