Hopping on one foot, I leaned over the railing at the Bahamas yoga ashram to catch up with another yoga teacher. My right foot innocently rubbed against a plant. Still talking, my foot kept going back to rub against those leaves. They felt so deliciously cooling and soothing.
Dear reader, you might recall I had a torn ligament situation. I was at my favourite yoga ashram resting and recovering. My foot couldn’t seem to separate itself from this plant. I mentioned that and the other yoga teacher replied ‘prana’.
pra•na
ˈpränə/
If you’re wondering, prana is Sanskrit for life energy. Green plants have a lot of prana as they synthesize energy directly from the sun and that’s what she was referring to.
Then she ran off for a swim leaving my foot happily rubbing itself against this soothing smooth leafed plant.
I plucked a few & put them in my bag thinking they would do really well to brush oil on my feet. Slowly I made my way back to my tent hut, no running anymore! I’ve learnt my lesson to slow down and go with the flow. Gathered my beach bag, a juicy book & made my way to the beach. As I pulled out my book, the leaves fell out. Instantly I took them and wrapped them around my feet. 
Some seaweeds lying on the shore made a nice tie. The green juicy leaves felt heavenly and I dozed off to sleep. When I woke up it was time to go for a yoga workshop. I made my way walking barefoot in the ashram with my green bandage.
The other yoga instructor spotted me again and had one word this time ‘’Intuition”. ‘What do you mean’, I asked. Well, no one told you to make a bandage out of this green leaf. You felt it and its effect on your skin. You trusted and relied on your instincts to guide you to wrap your feet with this leaf. That’s intuition. Oh, I understood and left it at that.
Today during lunch, I simply had to research this plant that I knew nothing about other than how it felt on my foot.. and what do I find. It’s a medicinal plant that grows in the tropics. Called the red mangrove it has anti inflammatory properties. Its even used in Ayurveda(ancient indian medicine) for the following:
The Leaves and Bark of red mangrove are used for inflammation, diarrhea, dysentery, menorrhagia, leucorrhea, wounds, boils, and viral infections.
The leaves have been used for medicated baths in traditional medicine. Medicinal plants always played an important role in the health development of mankind. In developing countries, 80% of populations are totally dependent on plants for their primary health care. Over 25% of prescribed medicines in industrialized countries derive directly or indirectly from medicinal plants. Here is the bush that got my intuition all wired up into healing.
Wow! who knew that my injured foot would find a way to heal itself on its own with an ancient healing plant. From what was around it, my foot knew exactly what to pick. Smart foot 🙂 it gives me shivers thinking of how much intuition, wisdom & intelligence our body has and how little of it we use day to day.
So how can you develop your intuition? It’s the 2nd time that this word came up today. A coworker asked for some advice on how to deal with a situation. I simply love my work environment, fruits every Monday.
Coworkers who help each other. It was my turn to help today by listening & offering some suggestions. How could I not? especially when someone comes asking me for help. Intuition popped right up as my tip for her. Listen to your intuition to guide you. How do I know and what if listening to my intuition isn’t giving me a clear answer, she asked? Then that means you have to get more still.
So dear reader, give it a go. Next time you have a challenge and are unsure of what decision to take, take 3 deep breaths, close your eyes and listen to your subconscious. Its innocent and childlike and always has your best interests at heart. It also guides you using nature’s intelligence. The path of yoga is not an instant one. So I wouldn’t expect overnight intuitive messages from your body if you are not used to it. But it does get you closer and closer to your own mind & body’s intelligence. As you keep listening, you will get all the answers you need right within you to heal. Just like I know intuitively that this green leaf is oh-so-good for me, even though I knew nothing of its biological name nor its healing properties.
–charuyoga–
charuyoga 