❄️Winter Solstice + Evergreen Love!🌲

 ❄️Happy Winter Solstice, and Happy Holidays!!

I hope all of you had a truly wonderful Winter Solstice! The powerful day in which we are furthest from the sun in the Northern Hemisphere, resulting in the day with the shortest amount of daylight, and longest hours of night. It is often called "The Darkest Day." It might sound grim or daunting, but here's a ray of hope! Our natural world around us, the flora and fauna innately turn inward and slow down during this season, they hibernate, rest, and replenish. They honor the moon and its cool, yin, feminine energy! However, we humans have sped up our activity during this season, the hustle and bustle of Thanksgiving to the end of the year is the busiest of our year. We've become out of sync with our natural world.  We've forgotten that we are in fact connected, to every living thing around us. We are over-exhausted, resentful of rest, and ignore the cues from nature. It has wreaked havoc on our mind, body, nervous system, and soul. 

 

 

 

☃️Here's that hope I mentioned! On our mats, we learn to listen. To our mind, and to our body. We shed the layers: overactivity, stress, worry, burdens, lists, and regret. It is here on our mats that we are able to recalibrate our soul back tot he rhythm of the earth. It is here that we can begin anew, reset the tone and pace for our lives, and embrace solace and peace. It is in rest, that we prepare for the next chapter, for growth, and rebirth, as more light begins to enter our days from this day forward. Darkness is never all-consuming, light is always nearby, for we are the embodiment of light. We are what seeps into he cracks of darkness, expanding, moving, and flowing out into the world around us, filling the world with compassion and hope!

 

 

 

🌲In today's class, I was literally covered in a beautiful evergreen shade of green, from my fingertips, to my top and leggings, down to my toes! The first thing I read prior to my class was how various cultures around the world use Evergreens! My anthropology-loving heart loved it so much that I shared it in class! Some of us may have Christmas trees in our homes decorated with lights and ornaments, dating back to German and Nordic traditions symbolizing vitality, hope, and eternal life. Celts and Romans used Evergreens as symbols of life and renewal. Indigenous communities used evergreens as sacred protection, and to clear negative energies, and purify spaces. Japanese traditions used evergreens as symbols of good fortune, protection, and steadfastness. They are the hope and light through this cold, dark season. 

 

 

 ❄️We began with our hearts connecting to the earth, lying face down, our left cheek meeting our mat., our hands lying by our hips. We allowed the body to become heavy, melting toward the soil beneath us, feeling the support and grounding energy from the earth. The arms and legs soften. During this airy, light, breezy season, it's important to ground, so we don't get swept away! Our pranayama was our 3-part breath, deeply inhaling through the nose, from the toes all the way up into the belly, filling it up, expanding, taking up space, pausing at the top of that breath, and slowly exhaling through the mouth. We repeated this two more times, the inhale lengthening from the abdomen to the chest, filling the lungs, expanding the ribs, and slowly exhaling while humming, creating our Bee Breath. The final round travelled from the abdomen, to the lungs, up to the crown! Each time, the exhale becoming slower and longer each time, calming the nervous system with our Bee Breath. We sent our vibration down to the earth below, activating that deep energy, so it could travel back up toward us, sending us healing energy. We recalibrated the soul to the rhythm of our natural world. We became present in the body and the space we're in, and allowed all of our past stresses to melt back to the earth, transformed into something new, something for our greater good. Our future schedules and to-do lists floated away, into the breeze, no longer needed, carried further and further away from us. Nothing to do, nowhere else to be but right here in this moment for ourselves. We anchored to the peace found in this stillness.

 

 

 

☃️With snow and ice still on the ground, so I thought it would be fun to guide us through a Bonfire Visualization for our scan of the 5 senses: We brought our chin through center, and our right cheek met the mat. We reground the body, melting in, and envisioned ourselves circled around a bonfire at night, and first we noticed what we see around us, looking up at the night's sky, shades of deep navy blue melting into black, with bright stars lighting up the dark sky. We see our friends and family in a circle, smiling faces, curled up in blankets and sweaters. We traveled to smell, noticing what we smell around us, the smoke of the fire, the pine of the trees surrounding us, maybe our cup of chai tea beneath our nose. I sprayed "Sacred Space" in studio, so we inhaled notes of Palo Santo, Sweet Grass, and Rosemary. We scanned to our hearing, the crackling of the fire, laughter of our neighbors, maybe the howling of the wind and the hoot of an owl. On to our taste, noticing the last thing we may have eaten, or a sip of cup of tea, coffee, hot cocoa, lingering in the mouth. Lastly, we noticed our sense of touch, what we feel against the skin, the warmth of the fire, the cool breeze of the December air, the warmth of our hot drink in our hands, the coziness of our blankets and sweaters wrapped around us. We began to flutter the eyes open to bring our awareness back to the room, back to the body, feeling the stickiness of our mat underneath us, supporting us, holding us, bringing us back home to ourselves.

 

 

 

 🌲As we inhaled, our hands formed a pillow for our forehead, our third eye, center of our wisdom and intuition, and our hips rocked side to side, into slow pelvic rocks. We planted our hands underneath the shoulders, fingers spread wide like snowflakes, inhaling up into a low cobra, gaze extending forward, shoulders drawn back, elbows tucking into the ribs, exhale as everything melts down. With the inhale, lifting up into our second low cobra, floating the hands and feet, exhale melting down. Inhale, fingertips walk outside of the mat, elbows reaching to the sky, inhale gaze forward, exhale left ear taps the mat, inhale through center, exhale right ear taps the mat, repeating one more time left and right. Inhale as the forearms meet the mat into our Sphinx, gaze forward, exhaling as the gaze floats over the right shoulder, through center, and to the left shoulder. With our inhale we pressed into the palms to roll back into our Childs pose. We walked the hands to the right, sinking the hips back and to the left, walked the hands through center, and to the left, hips sinking back and to the right. We created a Childs pose wave, slowly rolled through the spine, arching the back, brushing the fingertips along the mat as we rolled toward our feet, the chin dripping toward the chest, until our glutes met the heels, and then creating a little backbend, hands to the earth, the spine waving long, crown reaching to the sky, the shoulders melting back, the arms extend out and up, palms together, to the heart, and melting forward, walking the fingertips into a forward fold. We repeated this 2 more times, delighting in this spinal awakening of the body. 

 

 

❄️We walked the hands forward to come into a comfortable seat, crossing the legs or finding a half lotus. We brought the palms together, rubbed them to create some heat, some healing energy, remembering that our hands are tools for healing, and cupped the hands to the eyes, sending healing energy to the soul. Hands floated to the crown, sending healing energy to the mind, calming the chatter. The mind can become stuck in the past, ruminating over things that have been, or travel too far forward into the future with worry, but the body is always present, so here we connect and stay present. One hand floated to the forehead, and the other to the base of the skull, sending healing energy to the mind + body, finally bringing the hands to the heart sending gratitude to the heart and lungs. We set an intention for our class, and released it, reaching the hands to the sky and to the right for a twist, peeling the right shoulder back to open the chest 5% more. We arched the right hand to the sky and toward the opposite knee to open the side body, and then brought it to the left knee, crossing the arms, arching the back and dripping the chin. We twisted to the other side, and then came through center, planted the fingers behind us, opened the chest, arching the spine into a backbend, and melted into a forward fold. We unraveled the legs and melted the hips back into a child’s pose, bending the elbows, prayer hands overhead, thumbs melting to the nape of the neck. 

 

 

 

☃️Our cat cow flow followed as we warmed up the spine, adding in organic movement, hips swaying side to side, or rolling forward and back into Childs pose waving back and forward into our table top. We moved to our breath, our own pace, making our cat cow our own. We came into our neutral table top, lifted the gaze with the right toes to the sky, bending at the knee into our Tiger, today it was a Snow Leopard, exhaled knee to nose arching the spine, repeated two more times, and on the third time reached the left hand for the right foot for a bind, opening the chest. We released the right foot to the back of our mat, planting the toes and floated the left knee up into the chest, arching the back, melted the knee back down, lifting the right leg parallel to the mat, flexing the foot and crossed it over to the left, gaze following over the shoulder. We inhaled the right leg through center, and exhaled the right leg out to the right side of our mat, inhaled lengthening the spine to the sky, staying on the left knee into our Gate pose. We inhaled the hands to the sky, and exhaled, melting the right hand to the right leg, left hand overhead for a sideband. We inhaled the hands through center to the sky, and exhaled the left hand to the ground or a block, right hand overhead. We floated the hands to the top of our mat, and melted the hips back into a 1-leg child's pose. We inhaled into our table top, into our cat cow flow, and then honored the left side!

 

 

 

 🌲We flowed through downward dog- plank waves, pranam knees chest chin, into a low cobra, and up into our downward dog, a total of 3 times. We floated to the top of our mats into a forward fold, hanging heavy, and began to root to rise, we slowly lifted up, one vertebrae at a time, the head the last to come through, into our Tadasana, our mountain pose. We felt the grounding energy from the earth pull at the soles of our feet from the toes to the arches to the heels, like roots of a tree pulling us into he soil, anchoring us. This energy circled around the legs, to the pelvis, the hips, around each vertebrae of the spine to the shoulders as they melt down from the ears. The crown reaching for the heavens, we are stable, rooted, and anchored. 

 

 

 

❄️Our Tadasana flowed into our Moon Salutation, to honor the darkest day, longest night! We brought the hands together above the head, into Crescent Moon sidebands to the right and to the left, through center, exhaling the hands to the heart as we ground into the left foot, lifting the right knee up into our Pillar pose. We found our drishti, non-moving spot to find balance. We peeled the right toes toward the glutes and stepped the right foot to the back of our mat, opening up to the right side of our mat into our 5-pt Star, prana energy flowing through our fingertips. With the exhale, we bent into the knees, hands floating down through center, creating pliés, and extending up with the inhale, creating snow angels in the snow. We repeated this 2 more times, and extended the arms out like wings, right toes turn to the back of our mat, hinging from the hips, we reached the right hand toward the back of our mat, and melted the right hand down into our Triangle, opening the chest, as the left fingers reached for the sky. The left hand melted down inside the right foot as we reached the right hand up, into our Twisted Lunge. The right hand floated down, the left foot stepped in, hands planted onto 2 blocks, forming our Pyramid, softening through the hamstrings, melting the heart. We rocked forward and back into the toes and heels, and floated forward into our Half Moon, into the right foot, and right hand. We could reach the left hand for the left foot into our Candy Cane! We released the foot and softly landed the left foot to the back of our mat, planting at an angle, as we rose up into Warrior I. We inhaled opened the arms into cactus arms, folded the right over the left into Eagle arms, inhaled the hands to our third eye, exhaled humbling in, repeating one more time, and after humbling, floated toward the long side of our mat into our WideLeg fold, swaying side to side, with our Ganesh, elephant trunk, removing obstacles from the year, as we come to a close, clearing the path forward. We released our bind, walked the hands to the top of our mat, and planted our left hand to build our Triangle from the ground up, reaching the right hand to the sky. The right hand melted down inside the left foot, as the left hand reached up into our Twisted Lunge. The left hand came down, left foot stepped back, and we moved through our flow, either pranam or chaturanga, to meet in downward dog, and then honored the left side.

 

 

 

 ☃️Our Somatic practice gives us tools to regulate our nervous system, to stimulate the vagus nerve that begins at the base of the brain and runs throughout the body touching every organ system! We agitated emotions stuck in the body, to help them release, and to serve as a reset button. We began in our Tadasana, brought the right hand to the left upper side of the chest, and extended the left arm forward, palm facing the sky. With a deep inhale, we kept the hips forward, as the left arm slowly traveled out to the left side, gaze following, to the back, paused at the back with the gaze over our left shoulder, and on the exhale slowly brought the arm back toward the top of our mat. We repeated this two more times, inhaled as the arms reached overhead, palms gathered at the heart. We brought the left arm to the right upper side of the chest, extended the right arm forward, palm facing up, and with the inhale slowly traveled the right arm out to the side as the gaze followed, to the back, and paused opening the chest. With the exhale we brought the right arm slowly back to the top of our mat, and repeated 2 more times!  We rubbed the palms together to create some healing heat, and we brought the fingertips to the crown, massaging the fingertips all over the crown and behind the ears, even the base of the skull. We moved into the temples, massaging circles here, we dripped the fingers to the jaw, the hinge where we open and close the jaw, the perfect release for jaw clenchers like myself, and maybe you too. We pulled down on the ear lobes, pulled the middle of the ears out to the sides, up to the top of the ears pulling toward the sky. We brought our fingertips to the base of the skull, pressing into our vagus nerve, and melted the fingertips toward the ears, along the jawline, and down the front of the neck to the collarbone. We repeated this 2 more times, releasing tightness in the throat. We tapped into the collarbone, with slow rythmic taps, all fingers in unison, into one of our acupressure points in the body. We brought this tapping to the sternum, center of the chest. We slowly tapped here, continuing as we inhaled, paused to bring the hands to the heart, stacked on top of one another, and as we exhaled we audibly hummed into our bee breath🐝! If you hold tension here in the chest, this is a nice release! We crossed the arms at the chest, and squeezed into opposite shoulders, down to the biceps and triceps, and into the forearms. We brought the hands to the shoulders again for a squeeze, and swiped the hands down the arms, chest, abdomen, low back, and legs, making sure anything still tethered to the body is fully released. We released everything from the year we need to let go of, swipe it away, let yourself be freed of it, so we don't carry it into the new year! Swipe it away! Let it drift into the snowy breeze, no longer needed in this moment!

 

 

 

🌲We came into stillness, then swayed right and left, and found stillness again, noticing the effects: we can feel cool, heat, or tingling sensations, even a spontaneous yawn! All signs of a regulated nervous system. We removed anything stuck, anything harmful & toxic still attached to the body! We stimulated the vagus nerve, the super highway of information from the brain to the body! We sent messages to the brain that the body is not under threat, it does not have to exist in a continuous active state (fight /flight/freeze mode). We helped our body to experience a larger capacity to sit in discomfort, and not immediately reach for unhealthy soothers, or run from it. We welcome space for triggers to be felt and moved through. We have the ability to help our nervous system shift fluidly between states when each are needed, the sympathetic & parasympathetic nervous systems! Both are useful and 100% needed, but we do not want to become stuck in one state for too long. These practices are so useful off the mat as we encounter stress or triggers in our daily lives! We find balance! We find freedom!