Winter Meditation: Self Alignment

In this meditation, the darkness of winter reminds us to slow down and hibernate, while realigning with our inner truth. Take this opportunity to sort through your 2025 to empower your re-emergence in the spring.

Transcript

Finding yourself seated and taking a deep breath.

Using the breath to bring your awareness into this body.

Finding a comfortable position.

Your back straight.

Each vertebrae stacked upon the last.

The chin slightly tucked so that the neck is extended and the crown of the head reaches up into the sky.

Softening your tongue.

Lowering your shoulders.

And bringing your awareness to your breath.

Noticing the vibration beneath you.

The vibration of the earth.

Supporting you and holding you up.

The earth is always there.

Providing the structure.

The structure to hold our spirit.

And noticing the vibration above you.

Feeling that energy of your spirit.

Excitement.

Movement.

Ideas.

And we welcome the vibration of the earth and the vibration of your spirit to mix at your heart.

As you bring your awareness into this heart space.

Feeling the structure mix with the ideas.

The form mixes with movement.

Knowing that anything can take in this space.

And really feeling your heart vibration.

Feeling the sense of self.

Listening to the heart.

And which direction the heart wants to move you in.

The heart gets to decide what to create.

What to manifest.

When it mixes form with inspiration.

We're entering the peak of winter.

Winter is that time when the we have more darkness than light in our day.

It's cold outside.

We might burn a fire.

Many animals hibernate.

Those animals that hibernate know that winter is a time for rest.

It's a time to recharge.

To reset.

Realign.

It's a time to grow into how you're showing up next year.

In the winter,

We humans are welcome to hibernate as well.

We're asked to turn off the lights and sit in the darkness.

We're being invited to go internal.

And to connect inward with ourselves.

Of the five elements in Chinese medicine,

The water element is associated with winter.

The color is blue black.

Like the sky when dark falls.

Like the water in the ocean depths.

The water element is about going with the flow.

And following your intuition.

When it's dark outside.

When we sit in the stillness of our winter home.

We are asked to go internally and listen to what our intuition has to share.

It's the quiet moments of stillness when we can hear our intuition.

When we can tune in to our internal light.

All the lights in the world are going out.

The sun setting becomes so dark in our external world.

That we're being drawn inward towards your internal light.

Internal guidance system.

What do I want?

What is next for me?

What is important?

Hibernation is an invitation to let go of the external world.

And to completely tune in to what is going on on the inside.

It's this purification step.

This moment of choosing.

Aligning.

Finding absolute clarity within yourself.

Which then determines the growth you see in the spring.

And the blooming in the summer.

It all comes from this moment in the winter.

With our true selves.

The bodily organs that are associated with winter.

With water.

Are the kidneys and bladder.

As they work with water.

They flow water.

They utilize water.

All through the body.

Their language is flow.

Flow through the blood vessels.

Flow through a filter.

Flow through tubes and tunnels.

The water element controls our movement.

Movement of nutrients through the body.

Movement of waste materials through the body.

Movement of oxygen and carbon dioxide.

Just as your heart essence.

That you align to in the winter is what determines the movement of the next year.

Movement and flow is critical to our journey as humans.

When the brain steps in and tries to control.

When the brain brings us into a space of fear.

When the brain has expectations and judgments that cause us to brace ourselves for impact.

And the flow is obstructed.

The rules.

The shoulds.

Responsibilities and judgments and expectations.

They clamp down our water and inhibit the flow.

Inhibit our growth our blooming.

Energetically when we flow through the kidney and bladder meridians.

We're opening up flow throughout the body.

This ease and gentleness.

Following your knowing.

Following the simplest path.

Because you have absolute clarity on your priorities.

Absolute trust that the path will lead you where you are meant to go.

We bring our breath to the kidneys.

In the middle lower back.

One on the right side of the spine.

One on the left side.

The kidney meridian is connected to the ball of your foot.

We inhale at the kidneys.

And exhale down the inner leg all the way to the ball of the feet and out the ball of the foot.

And then you inhale into the ball of the foot up the inside leg to both kidneys.

Exhaling down to the ball of the foot.

Inhaling up from the ball of the foot.

Both sides to the kidneys.

And just following that flow up and down.

When your intuition is flowing,

Your legs are able to make the baby steps forward to lead your way.

We're able to move forward in our lives.

Seeing the blue black color in the kidneys.

The cold depths of the ocean.

This nourishing place where we can recharge and realign with ourselves.

Where the outer world falls away in the darkness and all of the light is within you.

Tuning into your internal vitality.

Bringing your awareness to the bladder.

It's on the front of the body,

Down towards the pubic bone.

It's this bag,

An organ shaped like a bag,

Meant for holding.

What are you holding in the bladder?

There are appropriate times to hold and there are times when we need to flow.

We're welcoming the bladder with your breath to release the control,

The trying,

The effort,

The need to hold.

The bladder meridian flows down the backs of your legs to the pinky toe.

So we'll inhale at the bladder and exhale down the backs of your legs and out the pinky toe.

We'll inhale at the pinky toe and come up the backs of the legs to the bladder.

Welcoming flow.

Welcoming letting go.

When we let go,

It's easier to flow.

The bladder meridian also goes up from the bladder,

Goes up the sides of the spine.

A meridian up each side of the spine all the way up your back,

Up the neck,

Up over the tops of your head to the top of each eye.

We're going to inhale up your spine on both sides of the spine,

Up the neck,

Up the back of the head,

Ending at the tops of the eyes.

And we exhale back down again,

Down the outsides of the spine to the bladder.

Noticing this flow through your body.

And when we feel the full body flow,

We'll inhale at the tops of the eyes and exhale down your spine on either side,

All the way to the bladder and then continuing down the backs of each leg and out the pinky toes.

And inhaling from the pinky toes up the backs of the legs,

Through the bladder,

Up the back,

Over the tops of the heads to the tops of the eyes.

And feeling this water flowing through your entire body.

We inhale as we go upward,

Exhale as we come downward.

Welcoming flow in this body.

Welcoming movement in this body.

Welcoming your intuition to move and flow through this body,

Guiding your next steps.

And in the deepest part of the winter,

We simply focus internally on our own flow.

Bringing your awareness and your breath to the ears.

The ears are related to the water element.

They are the venting organ to release whatever's building up.

As you inhale at the ears,

You exhale venting energy out the ears.

It's as though you have smoke or steam coming out of the center of your ears every time you exhale.

This is where we release the steam.

When our water is under pressure,

When our water becomes too hot,

On this cold winter night,

We welcome the steam to come out the ears.

When we activate your water,

It picks up what does not serve you and releases through the filters in the kidneys,

Out through the bladder,

And the steam goes through the ears.

We don't have to control and we don't have to try.

Controlling and trying just builds up the pressure.

I'd rather focus on the flow,

On the ease and the movement,

The gentleness.

And we bring ourselves back to the bear hibernating in the wave.

And we give ourselves permission to hibernate as well.

We give ourselves permission to follow the sun's lead.

The sun wants more rest.

The sun wants more quiet.

We invite the body to follow the sun into this dark space of silence and stillness.

To be more internally focused.

To go to sleep earlier.

To spend a moment in the darkness,

Not thinking,

But feeling.

You find yourself in the darkness,

Blind and deaf,

Feeling your way around.

Developing your intuition to guide you through the darkness.

Feeling your path.

Feeling what is right for you next.

Feeling your alignment with yourself and the divine.

Feeling your own vibration,

Your own essence.

And welcoming your vibration to lead you.

So that next spring,

When your water feeds the wood,

Your clarity on your own essence,

Your own vibration,

Your own path can lead the way in the springtime as you grow.

And your essence is then at the heart of the flower that blooms in the summer.

And the harvest and the seeds coming back to your own essence and welcoming it to lead the way in the upcoming year.

Setting our intention to allowing the winter to lead us.

Allowing the winter to guide us into connection with the self.

Allowing the silence and the stillness that is our birthright.

Our intuitive guide.

Welcoming ourselves to step forward in life from the space of connection and intuition within.