Trail Veda: The Path to The Market and Back
Updated: Jun 26
The Starting Point
Today, my stress level was on point! My anxiety peaked horrendously high and it felt easy to get pulled into distraction, and days like these can trap me in my body in an unending nervous system dysregulation
So I decided to use a trail veda to bring me back to the present. Today's journey was from home to the farm and back.
But first, a few moments to meditate and get grounded in the body with some yin yoga.
Trail Prep: Somatic Grounding & The Mirror
Yin Yoga Integration: Focusing on the lateral lines, twists, and syncing the breath for 15 minutes.
Why lateral lines and twists?
From the book 'The Spark in the Machine' by Daniel Keown : the lateral line maps to the Shao Yang (Lesser Yang) "Pivot"—specifically the Gallbladder meridian network that weaves down the sides of the body, acting as the structural hinge for the nervous system. Stretching these lines can bring awareness. Twists simultaneously engage the body's spiral pathways and the Dai Mai (Girdling Vessel), unwinding the deep physical architecture where trauma and tension compress the torso.
My Somatic Insight: I realized my grief and heart were feeling especially active, and that I needed a detox of my own architecture.
Holding me: While classical theory connects grief to the Lungs, opening this lateral Shao Yang hinge physically liberates the protective armor around my ribcage, letting the heart expand, the lungs release their stored grief, and the system safely detoxify. This allows me to gently hold rather than suffocate and stimulate tension
🌿 An Invitation to Meditation
I welcome you to sit in meditation. To meet yourself for 10 minutes in a dark room with a large mirror. Sit and see what the reflection says.
Mirror Meditation: Meeting the Self in a Place of Nonjudgement:
Asking the hard questions: What is going through your mind? Criticism, self-doubt, judgment, feeling not enough, fear. What would you say to the person in the mirror? What do you see? Can you be in presence with this person that is experiencing? Who is doing the observing?
My Encounter with the Older Self:
I notice often in this meditation that an older version of myself often appears, to reflect back on me. Today, she was the one doing the looking from the inside out. There was a rigid structure she found there, like a house or a pulpit, within which I extracted energy from myself. Something I fed that kept me trapped, pulling the flesh downwards on my face.
The Softening: The older version of me knows what this structure is, and she softens. Relaxing into the bones of the architecture to relieve it of its burden, casting a light of compassion onto my silhouette, and absorbing the structure into her arms and shoulders, to hold me, rather than cast a shadow of disapproval.
We sat like this wordless for sometime. This gentle wisdom and the mind that was yesterday.
Then opened our eyes.
Signs & Spirit Messages
The Encounter: On the way to the farm a sparrow followed my car, and swooped down on the left. A house sparrow like the one I had as a child.
Spirit Medicine: (from Google)
The House Sparrow: A sparrow swooping in front and from the left serves as a spiritual symbol of community, inner strength, and upcoming joy, acting as a direct nudge from nature to trust instincts, find resilience in challenging times, and appreciate the simple things in life.
Arriving on the left—the intuitive, receptive side—it brings a message of joy and good fortune, serving as a herald of happiness and positive transitions. Because sparrows are highly adaptable and community-oriented, this encounter is a reminder of protection, and the possession of inner strength to adapt to any environment, and that it is safe to let go of rigid structures.
Most of all, a bird crossing a path and swooping directly in front is a spiritual call to pay attention—a profound sign to wake up completely to the present moment.
[Breathe] — I am alive!
At the Farm: Witnessing the Abundance of Life Force
The Environment: Potted plants and beautiful flower boxes, hens and eggs and produce.
[Breathe] — This is all alive
The Details of the Landscape:
The Surprising Flower: Beautifully pink with green leaves busting through the center. There appears to the eye a little upper teeth/jawline action biting down on long petals like tongues of laughter or lazy words misspoken.
The Tractor Wheel: Hugged by the earth and grounding productivity with wild invitation to rest.
The Vine: Spiraling life climbing towards the summit, a pattern of repetition that creates life built around stability, flow, practice - and a gentle reminder of my somatic experience earlier.
Bringing the Bounty Home: The abundance of this life force, filling my home: pictures of eggs and veggies.
[Breathe] — This is what keeps me alive
Resting into the Integration
Honoring the Echoes: Sitting at home; the anxiety is still present. It's the part of me that loves what was once present. That felt so alive, but was merely a shadow cast on my soul... so many years ago.
The Transformation: I sit with its memory in my current experience and I thank it for letting me be present differently. To bring the story back into the present. This time, I am not alone. This is not happening now.
The Present Ecology: I am with the earth, and with the sparrow, the catbirds out back on my patio, and the falling vines that will need to be tended. I am with the bounty that was brought home to feed me. I am alive, and I will get through this!
—[Breathe] —
I am writing this trail veda
so it continues inside me
from first breath,
to the farm,
to the tenderness
that guides me.
May it be so.
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