It was a delight to have my first pediatrics patient come in for allergies and asthma for the beginning of the spring season. A wee girl of 7 years old the third generation of woman in her family that I have had the honor of working with. Having a private practice for 22 years affords me the grace of working with the different generations and health concerns that come with the different seasons of life.

This spring is the season of children.

She had missed school the day of her treatment due to low energy and compromised breath. She was so sweet during her medical intake, giggling all the way with her grand-mothers assistance.

In Graduate School we had the opportunity to learn techniques for pediatric care but this was the first time in my private practice to administer them. I was very excited and it went absolutely wonderfully.

The treatment consisted of TCM child modalities, gua sha, bodywork, acu-pressure. My intention was to get her breathing better and to boost her energy levels so that her natural immunity would get a re-boot.

Children are so much quicker at healing. They are designed to grow and grow out of illness and build immunity. After her treatment she felt better and literally skipped out into the street with her grandmother in tow; she was exuberant, high energy and happy. Her grandmother commenting with a smile, “I think she is feeling better.”

The following day I got an email saying she was back to school, breathing normally, returned to her gymnastics work-outs and asked if she could see me again that day, with her younger sister insisting on an appointment next.

I loved it!!! Nectar Health’s doors are now officially open for Pediatric Care as well.

I plant a garden in your names. The land was becoming fallow unattended by your loving hands.Weeds appeared where once there were vegetables, flowers, butterflies and bees.

I felt a need to give you grace, hold up my heart to the heavens and create beauty, so your lives were not in vain.

I honor you in the snap peas, kale and the freshly finished wood-bin.  The fragrance of the linseed oil lingers amongst the trees, slowly becoming air born. How I too become air on the winds, resisting the desire to follow the scent of you both, lost.

I replenish the wild birdseed feeder, hoping the squirrels do not discover it first. Longing to fly away on Red Raven’s wings and meet you there in the canopy of the Redwood and beyond.

I listen to the birds singing their elative songs, waiting to understand, hoping for a message, missing your voices distinct and sublime.

I walk the fairy circle and call in your Spirits, into the sacredness of the garden. I walk three times around with intention, praying to the seven directions with every step. I ask you both to inspire my soul, help me stay in my body and tend to this green Goddess globe called home. I walk and till the soils in your names, Francis my Love and Milorad my Father.

I call upon the strength of my two powerful Men, while embodied you were both my pillars. I ask and ask, how can I walk now on this earth with you so far journeyed into the ethereal? I wait and wait for an answer.

It is the day before the Spring Equinox and the earth is wet and ready, waiting for me to hold the trowel now. Needing turning, watching, learning, stewardship.  I turn the soils for my Green Men. Knowing I must be your Priestess Soldier now.

I will walk, I will listen, I will see and I will stay.

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Spring is officially around the corner. What have you been holding onto that you would like to compost and let go of?  Old clothes that make you feel ugly? Habitual responses? Personal armoring?

What is stirring inside of you ready to birth forth? And how are you emerging this year?

I am emerging anew, strangely so, with the loss of my two favorite men in the world, my husband Francis and my father Milorad. I am learning how love is truly eternal and how we will all leave these vessels called our bodies.

So, while we still have the incredible opportunity to make the most of LIFE, lets do it! Love bigger! Be silly, enjoy your body and keep your heart open. Take notice of the changes that occur in and around you from living your life in an unveiled state.

Staying open-hearted does not take away the shadow within you and it is not a guarantee for internal bliss. But it is a big solution to many personal struggles self-created and projected into the world; the dog, the laundry, your partner, your sorrow…. It is worth a try, I know this to be true because I practice this everyday. Some days I am better at it than others. It just takes practice. Even now while I am deeply grieving, I practice and take note.

Love yourself first and know that I will help you keep your heart soft and vulnerable, as it is designed. Blessings.

My most humbled Gratitude,

I wanted to extend my most heartfelt thanks for the outpouring of Love for my sweet Francis’s transcend-off and for carrying me through this passage of great loss!!! The memorial service was divine and perfect.
Some Loved ones came from as far away as Hong Kong, Oregon, Los Angeles… There were candles burning and silent memorials through out the nation and world for the ones that could not attend the service.
My love, Francis touched so many in both his personal and professional life and he is gravely missed.

Francis helped so many people find there centered strength by being the spiritual warrior-may you now walk in his memory.
Blessings,
RatkaMira

To our Friends, Family and Community,

If you have not heard the terrible news, my Husband, Francis Stephen Petrash, passed away suddenly from a heart attack last Saturday. It has been a shock to all of us especially myself, who loved him beyond the Stars, the Sun and the Moon. We created a world together full of love, gratitude and endless possibilities. And it has been a dream and a grace to be his Wife.

I welcome you to join us for his Memorial service held at our home’s back garden:

This Saturday, Nov.10th, 2012.
Gather 12noon
Service 1pm
Open house until 5pm

933 Chester Street
Oakland, CA 94607
510-272-2969

We have created a website to commemorate Francis. If you would like to help me in any way (with cooking and daily tasks, or hugs), the site has a Helping Calendar function. If you have any questions or just want to reach out, please call me. I would love to hear from you.

With love,
Ratka Mira Popovic