In the past few months I have observed the onset of grey hair like I have never before. I suppose at the age of 45 I am long over due for the greying of my hair. I have been expecting it, also as I have watched my husband who is of the same age come into his ‘salt & pepper’ transformation over the past couple of years.
I have never colored or dyed my hair. I have always been weary of putting harsh chemicals near an already volatile brain. So then being from India, I have literally turned to my roots, applying traditional Ayurvedic hair oil to my scalp weekly. My acupuncturist even suggested I increase my intake of black beans. Yes! Black beans increase hair pigmentation whether ingested or applied topically. I have yet to explore it as a topical remedy. Black bean soup for now.
Last week we considered how we observe certain cycles in nature – cycles of coming & going, sunrise/sunset, being/non-being, now you see it/now you don’t. When observing these shifts in nature for instance – we don’t take the setting of the sun personally. We don’t take the onset of winter personally. We recognize these shifts as part of a natural cycle.
Of course when we start to observe shifts in our very body, it is difficult not to take changes in our body personally.
But even our bodies belong to something much larger than our personal self. Our bodies are made from elements of nature while also being part of nature, subject to its various processes of flux. The cells in our body respond as much to our input in the quality of our thoughts as they do to the input that comes from shifts in hours of daylight, cycles of the moon, alignment of the planets. In the recognition that we are a part of the stream of life and not separate from it, this sense of belonging opens the way to act from love & compassion. Even towards our bodies as they come into their natural rhythms of transformation. Alternatively we find ourselves reacting to our body or change in general with force and aggression, born of fear & desire that emerge from a feeling of separateness, a feeling of disconnect.
Painting: Domenico Gnoli