Refill your Cup
Last week, on the East Coast, we experienced a winter wonderland. A cascade of snow flurries fell from the sky for two days straight. The browned grass, the trees with no leaves, the pavement, and houses were all enshrouded in white. The earth matched the sky and the sky matched the earth. I felt that a great sense of calm and clarity beckoned us to slow down, to stop, to sit, to watch and to listen.
As is my nature, my first instinct was to resist this, seemingly forced, sedation. However, as I sat with a cup of coffee in hand and witnessed the magic of the snow fall, I was able to feel replenished by the invitation to slow down. I was grateful for the sentiments of Katherine May, the author of the book Wintering, who describes winter as being a sacred time to look inward and embrace a form of hibernation as a salve and not a suppression of our nature.
In Ayurveda, which is the science of yoga, we are currently in Kapha season. Kapha is characterized by cold damp weather and sluggish and unmotivated vibrations. In yoga we are always seeking balance, so in this season of Kapha, the yogic urge might be to conjure summer, fire and adventure. Particularly during this COVID era, our resistance to winter may feel all-encompassing and it may be difficult to embrace stillness. I know that it has felt this way for me.
What I love about yoga, is the opportunity for agency and choice that it offers. We can choose our poses as if we are choosing our seasons. Winter and summer can exist on the same mat and in the same mind. We can strive for balance and fall to the floor when it isn’t achieved in that moment. We can cover our head beneath the shroud of our arms in child’s pose as though we are silencing the world around us and we can open our chests and raise our pulse with sun salutations to bring the world in. In life, we don’t often get to choose what goes on around us, particularly not recently. On the mat, we can choose our winter and let the breath of it rejuvenate us. And on the mat, we get to decide when spring comes.
Toolbox 🧰
Refill your cup…
move your bones.
shut your eyes.
rest.
reflect on the little or the large.
reconnect to you.
listen to the inner realm .
watch those inner voices.
create something.
breathe deeply.
Inspiration Station ✨
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