Dandelions

Did you ever notice that no matter how much you pull them, cut them or try to get rid of them, those little yellow flowers overtake lawns, cemeteries, playgrounds, sidewalks & fields every spring? Some call them weeds, however I think there is much to learn from the Dandelion.

I have always had a fondness for Dandelions, picking large bouquets of them in the spring for my mother and teachers. I remember many times as a young child, riding in the car with my grandparents and my grandfather pulling over to the side of the road in front of  huge dandelion fields that were like seas of yellow. He & my grandmother would get out with paper bags and gather the dandelion plants-roots and all-until the bag was full. They looked like they were in heaven. They knew the many secrets & lessons of Dandelions.

Originally from Asia, this resilient, versatile and completely edible plant (from flowers to stem and roots) played an important role as both food and medicine. Arabian & French physicians have used this plant for centuries as a medicine. Dandelions made appearances in Canada with the French in the 1700’s where they were used in salads.

The Spanish brought it to New Mexico for a medicine and food source, they called it 'chicoria'. Germans brought the plant to Pennsylvania in the 1850’s and used it as a spring infusion of nutritional vitamins. The English also brought the plants to America to cure liver illnesses and Native Americans soon started to see benefits from the plants and started to grow them for medicinal use. Dandelions grown in India are used mainly for a remedy for liver problems. Most recently the dandelion root is being grown and exported to Russia for use in medical remedies. Read more about the health benefits of Dandelions here.

My grandmother used to wash the leaves and saute them with olive oil and garlic and serve them as a side dish. They were added to salads along with the beautiful fresh vegetables grown in my grandfather's vegetable garden. The "milk" that oozed out when you picked on was used for mosquito bites and stings and I hear it also can be used to treat acne.

My grandparents were the first people I remember who used food as a medicine. Being brought up on a farm in Pottstown during the depression, and each having 12 or 13 brothers & sisters, the families could not afford to have a doctor call for illnesses, so they used healthy food as a simple, logical way to prevent illnesses. (Many times did I sit, against my will, and eat one of my grandmother's garlicky sauteed vegetable remedies, or a plate of raw scallions with olive oil to "cure" my sniffles. I will say that it did work every time.) Dandelions and other bitter greens were a staple in their food pharmacy.

So I do think of Dandelions as a natural food source, but also as a metaphor for life. The bright yellow that springs up, seemingly overnight, to me, symbolizes resilience, persistence & rebirth. The bright vibrant color , like little suns on the lawn remind me to stay "sunny" and positive. They demonstrate how life does go on when we choose it to, no matter how harsh the winter or how many times we are stepped on, run over, have our heads bitten off, (or whacked off with a golf club-one of my dad's former favorite pastimes ) are uprooted or are cut down. It is still possible to not only survive, but thrive!

When the flowers finally go to seed, we teach our children to "make wishes" and blow them into the air, just as we have done as children, demonstrating that our hopes & dreams are carried by the wind, and will take root and keep growing when the seeds  finally find a place to rest.


I have a beautiful book that I have used for yoga classes called  "The Dandelion Seed".  I highly recommend this book for parents, traditional as well as yoga teachers (for ages 3-10). It is a simple but very profound story about a tiny seed's journey as it is carried through a very big  & dangerous world and about the challenges it must overcome. It is one of my favorites and I use it again and again, with music, art and of course movements. I hope this becomes on of your & your child's favorites too!

~Barbara