Return

I have been thinking a lot about return. I'm sure I'm not alone in getting away from my practice sometimes. I have people ask me with some frequency how they can return to practice when they've been away from it for a period of time.

The answer is both simple and challenging: return. I have gotten many messages over the last several months from my spirits about the basics of our work. Return is often a "back to basics" moment. Begin to sing again. Begin to dance again. Begin to talk to your spirits. Begin to go out in nature without devices, without distraction, and just be.

When we work with compassionate spirits, they remain present for us, waiting for us to return to our practice. Our role in the relationship is to return.

Winter solstice

This sunrise was a few days after the solstice. On days I work a ski instructor, I am up before sunrise. This one was particularly beautiful.

And it's getting lighter! It happens so subtly that we don't notice it at first. But I always feel it in my body. I feel myself begin to come out of hibernation and start to plan for the coming spring. While I still feel the need to curl up in front of the fire with a hot chocolate, I notice my thoughts turning from the year that's past and towards the year that's coming.

The busy pace of our society turns our attention away from the seasons around us. Part of relationship with nature is noticing how the seasons impact our bodies, our energy, and our needs. I have learned that the darkest time of year is a time of both stillness and movement. The sun seems to reverse direction in the sky. How attentive our ancestors were to notice the day this happened! What can we do to give our attention to seasons? How can we honor the shifts?

Acclimating to the season

There are few things more beautiful than natural light glinting off of ice. The oak trees behind my house reflected some of the moonlight from the full moon last week. It gave an otherworldly glow to the night.

While we are a couple weeks away from the solstice, it certainly feels like winter here in the Northeast. I am now taking a winter coat with me when I run errands, just in case. I can feel my body start to acclimate to the cold. It's funny--the temperatures have such a bite to them when they first drop, and then my body adjusts, and 30 degrees just doesn't feel as cold.

I am acclimating to the dark too, and feel myself getting tired earlier in the evening. Our busy way of living often feels like it doesn't allow us to slow down, but I do what I can to let my body do what it wants to do. This is living with seasons, being in relationship with nature and weather. Why shouldn't we get tired when the sun goes down?

Part of this work for me has been allowing myself to reacquaint myself with the flow of nature, and allow that relationship to move my body, my energy, my sleep cycles, and my activity. Can you allow yourself to rest? Can you see nature beings to go to sleep for the season, and let yourself do the same? How does relationship with nature move your body and your energy? Can you let it?