Root Down to Rise Up. Root down to rise up it's a theme of my life remembering my roots my family, values, friends, beliefs to rise up and reach out far to grow my shoots my branches and leaves to go out on a limb all while learning about and from trees learning how trees start from seed go through transplant shock if grown in a nursery transplant shock much like me when moving my roots to location b ...and onto locations c, d, and e learning how trees feed photosynthesize, oh what a dream and how trees have relationships the give and take the ebb and flow the ups and downs just like you and me sometimes life hurts bumping a knee or tree canopies resiliency is the key recognizing the interconnectedness the relationships the pulse of life the complex yet simple beauty nature from the forests to the lakes from the mountains to the bay from the rainforest to the reef from the desert to the river from ma uka to ma kai no matter what through it all remembering to root down to rise up. A photo of a live oak (Quercus virginiana) tree from my M.S. research site on St. Simon's Island, Georgia. A little context for this poem. A labmate during my M.S. program at Purdue University also enjoyed poetry, and we would write poems summarizing talks from our weekly departmental seminar series. Writing poems helped me stay engaged during seminar talks, especially during talks that were out of my field of study, with most of the content going over my head.
This practice helped me realize that I enjoyed writing poems about scientific topics, which led to me incorporating scientific and nature topics into more personal poems. The “root down to rise up” phrase comes from my yoga practice. I cannot remember the first time I heard it, but several teachers have shared it during yoga classes, and this phrase has become a foundation for how I view my life story. This poem is a product of seminar poetry and yoga practice. Today is December 21st, marking the winter solstice. I recently learned that the winter solstice is a time of release, letting go, honoring relationships, and reflecting deeply. I was going to post a different topic for this month’s blog post, but upon reflecting on this winter solstice, I decided instead on remembering and sharing this poem.
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AuthorI started this blog as part of my Botany In Action Fellowship through Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens Archives
June 2023
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