Fall Garden Yoga on a Mud Mat

A lot of people I know give up on weeding in the fall.  It doesn’t make much difference in this year’s garden, and many of the weeds will die soon.  Harvesting and summer activities are important and time consuming.  But when you think about how much weeding is like yoga, albeit on a mud mat, you can think about it less as a difficult chore and more as a chance to relax, stretch, and contemplate life, while doing some toning exercises!  It also has a long term impact on your garden.  With the cooler, slightly damp weather, it is a good time to jump start your weeding routine, for both your garden and your health!

Your garden will benefit from fall weeding because:

• many weeds ARE perennial and are getting some strong roots going in the cooler fall weather
• many of the weeds have been left alone so long that they are going to seed
• weeding now will clear spaces and open up your options for fall planting
• a well weeded garden makes it much easier to plant at opportune times in the spring
• you might find some produce that was hidden by the weeds…
• you might save some desirable perennials from being choked out

You will directly benefit from weeding because it is kind of like doing yoga:

• many of the poses you must assume to get the weeds require controlled stretching and balance
• to avoid injury, you must change positions in a smooth, controlled manner
• you must adopt a regular, deep breathing pattern 
• when the weeds are tangled with each other or the good plants, detangling mimics graceful dancing arms that helps loosen your joints and increase your range of motion
• the root systems on various weeds stimulate a meditative mind as you feel for the best degree of tension to get the most root out of the ground
• whether by yourself or with a group, many troubles of life seem to fade into the background for a while and your mind will sift and sort while you are like an observer to it’s process

When weeding, I take on the voice-roles of both Master and Student.  “But, Master, I can’t get the bind weed up by the roots.”  “Patience, Grasshopper.  The bind weed will teach you many things.”  “But, Master, the back of my shirt is caught on a thorn under the rose bush.”  “Reflection on the problem, Grasshopper, yields better results than careless reaction.”  “Master, there are too many weeds for me to pull.”  “Yes, Grasshopper, but if you don’t pull some, the world will become full of only weeds.”

This picture was taken doing the Lion Pose but I was spitting dirt out of my mouth after pulling a weed, which flung dirt back into my face.