About the Jade Vine
the muse of my therapy practice
Jade vine (Strongylodon macrobotrys) is a flowering vine that, like me, is native to the Philippines. The story and survival of this plant species bore an unnerving resemblance to my own story, which is representative of the waves of Filipino migrants and overseas workers who have left their homeland over the past century. But the more I thought about it, I saw the jade vine in the stories of the many clients I have served over the years.
Today, jade vine is well-loved by plant enthusiasts and conservatory keepers. It requires a tropical climate to cultivate it properly, and when well nurtured, gifts its cultivators with many strands of its beautiful, striking blossoms. However, it’s native to the mountainous jungles of my ancestral lands, some of which now have been deforested. How did it come to this?
Jade vine knows what it means to move.
Jade vine knows what it’s like for strangers and even close figures to unexpectedly cut you down, burn you, eject you. Jade vine knows what it’s like to flee or evacuate from home because home somehow became inhospitable. And jade vine knows what it’s like for strangers to decide you were so beautiful and precious that you were worth preserving and protecting.
Jade vine perhaps knows what it’s like to long for what was once home before. Jade vine knows ultimately that it’s rooted where it is now, and it blossoms in full health here, anyway. Jade vine thrives despite being far from its mother land — knowing that the future is mysterious, but not something to distrust.
Survival is strange, and healing is, too.
While the timing and origins of our entrance into this violent world are completely out of our control, that’s just the beginning of our stories. Not the end.
While we begin conceptualizing, feeling, and moving about in the world in certain ways as infants, toddlers, children, and young adults, we can get stuck or frozen in these ways, especially after a life changing event. Patterns that mean to protect us gradually close us up. But we are responsible to continue adapting to reality and to grow beyond our wounds, and we can.
The jade vine blossoms’ message to me that I pass on to you is this: