I picked up a hiking trail book the other day and flipped through it and came across this quote below about old-growth forests. I thought it was an interesting concept to apply to the forest of my own consciousness, as the yoga traditions speak of it. 

"Sometimes an old-growth forest isn't as evident as people expect. Before you imagine a continuous stand of giant trees, realize authentic old-growth woodland is not an agglomeration of even-aged trees. On the contrary, even-aged trees are a sign of disturbance.

It means before the trees you see rose, something happened to cause the trees growing there before to fall at the same time–usually storms or timbering. Here along the Boogerman Trail, small plots of old-growth forests were cut down to establish pioneer homesteads and clearings for gardens, crops, and livestock. An old-growth forest will have many big trees along with younger trees that grow when they get the chance.

A growth opportunity is created when a big tree falls, creating a light gap. Young trees sprout in this light gap and other already somewhat grown trees thrive in the additional sun. Trees are continually growing and dying, as older trees succumb to lightning strikes, disease, or old age, creating a mosaic of all-aged trees, even in old-growth forests." – Johnny Molloy

It got me wondering if there were any light gaps in my canopy, places where something long a part of my consciousness might have been toppled and now presented as a growth opportunity.

Was my recent health crisis more of a disturbance that wiped out all the trees, or was it a lightning strike, and a younger tree would now find some space? Like Leonard Cohen's crack where the light gets in.

Maybe there's a practice opportunity to go into one's consciousness and do some selective pruning. How might you honor and cultivate the rich, diverse ecosystem of your own soul, recognizing the deep-rooted and long-standing parts of your self as well as the new branches and places where the prana, the life force, gets in?

And what exactly will one find along the Boogerman Trail?