We live in a universe that is an alive and growing!

Quantum physics and the ancient wisdom of the East have described the rhythmic patterns of energy that flow through matter as a "dance of creation and destruction".

The Hindu dancing god Shiva symbolizes both the cosmic and the daily rhythm of these eternal cycles. It has been said that when Shiva dances he sends energy through matter with pulsing waves of awakening sound and matter dances, expressing its fullness until Shiva destroys it by fire and all is at rest.

A Tibetan lama and "master of sound" described this dance as a movement of sounds that change as the rhythm of the dance changes. Everything is singing a song and the sound at every moment is creating dense and subtle forms.

An international authority on dowsing could hear different musical notes as he walked around our garden. There were areas which had the sound of B flat which particularly interested him. He described his experience in the garden in terms of light and vibration with a vocabulary that I wanted to learn. His sensitivity opened my mind to the possibilities of ever deeper connections to the field of living energy flowing through the garden.

This living energy or life force is called different names throughout the world. Words like "chi" in Chinese and "prana" in Sanskrit have been introduced to western society through acupuncture and yoga. Older cultures who live close to the natural world are aware of life force and use it for their health and well-being. The aboriginal tribes of the Amazon and Australia, Native Americans, and Native Hawaiians have specialists who know how to connect directly with the life force in the plant world for their healing work.

Quantum Physics is helping western culture shift from its mechanistic view of the world. Field theory validates the knowledge that we are all interconnected in a world of living moving energy. The energetic healing arts of Homeopathy, Flower Essences, Therapeutic Touch, and Ayurveda are coming into mainstream popularity as people search for ways to feel better and have more energy. These wholistic methods help people understand that they are more than just a physical body, but they have a mental, emotional and spiritual dimension that makes up the energy field of their being.

The blooming locally grown and organic foods movement is a sign that people have a renewed interest in vitality. The difference between a weak rubbery carrot that has been sitting on the shelf at the grocery store and one freshly pulled from the ground is life force! Since most commercial food is grown in another state or country, most people have not had the chance to experience the difference. However, now there are more small farms and farmers' markets, people are becoming educated, and they want to eat food that is really alive.

Getting to know the life force in food can go beyond the wonderful flavors of a freshly picked tomato or ear of corn. Something unusual happened the first time I grew some cauliflower. As a standard gardening practice, when their heads started to develop, I wrapped up their leaves and tied them over the top of their heads to protect them from turning yellow from the sunlight. Over the weeks, as I hand watered them, I'd peak inside to see how they were coming along. I admired them as one would a admire a beautiful sculpture in an art gallery. They were a heavenly work of art and it was very enjoyable to see their perfection unfolding before my eyes.

When the heads grew to the size of a basketball I knew it was time to harvest. I carefully cut the largest one from its base and was surprised to feel its heaviness as I held it in my hands. When I took it up to the house and started washing it in the kitchen, I had the same feeling as if I were cleaning the body of a whole chicken!

It felt odd to be associating a cauliflower to the body of an animal. It was a vegetable, not an animal. Somehow through my sense of touch, the strength of the life force in the cauliflower was being interpreted in my brain in the same way. A shift happened in my awareness and I was able to perceive the cauliflower as a living "being". I was even more surprised to feel its presence after I placed it in the refrigerator. When I went to another room in the house I could feel its energy glowing and radiating out from inside it. I was connecting with the life force of this very friendly cauliflower. I had never felt anything like this before. Eating it had the sanctity of communion. It was remarkable that the life force could be strong enough to wake up my awareness and teach me about life!

After this initiation into life force, my gardening experiences took on new meaning. I became the student and the garden my teacher. All of the garden was alive and there to help me grow in awareness. The sense of the community of beings connected to the life force of the garden began to expand. I could feel the energy that flows through the patterns of nature and myself. One day while watering the garden, I realized I had no sense of time or separation from the community. I was a part of the living landscape, like all of the other beings. The life force was flowing through me and we were all interconnected.

I began to marvel at seeds. How does a little sunflower become a huge blooming giant? With the smallest amount of water and light, seeds can push their way up through the soil, lifting up big clods of earth on their way. It is amazing! A friend told me that the life force in seeds stirs on the Winter Solstice with the swing back toward the light. At first I thought this was just poetry, but a year later I discovered it was true, for I felt it inside myself, too.

I watch this shift in the sunlight activate the life force in the natural world each year. It's as if the sun sends out a vibratory invitation to attend the biggest party on earth. Everyone is invited to a celebration of life that will reach its climax on the Summer Solstice in June. The word gets out, like the stirring in the seeds, and soon after the Winter Solstice the guests start arriving. By the first week of January the first songbird scouts begin singing in the forest by our house and the blooming heather sits ready for the big fat "heather" bumblebee to arrive. The Red Flowering Currant will bloom by Valentine's Day and the hummingbirds will arrive. Layer upon layer of relationships, courtships and mating, births and fledglings, flowering and blooming, will grow in pregnant excitement and fulfillment as the sun reaches its zenith.

The garden is a party place in the meadow landscape. I watch each year as returning guests claim their place in the garden. There's a diverse menu of food and safe places to raise their young. They seem to like my hospitality and I love having the chance to learn from them. It is a very synergistic relationship. We work together to enhance the life energy of the garden as its diversity and complexity grows. I know my job is to stay fully present in the moment and conscious of the living energy moving through the garden. As a human being, my love and consciousness stimulates and activates the life force. In a very profound way I can then contribute to my own transformation and the world around me.

Being aware of life force in the garden is like taking cosmic dancing lessons. Learning to dance with Shiva takes some practice because the rhythm is always changing and you can't take the lead, but what could be more joyful and soul satisfying?