Lavender

Living the Lavender Life

As mentioned in previous posts, my obsession with lavender stems from my father’s influence when he asked me to use the word to calm him from worrying about places where I ended up as a result of my global business travel.  The word caught on and it became a word that all family members began to use if needless worrying was filling our behavior or thoughts.

As I recommitted to studying yoga and after completing a phenomenal 200 hour  Integrative Yoga Therapy training course with Jim and Joan Ryan in Ponte Vedra,  FL, Lavender Om Wellness popped into my head as the new approach to living that I wanted.  I had just left a 30 year career in the aerospace and defense industry and was enjoying the concept of being a “retired” yoga teacher.   Little did I know that I wasn’t done yet with my original career, for shortly after completing that training, I got called back to work with a small company.  This time I vowed to better balance my life.

I took on the mission of “balance” with all the focus and aggressiveness that got me through my business life.  I still hadn’t learned how to stop and smell the lavender!

So back to work I went and on a part time basis I tried to prepare and teach  new yoga classes and on a 8 -5+ basis, I promoted products to prevent harm from terrorism.  My bad habits crept back into my life, the scale moved in the wrong direction and even though I was breathing and doing yoga, I was going about it with a sense of urgency.

Finally after completing some additional training led by Carol Krucoff and Kimberly Carson at Duke University,  Nischala Joy Devi at Yogaville and locally with Dawn Curtis and Ladan Judge at East Meets West, I started to get a sense of the power of yoga to bring balance and wellness  to a stressful lifestyle.    While at Yogaville in 2013, I learned there were lavender farms in Virginia.  I made a decision then and there that for an upcoming milestone birthday, I was going to go visit lavender farms.

So fast forward to 2014, with government spending down, my traditional job went through some changes.  We closed our DC area office and I started working from home.  There was no artificial wall between my work life and my home life so finding balance and calm was even more critical.  I made a very tough decision to not teach any yoga workshops in early 2014 as I was getting stressed trying to balance my varied interests.  I decided to find my balance with the changes occurring in my life and start to plan a “once in a lifetime” vacation to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary.  As I was researching the destination for our anniversary, Maui, I found out they had a lavender farm there – Ali’I Kula Lavender farm.  We visited and it was awesome.  The tour was informative and I got hooked on wanting to learn more.

For my birthday a month later, I had picked several farms to visit in our current home state of Virginia.  As the date approached, I found out one had closed to the public so my list narrowed  from 4 to 3.  The weather was iffy but I selected White Oak Lavender Farm as the place to visit for my birthday destination.  I was not disappointed and was so impressed I signed up to be a lavender consultant in their My Lavender Lifestyle program.  I started using their products almost immediately.  Some changes were taking place at work and the bull frogs in the retaining pond behind our house seemed louder than normal this summer.  I used the lavender linen spray on my pillow before bed and got my first restful sleep in a long time.  I played  with  the lavender stress ball during work day teleconferences and my anxious intensity to tasks at hand slowed down.  While it’s only been a short time since this latest discovery and I feel a bit like my new name should be Lucy the Loquacious Lavender Lush, I’m feeling ridiculously over the moon as I practice my morning yoga or take my morning walk and breathe in all that is lavender.  Namaste till next time.

©Denyse Le Fever

 

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