Learning from the Lotus
- Becky Flores
- 7 days ago
- 4 min read
Learning From the Lotus
The lotus carries rich symbolism across some of the world’s oldest spiritual traditions, and its wisdom continues to shape my understanding of growth and healing.
I first “met” the lotus in my early days of motherhood. I had stumbled, somewhat out of my depth (as I often do), into a hippie-style yoga hall, tucked inside one of the beachside shops on the Gold Coast. They offered yoga followed by a lesson and sometimes a shared dinner, a nourishing gift during those early days. What kept me returning wasn’t the yoga itself, but the sense of safety I felt there: genuine human centred connection.
As a new mother, I often felt under pressure, and then I felt wrong for feeling that way, as if discomfort or tension were signs of failure. I remember one evening when our meditation teacher, an ex–chartered accountant, pulled out a guitar for call-and-response singing. A part of me was so nervous I wanted to find an excuse to leave early – to run. Instead, I stayed, moving my lips to make it look like I was singing. I’m glad I did, because he introduced the lotus story. The details have faded, but the feeling remains: the reassurance that my discomfort had purpose. It was an important part of growing into the mother my newborn needed me to be.
Looking back, that experience was the beginning of my learning that transitions in life are normal, and that immense tension often comes just before the bloom. The lotus helped me make sense of my own transformation into motherhood: who I had been, who I was becoming, and the person I hoped to grow into. It showed me that the mud isn’t something I have to push away or hide from others. The lotus blooms because of the mud.
Wisdom From the Mud
The lotus and her mud teach us to honour the parts of ourselves (or our journey) we sometimes wish weren’t there: the painful, shameful, overwhelming – the parts we imagine are “wrong.” Sometimes these parts were even unwelcome in our family or culture. When we meet these parts with compassion rather than judgement, something important happens, we begin to embrace them.
When we allow the mud to be just as it is; when we rest, feel, recover, share, and allow ourselves to be supported and witnessed – integration begins. From this grounded place, we organically rise. We move through the murky waters toward the sunlight, perceiving our experiences through a new lens.
We see this pattern reflected in the body. During the transition phase of birth, or any moment of intense transformation, those moments where we feel like we can’t keep going, we surrender and then something shifts. A baby is born, and the body releases hormones that support connection and reward. We feel this physiology after breathwork, a long run, a sauna, or a good old conversation with a trusted friend. The descent, the intensity, the surrender and the bloom that follows.
Being Seen in Our Bloom
A key part of the lotus’s daily cycle is opening toward the sun. This part, too, can be surprisingly uncomfortable. I grew up believing I needed to fit in, stay small, stay quiet, and blend into the background. Yet, I was always praised for helping others navigate their internal worlds, so the mud feels familiar. The sunlight, the being seen, does not.
I’ve had to reclaim how to stand tall, how to allow myself to bloom and how to trust that it is safe to be seen. When it feels too much to carry alone, I remind my psyche and all the tender parts of me that the lotus never rises alone. She is held by the water, supported by the mud, surrounded by other blooms. She belongs exactly where she is.
The lotus reminds us that growth can be uncomfortable, but in her own time, at her own pace, the unfolding is worth it.
Holistic Psychotherapy and the Lotus
Holistic Psychotherapy mirrors the cycle of the lotus.
It provides a space for the mud to feel safe, to be met with gentleness rather than shame.
It offers stillness and support as we integrate, and it nourishes us as we rise toward our own sunlight.
This work honours the whole human experience: the discomfort, the transitions, the resting, the becoming, and the being. In a therapeutic space that welcomes the whole cycle, we learn that we don’t have to shrink or modulate ourselves to belong. We can root deeply, rise steadily, and bloom in our own time, supported and witnessed along the way.
It’s through being in supportive spaces, where we can practice taking one small step and then the next, where our struggles can simply be met rather than judged, that we begin to feel more at ease showing up as our whole, authentic selves in the world.
If you’d like to explore your internal landscape, see below to book an affordable holistic psychotherapy session, with the Community Clinic this Monday 15th to Friday 19th of December 2025.
About The Writer
Becky Flores is an accomplished Psychotherapist with a rich background in Allied and Holistic health. She guides her clients through personal growth, at their own pace, fostering a safe and organic journey tailored to each individual.
With expertise in attachment theory, trauma-informed practice, perinatal health, parent coaching, carers counselling and mindfulness, Becky's approach is grounded in the Thic Nanh Hanh belief that "Our own life has to be our message".
She strives to empower and support clients as they navigate life stressors, finding inner peace and joy.
Becky is currently offering as a Therapist at our Community Clinic once a month.
- Book your affordable session with her here
-Or, find out more about her, out of clinic hours here
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