Hi,
My name is Dia and I'd like to welcome you to this winter solstice meditation.
So take a moment to make yourself comfortable as we gather in like so many have done before us to honour this darkest night of the year and to await the return of the light.
So if you have some candles,
You may want to bring them in.
And we're going to begin by lighting your candle as we transition from ordinary space to extraordinary space,
Calling in the light and the return of the warmth of the sun on this dark night of winter.
We stand at this gateway,
The last point on the sacred wheel of the year.
We have this opportunity to ride the wave of creativity and align with the rhythm of life's flow.
It's a potent time to pause,
To slow down and to reflect on where we are in our journey.
Winter has a way of calling us back home.
Home to the deep centre within ourselves,
The dark cave of our own being.
There is a certain beauty to the darkness that is not there with the light.
And more and more I'm beginning to really love this place within myself.
To love my darkness,
My shadow,
The parts of me that I would prefer to keep hidden,
The parts that are sad,
That can feel heavy,
Hopeless and depressing.
But it's incredibly healing and empowering when I can stand in the wholeness of who I am with full compassion for both my shadow and my light.
Creativity has a way to demonize the dark.
We tend to want to push it away and only stand in our light.
But the truth is,
We are both,
Our shadow and our light.
And so tonight,
I invite you to consciously enter the darkness and to use it as a catalyst to clear out all that has been in the past.
To slow down and walk the spiral path back to the centre of your being.
And on this high holy night of winter solstice,
To offer yourself a new seed of creation so that you may stand fully in your wholeness.
So let's begin with a centering meditation.
I invite you to sit in a comfortable position and begin by connecting with your breath.
This breath that gives you life,
That allows your awareness to expand.
Breathing in a full breath and feeling your body expand with the inhalation and as you exhale,
Just softening and dropping down,
Anchoring yourself down through the hips and into the earth.
Taking a moment to allow your body to relax here,
To arrive here.
And then coming with me on a journey as you begin to imagine yourself walking in a dimly lit forest at night,
After sunset,
After a gentle snowfall.
The great tall pine trees around you covered in a powdery snow.
And as you walk,
You find yourself in a clearing and you slowly walk towards the centre of the clearing and take your seat.
And there you quickly become aware of that silence that only winter can bring.
The stillness of all of life receding back to the earth to regenerate.
Mother Earth herself is resting under a blanket of snow.
And you too are being called,
Called back to the centre of your own being to replenish and regenerate.
Taking a moment to drop into that silence.
And as you do so,
As you drop beneath all the noise and activity of the regular day and you peel away all the layers of distraction,
You begin to take a look and notice what is hiding in the shadow,
In the darkest places of yourself.
Maybe there's a fear that you have not been willing to look at,
An aspect of yourself that you do not like or that you have in some way judged.
Maybe it's that part of you that feels like you are not good enough.
So taking a moment to just notice what are the aspects of yourself that you would prefer to keep hidden.
And then we're going to take a moment to apply the balm of self-compassion.
I invite you to place your left hand on your heart and then your right hand over top of it,
Linking your thumbs as if you were giving wings to your heart.
And then imagine a soft,
Warm light beginning to arise in your heart.
Taking a breath and breathing into the centre of its warmth.
And as you inhale,
Imagine this light illuminating your whole body as if you were illuminating the new seeds of self-compassion,
Of self-care and of self-love.
Feeling and letting that light shine through whatever clouds of distortion you may have of yourself,
Of story,
Of judgements,
Of fears.
And turning towards yourself and asking what are the ways that you can nourish yourself,
You can align with and use the energy of winter,
Of deep rest,
Rejuvenation,
To bring in more compassion,
Kindness and self-acceptance.
And then when you're ready,
Just allowing your hands to come to rest on your knees.
And we're going to end by creating a circle of golden light around ourselves.
So when you're ready,
On your next inhalation,
I invite you to inhale and lift your arms up above your head,
Up towards the sky,
Interlacing your fingers as you come above your head.
And then with your exhalation,
Imagine that you are drawing a golden circle of light all around you.
And then let's do that one more time,
Inhaling,
Lifting the arms up above your head,
Interlacing the fingers,
And then exhaling,
Drawing this golden light circling around you.
And one final time,
Take an inhalation,
Lift the arms up above your head,
Interlacing your fingers,
And exhaling,
Circling this golden light around you.
Riding the wave of your exhalation all the way home,
Back to your heart,
Back to the ground of your being.
And so taking this practice with you,
I thank you for being here,
For allowing me to be your guide.
I send you so many blessings and love on this darkest night of the year,
And may you carry your light with you.
Thank you,
And namaste.
