When is the right time to sit?
This is one of the most common questions that comes up when I'm speaking with someone considering joining an upcoming retreat. When is the right time? Is there a right season or a right emotional state? These are fair questions to ask yourself when deciding to step into this work for the first time or the 100th time – and let me be clear: I do mean work. If you're simply looking for "a light show" or a "good trip", this work probably isn't for you... but that's a conversation for another time.
At the end of the day the only thing that truly matters is you - not any external reason - simply the fact that you are being called to the work. Not because someone told you the best time is when then planets are aligned in some formation or because you heard it's like 10 years of therapy in one night (spoiler alert: it doesn't work that way). Whomever messengers might be, when the plants call you, it's the right time to respond. The call often keeps ringing in until you answer.
There are an infinite number of reasons that bring someone to the point of stepping into the realms of the plants. In almost all cases, it is born from a space within, a space of readiness to see what you cannot already and a yearning to uncover a greater truth within yourself. Regardless of the reason, your heart is always your compass.
When was the last time you got quiet with yourself and listened? Even just for five minutes? When was the last time you watched your breath move through your lungs, felt your body settle, inquired into the desires of your heart and sat with a question? I mean, really sat with it? Not steering your mind toward an answer, or nudging yourself toward an outcome you want to hear — but simply being with the question in a state of openness, availability and curiosity.
The clarity that comes from a handful of honest, self-directed "why's" is profound when you're willing to engage.
Asking "why" from your mind will always produce a very different response than asking "why" from your heart. The mind will often reinforce a false sense of safety at the expense of growth - choosing what is familiar instead of what is expansive. Your heart, on the other hand, will call you into that expansive possibility and radical accountability. Your heart always pulls you toward your potential and a deeper sense of alignment.
And yes, that can be (and almost always is) terrifying.
For many, the most frightening thing can be sitting with the possibility that you could actually become the authentic version of yourself that you're always talking about. Or better yet, maybe you already are. The right inquiries, dropped into the heart, will help you remember this truth. They can help point you toward the actions needed to awaken you to the changes you are seeking in your life. And these lasting, embodied changes are why we come to the plants.
On a more tangible level, the medicine is really good at unsticking stuck-ness, opening creative channels, mobilizing and releasing deep or heavy emotions, bringing clarity and peace in times of change and endlessly revealing the innate truth you carry inside and your sacred place in the grand web of life.
Stuck-ness can feel like not knowing how to move forward in life. Maybe you've tried a plethora of modalities and nothing has gotten to the heart of the matter or maybe a lot has moved but you're seeking to go deeper. Stuck-ness can present itself through fierce lack of clarity, dissonance or disparity with life's circumstances and not sure of how to shift it. You could be carrying weighty emotions from the present or past that are ready for processing and liberation. Or, you may simply feel that there is something absolutely wonderful existing within your spirit waiting to be unlocked and the still small voice of your heart is guiding you to this key.
A bit of digression aside, the point remains the same. Yes, different seasons carry different energies, and having enough breathing room away from the demands of work and non-negotiables is worth factoring in. But at the end of the day, what does your heart say? Have you asked?
Furthermore, what would happen if your heart said yes?
You can always find a reason not to do something. The fear, the nerves, the apprehension will always show up when something is truly worth doing. That's just part of the process. Can you dance with it? Can you meet it halfway, with a smile and an open heart? Can you remember that your soul's evolution depends on your courage to step out of what you think you know?
Let me say that one more time:
Can you remember that your soul's evolution depends on your courage to step out of what you think you know?
This work isn't for everyone and I don't think it should be. Working with the plants isn't easy. Absolutely nothing truly transformative is. The right time to sit is always when you decide to answer the call of your heart with a courageous yes to growth, to possibility and to change. Maybe that time is never, and that's okay too. The thing is, you can't actually make a wrong choice... as long as it's an honest choice informed by your heart.
Ring ring.
