The Secret Garden

When I was a child, I loved the book, The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett.
 
My mother read many books to me at naptime, including Secret Garden. She read with feeling, making each scene vivid, and the characters come to life. This was a clever way to get her active children to want to take a nap so we could hear the stories.
 
When I was old enough I read it to myself countless times. I had the old, battered copy that had been read by my older siblings, and discarded as they moved on to Jane Eyre. I knew the plot well, of course. But somehow the suspense of finding the boy crying in the night, and the delight of discovering a forgotten garden were fresh every time I read the book.
 
The Secret Garden taught me some good lessons: have the courage to follow your instinct, and trust that nature can show a way through difficult times. It gave me hope that I could find a place of safety in a hostile world. Ultimately it taught me that reaching out to others gives us strength we didn’t know we had. And encouraging others builds community and heals them and ourselves in the process.
 
I was also learning that you can teach memorable lessons through stories, and that’s one reason that I was drawn to study Yoga with the master storyteller, Swami Satchidananda. And why I teach through stories so much myself. 
 
Even now when I use imagery for my own healing and relaxation, one of my favorite places to explore within is a secret garden.