Week 11: Vulerable Abundance
The Herring’s Gift
Reflection
Everyone has already arrived,
seals, gulls, whales and otters;
you’re late to the party
A billion beings amassed off shore
fastening their hopes for the future to eelgrass
in a world inaccessible to bipedal folk
The alarm has rung
and everyone for miles around has heard
coming together for a few weeks’ each year
in a chaotic act of altruism
the season of hunger comes to an end
with flourishing abundance
Evidence & Ecology
What tells a billion fish to move toward the shore at the same time?
Their arrival, every March, is precipitated by the growing light as spring draws closer. Their pineal glands, triggered by the light, release a hormonal flush that urges them towards the shore. The period of dormancy is ending.
With the sensory hairs on the sides of their body detecting minute changes in water pressure and vibration, they can move as one; a mass of a million fish reacting as if a single organism. Feeling their neighbours intention allows for a coordinated effort with no “one” fish acting as leader.
This spawn, considered by many Indigenous people to be the beginning of spring, is a gift. A source of wealth to be shared with the more than human world
By spawning in such massive, synchronized numbers, they ensure that even though thousands of eggs are eaten by birds, crabs, and whales, enough will survive to keep the species going.
The herring migration is proof that in the natural world a central leader is not required to achieve a miracle. The "call" is decentralized—it lives within every single fish simultaneously.
Where do you feel the first call of spring in your body?
What gift of yours - what “wealth” - can you share with your community?
Does sharing your abundance feel like a “sacrifice”? How does it make your body feel to redistribute your gifts?
The Practices
Embodied Nature Meditation
The Great Dispersal
A meditation to connect with the great herring spawn on the BC west coast occuring in spring.
Please find yourself in a comfortable seated position with your spine straight and your arms resting in your lap with your palms facing upwards.
Take a moment to visualize yourself sitting beside the ocean on the BC west coast on a beautiful beach surrounded by pebbles, rocks, driftwood and seaweed.
You are here at the moment of the herring’s great dispersal in spring and you are content to be there to witness this annual moment of magic…..
Somatic Witnessing
The Turquoise Breath
The herring spawn turns the dark Salish Sea into a milky turquoise. Take a moment to visualize this as an anchor to engage a nervous system reset.
Close your eyes and imagine the "milt"—the cloud of life—dispersing into the cold water. This is abundance through vulnerability.
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. As you inhale, draw your hands toward your heart, gathering in the last of "winter’s quiet." As you exhale, push your palms outward in a slow, sweeping horizontal arc….
Story of Place
A Conversation with the Season
For a few week’s every spring, around this time, the waters off of Vancouver Island turn a milky turquoise. Bold and brilliant, this ocean phenomenon creates a jewelled landscape announcing the abundance making the vast journey from the open ocean landing in the sheltered and shallow bays near seaside communities, such as Qualicum Beach and onwards to Comox.
It’s an unmistakable event.
The herring have arrived, and their annual migration invites all sorts of hangers on.
After a winter of relative quiet along the shoreline, the waters are roiling with activity; seabirds, seals, sea lions and whales all feast on the protein and fat rich food source.
These generous, small beings are a keystone species that sews the forest to the ocean; through their generous offering of themselves as a “silver thread” of reciprocity as animals trail the egg laden seaweed from the shores out to the cedars nourishing the soil through the dropped and discarded bounty. The herring bring the fat of the ocean to the roots of the trees.
Biologists have a name for this. Nutrient cycling. In Indigneous worldviews and wisdom is it call the Gift. In Gitskan or Haida culture, the herring are a lesson in wealth - not something that you keep, but the abundance you circulate through the system….
The Invitation
Nature Kinship
Weekly nature connection practices aligned seasonally to engage with your locale. Encouraging immersion, appreciation and spiritual attunement with the more than human world around you.
Always remember to enjoy these practices within the bounds of your physical and ecological limits (do not sit outside when it’s -40, or walk on slippery surfaces), practice “leave no trace” and mindful reciprocity (take only what you need, ask permission from the earth, and only leave what is naturally biodegradable)
The Art Practice
Ripples of Abundance
Find yourself at your local shoreline. If that is not available to you, any natural spot will do. This exercise can also be done indoors with previously gathered items (or items from your home).
Once you have arrived at your destination, mindfully make your way to the shore. Take a few moments to ask permission before you begin to gather. Allow your intuition to guide you. Do not overthink.
Begin to gather items that resonate within you. There does not need to be a pattern or reason for what you choose. Allow your innate artistic expression to guide your choices…..
A Final Note
Closing Invocation
“Now the sea is in me: I am the fish, the fish / glitters in me.”
Singing the Earth
All photos copyright
Nature. Connected.
