Week 3 : Lichen & Moss Glow
Saturated Textures on Roots and Stone
Reflection
In Praise of Lichens
Isn’t it always the case that real superstars are often the quietest and most humble, contributing far more than their size and appearance may give credit.
Creation through crumbling…composting. Building is for other species.
Your contribution is the actual soil from which others will flourish. Where seeds that are not your own may be planted; giving life to diversity.
Allowing…..opening to possibilities.
Your growth is horizontal, fanning out in leafy whorls, feathery ropes, crusts and soft, spongy mats.
Going about your work mostly unnoticed.
Let the fanfare go to the fragrant blossoms, the towering trunks and the fruiting bodies.
Able to withstand and lay dormant for decades, you are the art of subtlety, perseverance, momentum.
The gift of quiet renewal.
Reciprocity originated.
Evidence & Ecology
New research suggests that lichens are younger than initially proposed….a sprightly 200 million years old according to the latest fossil record.
While they might not have colonized the earth before vascular plants as previously thought, they are still considered a ‘pioneer’ species, helping to create soil by decomposition…..breaking down rock and trees.
A composite species…..created through the mutual symbiosis of fungus and algae, they have no roots, absorbing water and nutrients from the atmosphere. They are considered an ‘indicator’ species due to this fact, as they cannot survive in polluted in environments.
The quantity and diversity of lichens in the BC coastal rainforests is a heartwarming indication that our forests are still healthy and biodiverse environments.
Much like the tortoise in the classic fairytale, lichens favour consistent slow growth over speed….often only 1-2 mm per year….spreading outwards to maximize surface exposure.
Their water retention capabilities along with their tolerance to extreme weather contribute to their resiliency and ability to survive for millennia if undisturbed.
What can you learn from lichens?
Where can you allow slow, steady growth in your life? Becoming comfortable with a pace that is often out of alignment with our busy world. Appreciating delayed gratification.
Where can you spread outwards, rather than upwards? What do you notice if you do?
The Practices
Embodied Nature Meditation
Expand into Space as a Lichen
Find a comfortable and quiet spot to lie down. Give your body ample room to expand.
As you begin, invite your breath to soften your body and give it permission to become heavier with each breath.
As your body becomes weighted to the support you are lying on, invite yourself to notice, how, with each breath, your edges expand and your body begins to take up more space…
Somatic Witnessing
Lichens grow directly on rock, bark, roof tiles slowly weathering and partnering with what already exists.
Take a pause to remember what your body co-exists with.
Where you touch your environment.
Where it holds you. Supports you.
Allow yourself to soften into that feeling.
Remember.
Begin…..
Story of Place
A Conversation with the Season
The dirt you scrub from beneath your fingernails, that you wipe from the bottom of your boots is generously contributed to this planet by the service of lichens. Colonizers of bare rock, breaking it down into the soil needed for much of our planets survival.
Silvery grey; pale green; golden yellow. Their colours luminous or matte with textures that are stringy, leafy, scrubby and everything in between.
Their existence is synonymous with symbiosis. Tiny complex communities existing for millenia. Virtually ignored by science until recent times.
More ancient than the first arrivals of humans on the North American plate.
If you’re ever stranded in the BC forest without the means to keep yourself warm in the rainy months, your most likely source of tinder to create warmth through fire is the tendriled, flowing ‘old man’s beard’, bearing the scientific name of ‘usnea’.
This was one of the first survival tips introduced to me when falling in love with nature activities in the BC backcountry……
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)
Transcribing Support as Expansion
Find a quiet and comfortable space where you can relax and invite opening.
Sit comfortably with your hands resting in your lap and your journaling tools close at hand.
Allow for your breathing to soften and expand into your entire being.
Allow your focus to rest on the concept of ‘expansion’. Expansion of breath. Expansion of your mind. Expansion of your heart….and the love that flows from it.
Once expansion has become your natural state you may begin. Do not force this state. Let is arrive naturally.
It may take moments. It may take longer.
Begin by writing a few sentences that start with:
“What quietly supports me right
now …”
A Final Note
Closing Invocation
“It gives me time to think about all that is going on outside -- leaves gathering in corners, lichen greening the high grey rocks....”
Singing the Earth
All photos copyright
Nature. Connected.
