Lively Balance Wellness Coaching + Retreats
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact
    • Testimonials
  • Offerings
    • Retreats >
      • Women's Yoga Retreat Weekend
    • PlayShops
    • Online Exercise Recordings
    • Blog
    • Podcast
  • Boise Goat Yoga
    • Sign Up for a Class
    • Sign the Waiver
    • Private Parties
    • Offsite Events
    • Nice Butt!
  • Sign Up

Thoughts + Light

May You Bloom… and Know

7/1/2020

0 Comments

 
I want to Enjoy Nice Things, Despite this Lurking Estranged Bully
​The blossoms that appear on the northern catalpa tree in June are orchidacae in appearance, the lips of their papery cream petals spreading delicately to reveal deep violet sprinkled dashes and golden yellow brush strokes within. They are fragrant, the kind of fragrance you may notice brushing past you in the early summer air. It’s the fragrance of jasmine, of honeysuckle, of Hawaiian pikake, a scent that makes you close your eyes wistfully on the inhale. If I were a little pollinating bee, I would relish the opportunity to wiggle into their gentle trumpet necks.
Picture
Within nature’s impeccable canvass, the flowers are professionally framed by the enormous slick green leaves, each as big as a dinner plate, sprouting a brilliant backdrop in thick, almost tropical bunches.

Ours is a tree planted shallow, in a hole atop a little hill dug fervently one day by my daughters and nieces. As such, its roots remain close to the ground and it has yet to show us much of a trunk heading up. Instead, the incredible branches spring away from the low, thick trunk in wide green arms, offering shady hiding nooks accessible by crawling up the soft fescue and into the deep dappled caverns underneath.

Today the blooms on the catalpa are sagging in the grey light of a thunderclapped morning, heavy summer rain coming steadily now, the sky’s muted light making the greens of the leaves and the grass take on a Technicolor hue. The birds are intermittently quiet, and the hiss and spatter of the rain offer a thrilling serenity as I take it all in through the giant picture windows, wrapped in a striped serape blanket.


I wrote about our catalpa tree several years ago, the summer we planted it. It is some of the most inspired writing I’ve done. Our tree has a pretty profound origin story for its life here on the gentle hill in our green backyard, and the therapeutic effect of writing about it has only increased my adoration of it. Our catalpa tree, and its significance to our family, is literally rooted into our story.

Which makes the fact that an unauthorized children’s book that uses my daughter as inspiration for the protagonist, and our catalpa tree as her refuge, makes my heart want to claw its protective teeth at the sky.

... To be continued
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    by Emily Nielsen

    "I am determined to be cheerful and happy in whatever situation I may find myself. For I have learned that the greater part of our misery or unhappiness is determined not by our circumstance but by our disposition." 
    - Martha Washington

    I'm a lively, fun-loving mother of two and small fitness studio owner who may drink champagne in glitter one night and drink green smoothies and stretch the next. Hence, my studio is called Balance. I help women reach their best physical and spiritual selves through kick-ass workouts mixed with gentle yoga and joyful affirmations. It works.

    Picture
    All posts are copyright ©Emily Nielsen 

    Archives

    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    May 2019
    November 2018
    February 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    February 2017
    August 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014

    Categories

    All
    Cringetopia
    Desire Map
    Goat Yoga
    Joyful Affirmations
    Poems
    Retreats

    RSS Feed

© 2023 Lively Balance • Emily Nielsen
  • Home
  • About
    • Contact
    • Testimonials
  • Offerings
    • Retreats >
      • Women's Yoga Retreat Weekend
    • PlayShops
    • Online Exercise Recordings
    • Blog
    • Podcast
  • Boise Goat Yoga
    • Sign Up for a Class
    • Sign the Waiver
    • Private Parties
    • Offsite Events
    • Nice Butt!
  • Sign Up