Dormancy and Release

Sustaining through the dry times

As I walk through the meadow, weaving my way on the thin path, golden grasses rise up on either side of me, rustling and catching light, in constant whispering movement. Dangling bells of rattlesnake grass rattle and long feathery stalks of Vanilla Grass shoosh soothingly. Seed head clouds of dandelions quiver, each seed ready to fly free as soon as the right breeze comes. All potential held in these dry bodies, waiting.

Summer sees its own dormancy, as the heat of the long days dries the earth. Plants reserve their resources, slowing down metabolism, stopping new blooms, and by allowing mature parts to dehydrate and deteriorate. Turning from green to brown, foliage hardens and dries, soft petals fall away and seed pods become wood-like husks.

Animals may enter into a torpor, a liminal state of rest as they wait out the intense heat, seeking out protective niches and becoming dormant. Tethered only to what is necessary, energy conservation is key. Does she dream of other states? Does her mouth water for fresh moist grass or muscles remember running in a cool morning fog?

Dormancy can be loosely defined as a temporary cessation of growth to preserve resources for the future. It is a pause that gives time for the environment to be more hospitable for a new sprouting.

When I see the native California grasses at this time of year, dry and without their green, I think of husks of shed skin that snakes leave behind. This fragile beauty of something spent, ready to break away, thinning, having become transparent like a wing. Paper-like old skin, so light, like a letter written long ago, ink fading, nearly unreadable. Something that used to be.

Snakes have to shed their skin when they have grown so much that their skin literally no longer fits. It pinches and restricts. Their actual skin becomes an inhospitable environment. Shedding is not a benign process, but a necessary one. The first phase of shedding new skin grows over the snake’s eyes, making it hard to see. This is a very vulnerable stage and the snake seeks shelter, where it will need to rub itself against something so the friction scraps the old skin loose.

We too need times to reckon with what has become restriction. We need times to confront our thirst, the missing nourishment, to acknowledge the tough conditions. We may feel dormant, dried out, panting to catch up with a heatwave in our personal life. We may feel like we can’t see what is next; we only know something has to go.

The rustling golden meadow tells us this is beautiful too.

We can lean into the friction of our life and take the time to re-assess. To make choices about what is really sustainable and sustaining for us. What has become only a clinging to what was? What is no longer really alive? Where do you want to send your energy? What is necessary?

Plants have internal timing so that their seeds rest until the environment is optimal for them to germinate. This seed dormancy is not released until conditions are right, an intermix of factors such as light, moisture, temperature, hormones and a form of memory from the mother plant all play a part. Growth will resume.

But big spurts of blooming can be taxing. They require big glugs of fresh water and fresh hope and open space to root. Do you have that? If not, can you hold that seed until you have what you need?

NATURE COMMUNION

Seek out the dormant plant beings around you. Perhaps you have a meadow nearby with grasses turned golden this time of year or a neighborhood sunflower that has dried into sturdy stalks and heavy heads or a local poppy whose seed heads are like little maracas and call out to be shaken. Of course some may hitch a ride home with you on your pants leg whether you are looking for them or not!

Let yourself look for the special beauty in these receded plant beings, as they rest in the dry time of year. Take in how they change for this season. Listen to what they know.

You might ask them, What is necessary?

Linger in the simplicity with them as they do only what is needed for now. For a moment forget that the rains and flush of new green is coming and just be with them here.