Equinox - The Wisdom Of Winter & A Prayer For Spring

Winter is often quickly pushed aside when Spring comes along. However, there is deep wisdom not only in the winter season, but in transfering lessons learned from winter as we embrace the boundless potential of Spring. This meditation invites us to reflect upon the lessons learned during winter and to fortify our prayer for Spring with that wisdom, honoring natrual law and strengthening our creativity.

Transcript

My nickname in yoga circles is Black Hippie,

And it's because I've revered natural law,

Right?

And I think hippie is the biggest compliment you can give me because I think we're part of nature and I celebrate it and don't shy from it,

Right?

So what do I mean by all that?

Well,

Spring was yesterday and every,

For the past three or four years or so,

On every equinox or birthday,

I set an intention.

And in full candor,

In the beginning,

Was super skeptical.

I was an existential philosophy major,

Right?

Like when I started practicing yoga,

I was just kind of like,

I don't know about this,

Now I teach and wear whatever,

Right?

So like,

Shout out to all my skeptics,

Be careful,

Skepticism becomes zeal very quickly.

Trust me,

I'm living proof.

So for spring,

I believe,

Especially considering the dual winter that we've had as a society,

So whether,

You know,

The 90 days past and like the past year in change,

Things are starting to open back up as things do during springtime.

So I think this year specifically,

It's incumbent upon us to be more intentional with this moment,

Right?

And to mark it as a special place in time where we go forward,

Not just,

Man,

I'm happy winter's over,

But to take the lessons of winter,

Plant seeds in the spring,

And then do amazing things,

Right?

I'll give you a perfect example.

A year ago,

Quite literally,

One year ago,

I was not teaching at all.

I wasn't,

Wasn't even on my radar.

Reggie,

You should teach,

Get out of my face with that.

I don't do that,

Right?

And over the course of this winter,

Whether it be the coronavirus or the past 90 days,

My teaching practice has gone from that's for somebody else to I teach around the world,

Right?

From this room,

Right?

So as things open up,

I'm taking the lessons from winter that,

Oh,

I am a teacher,

Stop being skeptical about it and just embrace it,

And affirming that going forward,

Right?

So what I want us to consider before we do any meditative stuff is two things.

So spend about a minute,

Minute and a half,

I want you to consider two things and then this will form the basis of our meditation.

One,

What is the lesson from winter that you carry,

That you want to carry forward,

Right?

We can't just throw away things we don't like.

That's not yogic.

That's whatever,

Like that's not human either.

So what is the lesson from winter that you want to carry forward into spring?

And two is what is the prayer that you have for spring?

So learning,

So taking these lessons from winter,

How will that inform your creativity?

How will that inform like the germination,

The blooming of the season,

Right?

So spend about,

I said,

60 to 90 seconds considering what that might be.

And when you have the lesson from winter,

Place the hand,

Place whatever hand you want to on the heart.

When you have the prayer for the spring,

Put your hand on the belly.

And take your time,

There's no need to rush.

No need to rush,

So prayer for the spring and lesson from winter,

Because this introspection is an essential part of yoga.

Okay,

So now that everyone has,

Or likely everyone has what we're gonna work with today,

Let's begin the meditative moment with reverence.

So shoulders back and down wherever you are.

Find some level of postural integrity and bear in mind that you can take this meditation on the back,

Or you can lean up against a wall,

Lean up against the back of a chair,

But wherever you are,

You can take this meditation on the back.

So I'm gonna lean up against the back of a chair,

But wherever you are,

I want as tall of a spine as possible,

No slouching.

We do that all the time.

So give yourself the gift of good posture,

Either supported by the ground,

The back of a chair,

Or through your musculature.

And keeping hand on heart and belly,

We're gonna,

This is the crux of the practice.

Begin to notice where your body is supported.

If you're in a seat,

Feel your feet on the ground.

If you're like in a posture,

Feel wherever your body is touching on the ground.

And feel held and nurtured by the ground as opposed to taking it for granted.

Begin to feel an experience that earth is coming up to meet you and support you.

Everything that we have is from earth.

So rather than take it for granted or use it in an extractive capacity,

Here and now give gratitude that earth sustains us,

Even though we don't necessarily take good care of our mother.

She still takes care of us.

The human being is the only creature that thinks of itself outside the natural order,

Which is awful,

But it's also toxic.

So feel your connection to nature,

Whether it be outside literally or wherever you are touching the ground.

Because it's that connection with nature that we're going to explore here as we celebrate spring with purpose,

Clarity,

And integrity.

Now that you have reacquainted yourself with grounding,

You can feel the energy that you're feeling as you reacquainted yourself with grounding.

Notice where the breath is in the body and begin to take deep inhales through the nose and exhales out the nose,

Increasingly deeper just to come up with a cadence that works for you.

Soften the gaze or close the eyes if comfortable.

If you can't close the eyes,

At least soften the gaze to give the optic nerve a rest.

Keep shoulders back and down.

They tend to creep up because of the way we live our lives.

So find discipline with the shoulders,

Shine the heart forward,

Keeping hand on heart and belly.

And for the next minute,

Just focus on the breath,

Deep in through the nose,

Deep exhale out the nose,

Come into a cadence and a rhythm supported by nature,

Supported by the ground,

And also supported in community.

I'm a huge believer in sangha,

The power of connection.

So there are 15 of us at least around the world purposely celebrating spring through meditation.

That's power,

Y'all.

So feel that power in this moment as you deepen the breath and are nurtured by your seat.

And now that you are settled into a cadence that is working for you,

For every inhale,

Imagine yourself inhaling the lesson of winter,

Right?

So inhale the lesson from winter that you're taking with you,

Inhale it into your heart center.

And every exhale,

Exhale your prayer for spring.

So we're inhaling the gift of winter,

The gift that winter has given us,

And through the process of alchemy,

We're exhaling our prayer for spring.

We inhale the prayer in the heart center,

I mean,

The wisdom of winter in the heart center,

Because the heart center is the center for compassion.

The coronavirus season and winter,

People don't necessarily like it,

But I mean this in the most benevolent way.

Winter doesn't care if you like it or not.

You know,

The sun doesn't ask permission to shine,

The wind doesn't ask permission to blow,

Seasons change.

And natural law is what it is.

Having said that,

There are ways that we can appreciate something even if we don't like it,

Which is why we thought about the lesson from the winter season.

So inhaling your wisdom from winter into the heart,

Exhale your prayer for the spring.

And imagine your prayer for spring living in your belly.

That is our solar plexus,

That is the fire center,

That is our joie de vivre,

Like that is,

That's us.

So keep this cycle up for the next moment or so,

Inhaling the wisdom of winter into the heart and exhaling your prayer for spring.

Don't worry about the belly,

It will get there.

Keeping shoulders back and down,

Expanding the breath,

Inhaling the breath,

Exhaling the breath,

Exhaling the breath,

Exhaling the breath,

Exhaling the breath,

Exhaling the breath,

Exhaling the breath,

Keeping shoulders back and down,

Expanding the breath if you feel comfortable,

And softening in the body as you make this sankalpa,

If it were.

And exhale your prayer for spring.

About five more breaths.

And exhale your heart center.

Last three breaths,

Perhaps taking it even deeper.

So deeper inhales and exhales,

Preferably out the nose,

But find whatever cadence works for you.

Like I'm not the breath police,

I just ask it be deep.

My job as a teacher is to allow you to be your authentic self and not tell you what to do.

That's boring.

Bottom of the next exhale,

Take the hand that's on the heart and place it on top of the hand that's on the belly.

And now switching breath cadence.

We have learned the lesson from winter,

And so we're taking the hand that has been fortified from the heart chakra,

Compassion,

Placing it on the belly.

And now the breath cycle is breathing in the nose,

Fortifying the prayer for spring that you have,

Exhaling out the nose,

Releasing it,

But breathing into the belly.

So by nature,

Deepening the breath from the heart center to the belly,

Inhale fortifies your prayer for spring.

Exhale,

You exhale it out into the world.

Having moved the hand from the heart,

So taking the wisdom from the winter season,

Combining it with your prayer,

And then alchemizing here and now.

Noticing the power in that,

Noticing the power in that intentionality.

So fortifying your wisdom,

Placing it in tandem with your wish,

And now fortifying that wish.

That is the power of this practice.

That is the power of intention,

And that is the power we're co-creating in community here and now.

So about another minute here.

I lied.

Minute and a half.

Perhaps deepening the breath,

Again,

Fortifying with intention,

With breath,

With prana,

Shakti,

With energy,

Your prayer for spring on the inhale.

And on the exhale,

May it be so.

Every great wish,

Every great achievement in society begins with a wish.

So imagine the wish that you have for spring,

Whether it be the next 90 days or just the Renaissance that we're preparing for as a society.

Think of how far ahead of the game you are because you're taking the time to have this intentionality.

Rather than being willy-nilly,

You are fortifying your wish in community on the day after the equinox.

That's power,

Y'all.

Nature responds to willful,

Heartfelt intent.

Trust me.

Again,

I used to be super skeptical,

Now I'm teaching.

Last 30 seconds.

Please make these breaths the deepest of the practice.

Still inhale through the nose,

Exhale out the nose,

But really fill up.

Fortify your wish for the spring.

And as you exhale,

Exhale with such conviction that it seems to be just an eventuality.

And my prayer is that rather than it be a specific,

I hope I have a new,

No,

That it be energetic and kind of nebulous to allow the mystery of life to unfold.

Last three breaths,

Perhaps deepening even more if shoulders have crept up,

Beckon them back and down with compassion.

Shine the heart forward,

Enable the spine core engaged.

Breathing into the belly to fortify your prayer for the spring.

As the sound of the bowl washes over,

You migrate hands from belly to heart center.

Pressing into the palms,

Keeping shoulders back and down,

Reflect on what we've been through.

And we'll have three clearing breaths out the mouth.

To seal this practice,

We're going to inhale wisdom,

Exhale the prayer in community,

Right?

And then we'll open it up for sharing because I believe in the power of Sangha.

So inhale through the nose,

Inhale the wisdom of winter,

Exhale out the mouth.

May your prayer be answered.

Inhale wisdom,

Exhale the prayer.

Inhale wisdom,

Exhale the prayer.

Bow ahead towards hands as you're ready,

Sealing the meditative moment with reverence and precision.

And then when you're ready,

Only when you're ready,

Take your time,

Open your eyes,

Regain your focus.

Lift the head.

Welcome back.

Reviews

Your realness kept me grounded and your wisdom is powerful and intuitive. Thank you