Hello,
Thanks for joining me,
Clara,
On this visualization.
Winter is a season of stark beautiful contrasts.
The shorter days and colder climate allow us time to slow down and reflect.
Winter is also traditionally a time for storytelling there's nothing better than a comfortable bed,
A warm blanket and a winter tale on a cold snowy night.
In this visualization you'll be guided through a wintry landscape in rather an unconventional way but first take a few moments to relax.
It could be on your bed or your favorite comfortable place.
Close your eyes,
Take a deep breath and allow yourself to settle in.
The mindfulness practice of appreciating the positive things in life can help calm the mind and body.
So think about something you're grateful for.
It may be a person in your life or the weather today or a pet that you love.
Maybe it's the fact that you're alive.
Perhaps you have soft sheets in your bed.
Perhaps you welcome how quiet the room is where you are right now.
Maybe you appreciate that you have this time for yourself to relax.
Find comfort at this moment with feelings of appreciation,
Warmth,
Safety.
With each breath,
Each inhale and exhale this breath that keeps us alive.
Feeling gratitude for this moment of ease and well-being.
There's nothing but white as far as your eyes can see.
Snow and ice cover everything for miles and miles except the trees that have been stripped pare by the harsh winter winds.
They stand straight and tall lining the base of the mountain pass like silent sentinels.
The vast rugged landscape is intimidating.
You feel insignificant,
Irrelevant but the solitude of it is welcome.
Your company is the twelve gray reindeer who have no problem pulling the sledge along the top of the broad frozen river.
Their great antlers hypnotically sway up and down majestically framing your wintry perspective.
Haze from their breath mingles with your own forming a ghostly cloud that hovers above you.
The snow here is dry,
New snow made up of powdery loose fresh ice crystals.
Your mind wanders and you think about all the words to describe snow.
There's flurry,
Blizzard,
New snow,
Old snow,
Snowfall,
Sleet,
Slush,
Snowdrift and many more.
The Sami people have a hundred and eighty words to describe snow while the Scottish have 421 specific words for snow.
The frigid air is crisp but you don't notice it.
The puffy oversized coat,
Woolen hat,
Gloves and boots you're wearing protect you from the cold.
The only sound is the sledge runners gliding over the snow and the steady cadence of the reindeer hooves beating onward.
Mountains rise behind the treeline like broken teeth.
Dense forests of dark coniferous trees cover the lower sides of their inclines.
In other times people lived and died in these mountains trying to find a pocket of gold in a seam of rock.
And here you are seeking the powerful solace from them.
The Sun is beginning to set and rosy clouds blush intensified by a luminous reflection from the vast expanse of snow.
Soon nightfall casts an indigo tint all over blurring out the landscape.
When you see the North Star you release your grip on the rains and as you do the reindeer pick up the pace.
The feeling of speed accelerating.
A sliver of moon rises over the ridgeline.
Ice crystals from the reindeer hooves gently pelt your face.
Up ahead you can faintly see the small wooden hut nestled beside a bend of the frozen river.
When you arrive at the cabin you take off the reindeer harnesses and feed them and after they've eaten they dig small hollows and nests to keep warm.
They circle a few times before hunkering down.
Head to tail a cold gust from the north makes the trees shiver so you quickly go inside the hut.
Inside it's dark but after you light the hurricane lamp you see a stack of wood piled up beside the wood stove and in no time you're basking in the warm glow of the welcoming fire which illuminates the room.
You also light three white candles on the mantelpiece.
The room is simple with a table,
Chairs and an iron bed.
Someone has been making a pinecone wreath on the table but it's been left half finished.
Outside the window the wind has begun to blow and sweep the snow aside,
Spinning faster and thicker.
After your journey the small bed covered by a patchwork quilt is inviting.
When you lie down you're aware of the wind picking up even more.
It blasts and pummels the walls making the cabin creak but you're safe and warm here inside the old cabin which has withstood many a storm and the test of time.
The light from the fire flickers and glows on the walls of the room.
You close your eyes lulled by the sound of the blizzard allowing the feeling of tightness from your day to blow away with the wind inviting a sense of warm appreciation of kind awareness to your breath and your body.
