SALT THE EARTH

Monday was one of those cliched kind of days. I had slept poorly, having dreams where I argued with my mother, so that when I woke up, I woke up bleary and cranky. I went to work and had a long mentally exhausting day. I didn't do my yoga practice. I worried about the house. I mumbled in my head about my fat tired body. I whined about the heat. And all of this I did internally, trying hard to not sound snappish when I talked to Chris. Then, that evening, while I was moping on the couch, Chris came out and said he wanted to water the garden and spray the yard. I grumbled and put on my shoes and headed out to help. I watered the garden and pulled some weeds while Chris sprayed a salt brine around the perimeter of the house and yard. And we were swarmed by mosquitoes. Masses of them. We came in covered in bites and Chris immediately jumped in the shower. I flopped down on the couch thinking I would not shower. I would just sit and itch and grumble. But Chris finished and I decided at the last minute to grab a tub of salt and jump into the shower and scrub myself with salt. Then, a funny thing happened. I stopped itching. I felt cooler. I felt less cranky. In fact, I didn't feel cranky at all.

We learned about energy cleansing with salt in yoga teacher training. It's best to soak in a tub of salt water for twenty minutes, but in a pinch (punny) you can just pour it over yourself and use it like a soap. I realized last night that this is something I don't do often enough. My body was hot, sweaty and itchy and could have done with a good scrub. But really the part that needed to be cleansed the most, was my soul. It's odd. I clean the house once a week. I wash clothes once a week. I shower daily, but I have a hard time remembering to clean my spirit. Perhaps salt baths should be added to the weekly chore list.