🌲❄️”Wintering:” noun; moments where our bodies & souls seek rest, when the clouds descend and the light fades. Reconnection to the natural world.
🍃 Hello beautiful souls! In today’s class, we embodied “wintering!!” Our society rewards constant activity, snickering at rest & degrading finding peace. Constant activity only leads to exhaustion of the body and destruction of the mind & soul. We’ve become disconnected from the natural world. The living, breathing world, The earth, the flora, the fauna. Winter is the time for retreat, for a slower pace, for rest. But come January, in our society, means off to a running start, meet huge goals, or you must be floundering. As humans, we fight winter, we become blue, as we yearn for sunshine☀️, warmth, green trees🌳 & bright colorful flowers.🌷🌼 The flora & fauna of the world thrive in rest, they adapt, they prepare, because they KNOW that transformation is coming. It is never questioned. And so they rest, confidently. We are the species that questions, that doubts. But today, we let go of that doubtful nature. We delighted in the radical act of “wintering.”
🍃We opened on our backs, allowed the body to become heavy, grounding into the earth, feeling her support. We lengthened into a crescent moon: connection to feminine energy, and simple twists to the left & right with arms overhead, opening the heart. We healed with self reiki, let ruminating thoughts of the past wash away, worrisome thoughts of the future melt toward the earth to be refined into something better. The mind is a time traveler, but the body is always present. Our pranayama was a new one, involving the Anjali mudra, and a much slower, lengthened exhale through our thumbs at the lips. Glorious! 🌬️
🍃We moved in yummy ways, opened our heart & lungs, lengthened, twisted, extended, flowed linking breath + movement, opened our hips, releasing tension & tightness to release negative energy & nourish the body. We discovered (perhaps to some) new movements like puppy cat cow vs traditional cat cow, added some tai chi to our goddess pose, & encircled the healing space on our mats! Somatic experiencing gave us tools to regulate our nervous system, to serve as a reset button! 4-finger tapping to the crown, temples, jaw, collarbone, and sternum + humming released everything harmful still attached to the body! We stimulated the vagus nerve, connected into our parasympathetic nervous system, sent messages to the brain that the body is not under threat, it can now relax, it is no longer in a continuous active state (fight mode). These practices are so useful off the mat as we encounter stress or triggers in our daily lives! We did a full body cleanse! Yoga helps us shed what we no longer need, so we may see our most purest selves! To slow down means to heal! That is why savasana is the most important pose, the goal. To find peace.
🍃That’s what I LOVE about yoga, it renews the soul! What we do on the mat, transforms our life off the mat! It is beautiful!!
🍃Listen to my “Wintering” class playlist here! https://open.spotify.com/playlist/798k3xb2TTRUBCLdqIkzm0?si=ouY2B0YFRwWOeyk1GB_GjA&pi=u-_daGu7AwSvKF
🍃Come practice with me Mondays at 8:15am!🫶🏻 ✨🌿
