The JOY of Cultivating a Resting Practice AKA Winter Solstice

Soon after Thanksgiving weekend, I was spacing out, standing in the Amazon returns line at Kohls and I had one of those brief, flickering moments when your perspective changes and you experience your surroundings differently.  And suddenly, I felt THE HOLIDAY PRESSURE from all the activity around me.

Sure, I’ve felt my own stresses during this time of year, but for that second, on a visceral level, I could sense the challenge for things to be over-the-top Amazing, larger than life and at the very least,
better than last year!

As a Healer, I know that even though we don’t always feel the emotional weight of stress in our daily lives, the body does. 

Yet, what to do? Here we are. The schedule fills, the obligations mount and we enjoy what we can while sending ourselves a raincheck in the new year for the alone time we desperately need. (We do this at varying levels.)

Thankfully, there’s this one little day, a few sunsets before the main event(s). In many ways, the Solstice carries a core meaning present in the season’s festivities: “Cultivate the light within, no matter how small, it is access to Everything”. 

How do we do this? 

We Rest.

Not meditate, not do yoga. Rest. Don’t draw a bath. No affirmations, No essential oils. (Are these wrong to do? Not at all. The focus is just different). 

Simply, matter-a -factly, rest.  
 

Sit in a chair. Sit on the sand. Stand by a tree.
 

Do your best to shut your mind off (don’t worry about the thoughts, direct them to the side) and give yourself over to stillness and silence.
5, 10, or 30 minutes.

Maybe you’ll want to nap afterwards. Do it!
But, resting is not sleeping. (Try to) Do them separately.

Often, very often, folks will fall into a deep state while receiving bodywork. I call this the Wellspring of Deep Rest.   I see it as a sliver of the ocean of Restful Energy available to us in the Winter season.