In this Solstice season, I have been aware of more than usual body heaviness, fatigue of muscles and mental drain. While I may not know the origins of these bodymind sensations, I do have the opportunity to observe and crave how to move with and beyond the sensations to build sustaining registers for strength, stamina and capacity. Many have shared how life circumstances may affect the ability to be present and continue to navigate through. I have been hearing many use languaging like ‘loneliness’ to describe this circumstance. It registered for me recently that loneliness is a state of mind that I made a place for many years ago, and so now, it is serving me well as we move through these unprecedented times.
In support of this knowing, I am reaching back into the reservoir of strength, stamina and capacity for what is upon us. I offer, for your consideration, some thoughts that may be of service as you may be called into creating a place for loneliness too. Let these words by Michael Traveler wash over you:
Alone without loneliness…
the forest calls to me
the moon whispers softly
its light streaming gently through
the trees glimmering off the water
talking just to me
there’s a stillness in the air
a sort of anticipation of
what’s to come, i can feel it
a kind of magic
and as i’m sitting here
by the water’s edge
i can feel how i need this
how the noise, the chaos
the stress of daily life
has taken its toll on me
I can feel your spirit
in the trees the moon
the water all around me
and the harmony of it all
how it comes together as one
and i feel you flowing
over me and through me
and a wondrous peace
comes over me
restores me
revives me
renews me
here where the forest
dances with the moon
~ Poem “Where the Forest Dances With the Moon” by Michael Traveler, author/poet
Can you feel the solar plexus being nourished? Do you sense your nervous system calming and the busy mind melting? Let’s continue supporting our strength, stamina and capacity.
Next, allow me to share a section from an inspiring article that I saved from Yoga Journal Magazine some years ago by yoga and meditation writer, Sally Kempton. Listen for the pings of your system…what resonates and how you find yourself responding. As you read this section from the article, pay attention to your breathing into the solar plexus.
“Love Your Loneliness
Begin by feeling your own loneliness. Without resistance, tune into it. Then, connect with your breath, and with each one, send these thoughts to yourself:
Breathing in, think, “May I be happy.
Breathing out, ask, “May I feel loved.”
Breathing in, send forth “May all my suffering be healed.”
Breathing out, ask, “May I be at peace.”
Next imagine other people in the world who might be feeling lonely at this moment, people you love, and those you don’t know (lonely children, homeless and ill people, people breaking up with their partners, people in prison, and anyone else who comes to mind). With the breath, send out the same loving thoughts to them: “May you be happy. May you feel loved. May your suffering be healed. May you be at peace.”
Finally, take a moment to send these thoughts to every one in the world. “May all beings be happy. May all beings feel loved. May the suffering of all beings be healed. May all beings be at peace.”
Anyone who does this famous and powerful practice will know how it can soften and change your own heart. When you consciously send blessings to others, especially in this systematic fashion, it forges your connections not just to the people you know, but to all the beings you include in your well wishing. And then, sneaking in with the breath, comes the realization of your unbreakable connectedness. You can’t be lonely when your hearts are joined, even for a moment, to the hearts of all.”
To read the full article “Sweet Solitude”, go to:: https://www.sallykempton.com/.
After reading this article again, I can feel the rising interest to take the inquiry into what Sally refers to as Contemplative Space. This brings forward, for me, to set in Time to write cravings and observing on loneliness. I especially am drawn to write templates on ‘Craving What my feelings of loneliness is for me is’ and ‘Observing where does my loneliness come from has me be present to’ as integral to my exploration of self in these moments.
I often need reminders and support to write my cravings and observings to explore languaging like loneliness. Craving what loneliness is for me is may be the exact recipe for you! Or you may be called to run the templates completely! Through the ritual of practice, be it in writing the templates, moving the body or resting in silence, cravings we set in motion will inevitably become second nature, as old layers, habits and selves begin to fall away in this great unraveling toward the Self; our truest nature. And like a seed, the craving must be planted, nourished and given patience. And then with attention to observing we move beyond—we release and make it known to Creation.
Winter Solstice invites us to reflect, in time, how we are with doing, having and being. During this Capricorn season and beyond we are invited into deep resonance with our registers that give us pointers towards harmony, balance, symmetry, proportion and beauty(our Maat within). These registers light the way in darkness of winter, gaining knowledge as we shift towards the light of the newness. Conscious craving is the starting point of a dream; what makes the unconscious conscious. It is co-creative power that fulfills our heart’s longings, be it in matter or energy form. Essentially, our cravings are the epiphany in action!
Activate your cravings for the new year by turning inward and awakening your inner fire; by seeing in the dark. Think of the Winter Solstice as the fourth and final movement of your 2020 life-symphony. Allow your bodymind to turn inward, listen resonantly, and sound the gifts offered in the darkness in shifting towards light. Explore and expand into a welcoming winter blanket that synchronizes breath and inner movement to build a strength, stamina, and capacity reservoir. Feel how slowed down time invites you to make a place for everything in life and clears the slate for all that is coming your way. On behalf of building our reservoirs, I ask you to join me on Zoom, December 22nd, for an hour of rest, release, and renewal through restorative yoga. Click link here to register: https://www.loc-institute.com/product/winter-solstice-restorative-yoga-session-december-22-2020/
Solstice Blessings,
Victoria McMahon