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Magenta epidendrum teaches us to open our hearts and experience more ease, so everything can fall into place. Instead of shutting down and worrying that things won’t turn out, we can stay open to what is, dissolving resistance and fear of the unknown. We’re able to go right to the heart of matters and experience more meaningful connections with everyone + everything around us. There is no confusion - we are clear, direct + heart-centered, because we are at ease and open to what is. Read more here!
By being intentional when taking our flower essences, we remind ourselves, our guides and the universe what it is we want to embody. Choose one of the phrases below that most resonates, or make up your own! Every time you take your elixir, close your eyes and set your intention:
Love is all around.
I go right to the heart of the matter.
Go right to the heart of the matter, I’m open to the present moment.
I can remain in the present moment no matter what is happening.
Stay right here.
I'm open.
To take it one step further, as you take your elixir and set your intention, visualize everyone else in this program, all around the world, feeling light and free. By connecting with others in our group, we exponentially multiply the benefit + ripple effect!
When are you worried that things won’t turn out as expected?
When have you experienced fear of the unknown?
When do you avoid something because it worries you?
In what situations do you find yourself shutting down?
Which relationships in your life would benefit most from being more open and curious?
When do you feel at ease? When is it effortless to open into the present moment?
When do you go right to the heart of the matter?
Prefer to have a printed sheet with the writing prompts, exquisite practices + a calendar to track your month?
Download the Epidendrum Orchid Support Guide here.
Take a few deep breaths with your eyes closed. Where in your body do you feel tension? Where in your body do you feel ease?
Notice when you’re afraid that things won’t turn out the way you expected or when you’re afraid of what’s coming next. Note the dialogue in your head with curiosity.
When you notice yourself shutting down, or fearing your alone-ness, practice sinking into the present. Focus on your breath. The way the air feels on your skin. The colors you see. Open into the richness of what is right here, right now.
If you find yourself wanting to run, turn away, shut down or distract from a situation or emotion, try simply saying to yourself, “Stay.” Make it into a game: How long can you stay with it? Know that you can run away whenever you choose, but see how long you can stay with what’s arising. Stay. Stay. Stay. Or tell yourself: I’ll stay with you no matter what.
I will help you:
Use me when:
I wanted to tell you about the collection story for the Epidendrum Orchid. I always call it the Magenta Epidendrum because it was such a luscious, bright, magenta, pink color. There are thousands of different types of Epidendrums, some that grow on air and some that grow in the earth. This one grows in the earth. It's more terrestrial. But I wanted to talk a little bit about the collection story because it sort of has something to do with the theme of the flower.
I was actually walking through a neighborhood in Santa Monica. I used to travel there often and stay with a friend of mine, Kamal, who lived in one of the most beautiful neighborhoods. He still lives in one of the most beautiful neighborhoods in Santa Monica. I would walk through his neighborhood just admiring people’s gardens, and there was one year that I just was so kind of blown out, blown away by the beauty of some of the flowers that I saw in people's gardens, particularly this one.
And as I was admiring the flowers, this fella came out of the house and started ... We started chatting. His name was Ratna, which means jewel. He's a Sri Lankan man, and he ended up inviting me into his yard. I told him I was fascinated by the flowers, and he gave me a tour and told me about every single little flower, and when he planted it, and what it meant to him. He ended up inviting me inside. I had cookies and tea with he and his wife. He was from Sri Lanka. His wife was from Mexico. And, it's like every flower in his garden had a special meaning. It's really dear.
That experience is sort of like one of the embodiments of the sort of main qualities of this particular orchid in that it helps us feel connected. It expands our potential to be open to new experiences, synchronicities, and fortuitous occurrences, such as running into this gentleman.
I mean, I was just on the sidewalk. I could have slithered away, or been embarrassed, or kept walking, or whatever. Some of our common responses are sometimes when things like that happen, or we don't feel social, or we're in our own little worlds, or we're in our phones, or million different things. But in this instance, from both sides being open to conversation, open to connecting, open to meeting, open to listening to stories, and coming in a stranger's house, or inviting a stranger into your house, into your heart. I mean, he was such a dear. I mean, he ended up writing on this little piece of paper my name in Sinhalese. It's such a beautiful language. It's like all these swirls and curls.
Yeah, it's kind of like just being able to trust an experience that you're having and follow it and just sort of let everything unfold. Rather than orchestrating it or trying to have some sort of agenda or way that things need to pan out, and to just allow experiences of love to surround you wherever you go.
It's like when we harden ourselves and we close ourselves off, then we close ourselves off from the love experiences that are all around us. For example, in this collection story, if I had just hardened my heart and pulled back and walked away, I wouldn't have had the experience of such a sort of gush of love and care from this older couple, who we shared a common passion with and a common sort of sense of in some ways Asia being home, but here being home, and the beauty of Mother Nature, and just being able to share a very connected, poignant moment and then never see each other again.
You know, I went back to the neighborhoods so many times, and I searched, and searched, and searched, and walked up and down. I remember one time I walked up like 10 blocks to each side and I could not find Ratna's house. I wanted to go back and visit him and his wife. This is the weirdest thing. I did that twice, I think. I thought, "What the heck? Did somebody buy their house and totally change the landscaping." I could not find his house.
And so, these things come and go. Things change. It's impermanent. It wasn't necessarily about maintaining this lifelong connection. Obviously, I couldn’t find him. But being able to accept that I was surrounded by love, it's like this unexpected experience of being cared for, of being brought in and served tea and cookies and cared for. Really, love is all around us if we allow it in, if we are more able to sink into the present moment and be aware.
So right as I'm talking, Ichi-San just jumped in. I'm doing these recordings from my bedroom, actually, and my little dog just came in, jumped in, little love dog. So the question for this week is going to be when have you had experiences where you've been so present, and so in the moment that something unexpected happened that showed you that love was all around? Reflect on all the different ways that this has happened to you in your life.
One of the aspects of the Epidendrum Orchid, is this ability to go right to the heart of the matter. This can happen in many ways, whether it's going right to the heart of the matter within yourself, addressing something with someone else. Being in a conversation and being able to zero in on exactly what's important and just having, in general, more clear and direct heart-centered form of operating and communicating and understanding the world. This is in opposition to our habitual patterns of shutting down, avoidance or putting up walls. We do this in such subtle ways. We probably do this every day and if we live in big cities, maybe more. Or, if we are around a lot of people that we feel like we need to protect from, just in terms of energetically.
It's interesting to think about our lives and reflect on any areas where we are not going right to the heart of the matter. Where we are seeing something we disagree with or that is uncomfortable or that pisses us off or makes us resentful, but we don't say anything or do anything about it. Just sort of irritates us and makes us steam inside. How many times does that have to happen before we go right to the heart of the matter and speak up about it, do something about it in a way that will be effective and beneficial.
I know that's been probably one of my biggest weaknesses in business, is not being able to, or not wanting to speak up. Like, if I notice something that I don't like or if something is disturbing me or disagreeable in some way or if I see that someone working with me is lazy or not pulling their weight or talking too much or being inefficient, historically, it's been really difficult for me to voice that. As you know, growing a business you have to hire and fire and have all these different types of experiences with people.
I remember actually one experience that was really precious, where I hired this fellow to shoot video. Taylor was already with us, but we needed another video shooter and editor and we just really wanted to hire somebody full-time for video and editing. This was some years ago. So, we did a ton of interviews and we found this guy, we thought he was great. And then he worked, he even did like a trial day, where he just volunteered his time for free and worked for us during a project and seemed to work out really great. The piece he made was fabulous. So, we hired him. Then, the first week it was atrocious. I don't know if I ever met someone so lazy in my entire life. It was really amazing.
That was actually one of those experiences where I went right to the heart of the matter, where I actually didn't mince words and I didn't worry and I didn't feel like, "Oh gee, should I really say it like it is, or should I have a softer delivery," or that kind of nonsense. So, I remember bringing him into, at the time my office and closing the door. And we always sat on the floor. And so, here we are sitting on the floor. Like all my other meetings, at that time we're sitting on the floor, face to face, and nothing in between us or obstructing us. Just like two humans sitting next to each other.
And so, I started to have this conversation with him and it was actually relatively short where I just said, "You know, it's not working out and we need to part ways." He actually immediately pleaded with me to tell him why, like "Why, why can't you just give me constructive feedback? Why?" I looked at him and I just point blank said, "Because you're lazy." He burst into tears. And then he said, "Oh my God, it's like my biggest weakness. It's my biggest weakness and I'm trying so hard to rectify it. Can I please stay?" I was like, "Wow, okay." The first week is like to impress. That was just like, why bother? Like, "No, of course you can't stay. This is your last moment right here."
But, I remember it being such a precious conversation because he asked, he wanted to know and he wanted to know the truth, whether or not he was ready to make changes or be more active in the solution of his behavior, in that moment he wanted the truth from me. So, I gave it to him, clear and straight up, down to earth. And, it was so moving. It was so touching for me to be vulnerable enough to be able to say that, and deliver it actually in a soft way, but very sharp and clear. Then, to see how much sort of inner pain and conflict that was causing him, his own behavior was causing him in his life.
Those types of interactions are so rare where two humans can be completely vulnerable and open to whatever is arising in that moment. Those are the types of conversations that are hard, but they're fueling and inspiring and remind us what being human is all about. That we're here to help each other evolve and grow and improve. If we're not, we're not even staying the same or going backwards. If we're not improving, we're going backwards.
So, question for this week is, in what situations do you find yourself shutting down, getting cold, pulling back, hesitating, keeping quiet, when what actually might move the dial in life and human connection in someone's behavior or ability to improve or self-reflect or have self-awareness, when what's called for us is to just go right to the heart of the matter?
Another beautiful aspect of the Epidendrum Orchid is the ability to embrace a multitude of outcomes, and possibilities, and pathways. I know that I personally have had the habit of thinking in the past that there's only one best way. I used to remember thinking like that a lot. Either it was dosing with a pendulum, or asking my teacher, or asking someone else, or reflecting on my own inner wisdom like, "What's the best possible way to X, Y, Z? Or what's the most beneficial outcome or method?" And although I think I've outgrown that a bit, I'm sure that's still latent and it's in our collective consciousness, this idea that there's one best way and if we don't find this one best way, that somehow we blew it or we missed it. We missed the boat. That's it. The window of opportunity closed, and that's it.
It's funny. I've watched my teacher over the many, many years that I've known him. And as he works with individuals to try to get them to wake up, and see different aspects of themselves, and evolve, and grow, and realize the full capacity and potential of who they are, I've seen that there is oftentimes, especially with the boys, a plan A. And if that doesn't work out, there's a plan B. And then there's a plan C, and a plan D, E, F, G, H, I. But there are many, many routes, many methods, multiplicitous pathways and outcomes, and sort of ways of expression.
And, that's one of Epidendrum's superpowers - is to really help us see that there are many pathways or many options, many possibilities, many opportunities. We don't have to be so careful about every move we make. We don't have to self-edit or hesitate as much. We can be a little more wild, a little more cavalier, a little more cowboyish. Because you know what? You’re just going to make the choice. And if it didn't work out, you're going to do something else, rather than being really tight, and held in, and hesitant, and afraid to make the wrong move. And so what happens when you're frozen and tight? You don't make any moves. You don't accomplish any ... You don't act. You don't move or you move wayyy too slow. So Epidendrum is going to help us act more swiftly, more effortlessly, more efficiently, and just try things, and be open and aware to different possibilities and opportunities.
When I think about ... When I was a kid, I loved choose-your-own-adventure books. Which is... I don't know, something really cool about them. And I would choose one. If you want to go this way, choose this page. If you want this to happen, go to this page. Then I would go back, when I was a kid and read all the different options that I could have chosen. I kind of wanted to know every combination. And that's kind of like life, right? It's like choose your own adventure. You make moves, you make decisions, and you influence your own storyline.
On the same token, even though you're influencing the storyline and you're making decisions, you can also stay open and sort of allow life to unfold in front of you. You can make a move and then see what happens. Then you can respond and then pause and see what happens next. So it's like this dance with life where you're active, but there's also things happening that you want to be aware of. So yeah, getting away from the pattern of being stuck or not being able to make a move because we think there's one perfect way, one right way and if we don't find the right way, the best way, we blow it. So really softening and cutting through those types of patterns and recognizing that there are so many different ways, and outcomes, and choices.
So the question for this week is: when do you notice yourself holding back because you want to do it correctly, rightly, perfectly? When do you avoid something, even something that could greatly help and support you? When do you hold back? When do you not act on something? When do you hesitate? When do you hold back because there's some part of you that wants to do things a perfect way and you're not quite sure what that perfect way is?
One of my favorite aspects of the Epidendrum Orchid is its ability to help us realize that there is no scarcity or lack that, essentially, love is all around us, and sometimes noisily. I hope you can't hear too noisily that my dog, Ichi, is snoring. She has the cutest snore but it's kind of loud sometimes.
But speaking of love, it's so interesting. So when I was in Asia this past summer for such a long time, it's so different being immersed for like months and months and months and being able to see so many different elements of cultures in the East. I remember Taylor specifically commenting to me about like, "Wow, it's so interesting and I love seeing like all the moms and daughters or girls walking with their grandmothers or sisters or girlfriends."
And we realized so acutely that when you see the contrast in the U.S., in the United States, there is this tremendous fixation around finding the one. I mean, geez, it's probably all a conglomeration of like Disney movies that have been indoctrinated into us when we were kids to create this idea of this romantic... it's this exchange or you find the one, you fall in love and it's like you give them everything and they give you everything. And there's this like intense energetic kind of back and forth between the two of you. And Americans are just like plagued by this phenomenon of like finding the one. And, "What if I don't find the one? And I think I found the one but then I might lose the one. But is this really the one? No, I'm sure I found this one. No, I'll marry this one. No, this isn't the one. I'll divorce this one."
I mean it's like kind of crazy and excessive. And the amount of people who are like dating and looking and searching or feeling like they're missing something because they don't have “the one”, oh, my God, it's just so exhausting. And in the East it feels to me so much more chillax about that. Not to say that it doesn't exist, it's in some ways human nature, but it just seems like the emphasis of relationships in the East is a little bit more weighted towards either this is someone that makes you a greater person being with them than being alone or this is someone that can help you improve and you can help them improve and you can spend a lifetime together working on improving in life together or creating a family together.
And there also feels like there's not this stress to find the one. I mean I have plenty of friends who don't, who haven't. And don't feel like there's anything missing. Like one of my best friends in Taipei, she's not dating anyone. She hasn't for like so many years and she just spends a lot of time with her family. She still lives, as is common in Taiwan, to live with your family unless you get married and leave. And since she hasn't gotten married and left, she still lives with her family and she takes care of her mom and dad who are now getting to be more elderly. And there's no sense of like no daily angst about there being something missing. It's like she has her family, she has a work colleague, she has friends, she has things that she does in life. She has her spiritual practice, her teachers. I mean this, her life is so rich and she's such a phenomenal human being.
And so I share these examples just because sometimes we don't understand what is normal versus not normal when in confines of a culture that we haven't gotten outside of. And it isn't until we get outside of it that we then either see what's screwed up about our own culture or appreciate something new, appreciate something about a new culture. And I love this ability of the Epidendrum Orchid to help show us that our needs can be met in many ways. And if our expectations of something aren't met in one way, they can be met in another way. If we thought something was going to turn out like A and it didn't, well maybe there's a B and maybe the B is even better. And maybe it looks more challenging in the beginning, but it's actually turns out to be more rewarding in the end. Hypothetically speaking.
And it's also, like in terms of say Valentine's day, in the U.S., it can be one of those days people will get bummed if they don't have a loved one, a lover, whatever, intimate relationship. And there are just so many other ways to get love and give love, whether it's your nieces and nephews, your siblings, your pets, your neighbors. The little old lady down the street that you go to visit and share time with, your colleagues, your friends. Love really is all around if you look for it and allow it and open, open your heart enough to receive it. If you soften enough to receive it. There's no reason that any of us need to stress that we need to search for love. I've never believed in searching for love.
I get the angst to being an 18 year old and trying to figure out your life. That's a whole other story, when you're young and impatient and kind of angst-y and you think you're going to miss it. Actually this is a good point. This is a good flower essence for young people. When you feel like you're going to miss it, "Oh, my God, I might miss it." And you're running around frantically searching for something that you don't know what you're searching for. So this would be a good flower essence for youngins. But in terms of like actually talking about romantic love relationships, in my personal experience, those relationships that have been the most mind blowing, intense, beautiful experiences have been completely and totally unavoidable. It was nothing that I had to seek out. I'm like way too old to be .. I'm not too old, but like when I was dating, that wasn't the time of like dating apps or matchmaking sites.
I haven't lived through any of that type of experience. And even so, there are other ways to search, like to go to like groups and bars and nightclubs and dance. I don't know, who knows? I don't really know what people do. I guess I'm not quite as in touch with that, but I know that sensation of like that kind of angst and searching from when I was 18, I was searching for something else. I was searching for my spiritual path and my spiritual family and my purpose in life. But that, I think, is what a lot of people experience with romantic love. And I always try to soothe people by saying like, "No, really, if it's really someone that is worth your time and energy, that it will be a tremendous learning experience. It will be on avoidable that you will meet this person." Unavoidable, you don't have to try at all. You don't have to look or search. There's no lack, there's no scarcity, there's nothing missing. You are enough. Like there's so much enough-ness that you're overflowing with the enough-ness. All of us are more enough than enough, just overflowing with enough-ness.
And then there is the ability to love ourselves and to experience gratitude and love for others and allow our own love and gratitude for others to fill us up. It's like I walk into the Vietnamese restaurant at lunch today and I feel so much love and care and affection and tenderness toward this man who works at the Vietnamese restaurant. It must be family of the owner. And we used to go in every day to the restaurant and so we would be tended to by him a lot. And so we developed this friendship, all of us at LOTUSWEI and this fellow. But actually, so I was sitting there and just like when I see him, I allow myself to experience the softness, the tenderness that I feel toward him without expressing it, really. There's nothing to say, there's nothing to like reach out and grab him or it's totally inappropriate for me to like hug him. Like that's just not, I don't know, it's just not appropriate.
But I can soften and like bathe in that experience of love for him. And essentially we can do that with anyone we can think of, anyone that makes us feel kind of warm and fuzzy and appreciative and grateful. Or just like affectionate about their quirkiness and allow that love to fill us up. We can rest for a moment and give ourselves credit for everything we do and everything we are. I mean, just think about that for a minute, just take a moment to reflect on all the many things you do in your life. All the people you touch, all the interactions you have, all the positive benefit you create, all of your presence, your being-ness. What other people feel when you walk into a room, the influence you have on others.
And really appreciate that about yourself, it's a lot. Human beings powerful. So, recognizing that love can come from it all over the place, inside of us, around us, emanating from us, overflowing from us. We can even receive love from nature.
So the question for this week is, when do you feel lacking of something or missing or longing? And when do you actually have some sort of experience of love that makes you feel full and whole and complete, natural being state? When do you experience that something's missing and when do you feel settled and content and complete?
I collected the Epidendrum Orchid from a Sri Lankan gardener in Santa Monica, California. His name, Ratna, means jewel in Sinhalese. While the flower essence was infusing, I had tea and cookies with this kind-hearted man and his wife, as well as an in-depth tour of his beautiful garden. Before I left, he wrote my name for me in Sinhalese, with its beautiful flourishing spirals and curls.
Most epidendrums are epiphytic orchids, meaning they grow on the surface of a plant and derive moisture and nutrients from the air, rain or debris accumulating around it. This Epidendrum, though, is actually a terrestrial orchid, meaning it grows in the earth.
Epidendrums are some of the easiest orchids to grow - they are hardy and persistent, often blooming several times over the season. They do well with low nutrient sites and are amazingly adaptable to a variety of conditions.
They usually have tough, leathery leaves and long, thin stems with long-lasting clusters of flowers.
If you’re attracted to the Epidendrum Orchid, you may be yearning for more ease and connection. You may have found yourself nervous that things won’t turn out the way you want them to, or worried that you’ll ‘miss the boat’.
Or, you may have a subtle fear running in the background that you’ll be alone or lonely at some point in the future. Ultimately we come in and out of this world alone -- aloneness is real.
And everything is inherently unknown - we cannot orchestrate the future and we have no idea what is actually coming next in life. As humans, we tend to fear the unknown. We put up walls when we are afraid. We grow tense with resistance, wary of the unknown. We dig in our heels and resist. We cannot control life, so it makes us uneasy.
We don’t want to face that possibility of our greatest fears. We want to avoid them; the future cannot be manipulated to our liking.
If you are drawn to Epidendrum Orchid, a part of you is longing to find more freedom in the unknown and ever-changing nature of life.
Epidendrum Orchid teaches us how to open our hearts to life. When we’re open to life, we can allow things to fall into place. We can work with whatever arises around us. We can be more open to deep, meaningful connections with people that we ordinarily would put up walls to keep out because of a simple fear of the unknown.
We can go right to the heart of the matter, and there is no confusion. We are at ease, because we are in our integrity. We are clear and direct and heart-centered. We come from a malleable and soft place that can put itself in others’ shoes and better understand the other.
When we can stay open to what is, we become curious about the truth of the situation and how to work with it. When we engage and cultivate our curiosity, we’re more receptive to fortuitous occurrences and synchronistic events with people and the environment around us: Do what you do well, keep your heart open and the rest will fall into place. Nature does not make great effort - it just blooms.
Our openness also allows us to understand that there are multiplicitous outcomes, not just one right way for things to happen. As a result, we can stay open and allow life to unfold in front of our eyes like a choose-your-own-adventure book -- except that we are influencing the storyline.
We can forgive others for not living up to our expectations. And we can forgive ourselves for having expectations. We are able to drop into the ease of observing the present moment and our awareness of what’s happening and our own participation in it.
Epidendrum helps us have a visceral experience of love - that there is an abundance of love all around us. There is no scarcity or lack. If expectations are not met in one area, they will be met in another area. There is no need to search for love. It is everywhere around us, so we can rest into it and allow life to unfold, along with our active participation in the choices that we make.
{Magnifies}: Open-heartedness; curiosity, being open to life; feeling that love is all around; being direct and heart-centered; going right to the heart of the matter; forgiveness when others don’t live up to our expectations
{Dissolves}: Anxiety that things won’t turn out the way you want them to, uncertainty or fear of the unknown; worry about missing the boat, being alone or loneliness; avoiding situations out of fear; shutting down the heart out of fear or worry
