Breathe in.
Breathe out.
Begin.
I invite you to take a few breaths – let them be as deep and as long as the body craves. Now, imagine yourself either swimming upstream along the river or perhaps walking into a strong consistent wind. Really visualize it – be there. Feel the effort, notice the tension in your hands and on your face. Hold this feeling and then when your next exhale comes, turn around and let yourself become part of the flow. Safely, held and carried by water or dancing like a dandelion in the wind’s embrace. Breathe deep and witness again the body’s response. A softening of the muscles, a letting go of effort.
To live in sync with the natural ebb and flow of life’s rhythms is giving grace to the body, the mind, the soul. It is the releasing of expectations and the giving of permission to be in flow. As we witness the natural world move through its seasons, we can perhaps feel the desire to rush through one to get to the next but ultimately, that urgency is destruction. We need the winter snow and ice for our spring and summer lakes and rivers to fill and be plentiful. We need the falling of foliage to blanket the earth to keep that which rests in winter below the surface warm and safe so when spring is sprung, the daffodils, the irises, the tulips are ready to emerge and blossom. Each element gives harmony to the next.
During winter, depending on where you are in the world, it’s easy from our fast-paced, productivity-centered perspectives to see death, dormancy, and darkness. And, those things do exist … we see them outside, we feel them within and around. And, at the same time, there is so much life above and below the surface of the Earth that thrives in and relies on stillness. The strength and power lies in the patience, the preservation, the collecting and holding tight, the snuggling in and the hunkering down, the resting, rejuvenating, and alchemizing. As we sit at the beginning of this new year, give yourself grace that we are still in winter and this time is critical. The days are still cold and dry and the nights long. Move slow, sleep long, preserve your energy. Make slow methodical plans for when spring comes, you’ll be satiated with the gifts and nourishment of winter’s energy and thirsty for spring’s.
I want us to hold that your internal winter may not happen during the winter outside and your spring may not be sprung by the time the weather does. Perhaps we think of our internal seasonal cycles as the way we move through a day, a week, a phase in life, whatever those seasons may be. As we mirror our lives to the world that holds us, recognize too that different plants and animals behave differently – in a way that serves them. Is winter a time of hibernation for you? Or are you energized by this time and out on the hunt – inspired with ideas?
On your next inhale, find winter within …
Explore the sensations, emotions, urges, reluctancies …
Are there states of depression during your winter? Grief?
By allowing this winter to be whatever it needs to be … what opportunities for growth are you making space for in spring?
We can’t rush spring … it comes when it comes.
So, stay in winter for just a few more breath cycles.
You have to give yourself time to bloom.
Jasmine Linane-Booey of Kazuko Wellness is a Somatic Energy Guide. She holds two certificates in Reiki (Paris, France and Spokane, WA), over 10 years experience as a certified yoga and meditation guide (Goa, India), a certification as a Somatic Energy Practitioner (Spokane, WA), and is a trained Psilocybin guide and wellness coach. Contact: hello@kazukowellness.com | www.kazukowellness.com