Ready for a Close-up? Mr. Janisch, Mr. Darwin?

“She’s so daft,” is what they are saying here. 

Excitedly, I run to Natives with my first shot of an Iguana.

I tore after an Iguana recently—captured my first one at school and proudly showed some ladies. Groaning with distaste and disgust, the Puerto Rican ladies snub me, put their nose in the air and pronounces the creature “vile."

But for me, I’m up close with a rock star—the Iguana.  

Like Mike Jagger, I cannot determine if they are incredible ugly or incredibly beautiful. As far as things go in my teeny-weeny world of substance, they drop my jaw to the ground.

Despite their dragon-like appearance, iguanas are harmless vegetarians (well, harmless unless you own a garden or a grove of trees). They bask in the sun to become active and live on vegetation. There’s nothing they love better than soaking up some rays. They are not their best in the morning; they are sluggish starters and they get all warmed up before they get down to the day’s business.   (which is nothing’ much). They can reach 3 feet in length.

They seem to be slow-moving, heavy, but no weakling when approached or frightened by humans. They seem to work only over tiny distances, but they have big-time effect when they move their tail. It is like a sudden release of stored energy that shakes the ground when they do decide to take off. 

I realize they have a long history. Way back when, their dinosaur cousins ruled the world. One look at these gangsters and I can see why illiterate, black-teeth pirates returned with stories of dragons and wyverns.

I will bring the glory days back and convince the locals that the Iguanas are still on top of their game. Lofty aspirations perhaps. The Iguana is to natives here what the squirrel is to the bird feeder enthusiast in MN or what the raccoon is to the novice camper that left the gravy train open overnight.

The colors are intriguing, with the youngest Iguanas being different shades of green, middle age bringing a beautiful shade of orange and grey for the elder! It reminded me of the process of aging and color therapy.

Color therapy is an area of holistic healing which uses color in an attempt to affect our mood, emotions and possibly even our health. There are different ways to incorporate color therapy into your life.

We would probably not be healthy if we lived in total darkness without any light. Light can affect our mood. Most of us feel better and more cheerful on a sunny day than on a gloomy, sunless day. Living in areas which do not get many sunny days, like in MN, some in winter develop Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)—somewhat apropos acronym.

Each color's vibration is associated with different attributes and qualities. Light entering through our eyes may trigger the production of hormones which control the biochemical system of the body. It also can influence our emotions and well-being by supplying the frequency we need to keep our mind and body in balance.

Color does not heal. Rather, it enables the body to heal itself. Iguanas do not destroy your garden. Rather, they enable you to plant anew and continue the circle of agrarian life…

Possible Medical Benefits of Iguana color.

Green is the master color. It is refreshing and cool. It connects us to unconditional love.

Looking into the eyes of the Iguana, I have not witnessed this unconditional love…..yet!  

I am paraphrasing here, but what I took away from his listless glance was something along the order of: “bugger off ye big psychosomatic eedjit and lemme bask in the sun so that later I may destroy your neighbor‘s garden… now git!!”