Winter as nourishment

Dear Yogis,

Today was a beautiful day!  The sun was shining and not a cloud in the sky.  That slight hint of spring on the horizon that you can smell in the air this time of year and see in the sunrises. 

But yet as I lay on a rock down by the river bathing my face with sun, a stiff west wind would rush over me every now and then.    A gentle reminder that winter isn’t over quite yet.

But you know what?  This year I am actually glad………………….

Winter is the season of hibernation.  The season of earth.  Going inside, slowing down and resting.  A time meant for sleeping longer and nourishing our souls and our body. 

Look around you.  Outside everything is still.  The birds only make a brief showing each day before heading home.  No crawling bugs, flying bats or slithering snakes.  The trees, having shed their leaves at the coming signs of winter, sit barren and still.  Yet everything is still very much alive….they have all just gone inside to rest and nourish.   Not feeling the need to resist the winter, but instead using the time to store and build the needed energy  for the explosion of spring.  Building strong roots.

Before electricity, people slept for 11 or 12 hours in the winter.  Recharging the batteries.  Eating foods that build our roots and warm us from the inside.  Where summer is salads and fruit, winter is stews and soups.   Where summer is the season of action, winter is for meditation.  But lights and the ability to eat fresh strawberries in January has changed all of that.  With heat in our houses, cars and offices, we have the ability to stay just as busy in the winter as we are the rest of the year.  And often we do.

Somehow November through January stayed very busy for me.  I felt that every weekend was planned weeks ahead.  No true down time.  But then February hit.  And finally….everything slowed down.  Not much on the agenda.  Not yet feeling as if there is something I should be doing out in the garden.  No spring chores.  And I am getting into the groove of it!

We have what I believe is an entire underground city of chipmunks who live in our front yard.   I half expect to come home one day to find that the entire house  has sunk down about a foot due to all of the tunneling.  This week I noticed that they have begun to “tidy” up their entrances and exits, putting fresh leaf piles to hide them.  But they know it isn’t spring yet.  They will stay below, not rushing this time to just be.  Knowing that soon enough they will be scurrying back and forth across the yard to fill their pouches and dump them out – over and over and over. 

I asked my mom for a jigsaw puzzle for Christmas, so I have got that going on the dining room table.  I am not feeling guilty if I stay in bed until 9:00 on a weekend morning.  I have slowed down my yoga practices, am always wearing my fuzzy socks, look forward to my dreams each night, and love my afternoon tea.   Less time with friends and more with family.   Hot baths and oil massages.  And like the chipmunks, I have started going through the seed catalog, but just for a quick glance of what lies ahead. 

So step back and look at your schedule over these last 3 or 4 weeks of winter.  Does it have plenty of empty space on it, and if so are you ok leaving it empty?  Are there things you can remove?  Have you taken the time to nourish and build your roots so that you too will be ready when spring and all of its energy bursts forth? 

I for one, still need these next few weeks.  So I will be staying in my cocoon…..knowing that spring will come soon enough.  Somehow it always does J.

Thankful for  the stillness of winter,

SARAH