Begin by taking a moment to settle into the space where you have chosen to listen to this meditation.
Make sure your body is comfortable and relaxed.
You can choose to listen to this meditation while you are seated or laying down.
Either is fine.
As you settle into the space and allow your body to get comfortable,
Begin to take a few moments to bring your awareness to your breath.
In our daily lives,
It can be easy to get caught up in tasks and busyness and forget to bring awareness to our breath.
Notice how your breath feels in this moment.
Is it deep,
Shallow,
Or something in between?
What sensations do you feel as you focus on your breath in your body?
Now that you have settled more fully into your body,
Let's begin our visualization.
Allow yourself to remember a time as you watched the daylight coming to an end and the night to begin.
Perhaps this is a memory of a beautiful sunset that sticks with you,
Or maybe it was a day recently where you slowed down at dusk and noticed how the light faded and the darkness took over.
As you tune into an image of the darkness taking over from daylight,
Allow yourself to be aware of how that feels and any emotions that arise for you.
Is it easy to surrender into that darkness and letting go,
Or does it feel like it brings up any feelings,
Thoughts,
Or emotions?
Darkness can hold a lot of symbolism for us,
So sometimes thinking of the darkness of night can bring up our feelings of things like sadness,
Grief,
Loss,
Or loneliness.
Just allow yourself to observe what comes up for you here without any judgment.
What other images come to mind when you think of the dark of night?
Perhaps it is of a new seed being buried deep into the earth and waiting for the sunlight and warmth to bring it to life.
Or perhaps you remember a moment in your life that felt particularly dark and challenging for you.
Allow all these images to flow through you without judgment.
Darkness and this time of year can be a powerful time to surrender.
Take a moment now to call to mind the things that you are ready to release or surrender.
As you think of these things that are no longer serving you,
Allow yourself to feel gratitude for whatever they have shown you.
And then take some nice deep breaths and with each exhale imagine you are breathing out whatever has come up for you to release.
Now that we have spent a little time connecting to the images and symbolism of darkness,
Let's also connect to images of light.
After winter solstice each day gets a little bit longer,
So the day represents both the darkest night and the beginning of a new cycle and return to the light.
What images come to you when you think of a return to the light?
Again,
This might be a particularly beautiful dawn or sunrise that you remember seeing in your life or even just the feelings around the sun coming out after a big rainstorm where the sky was so very dark.
Again,
Feel into how you feel about the return of the light and what emotions and thoughts come up for you now.
While it can be easy to feel like darkness represents more challenging emotions and light should represent things like joy,
Happiness,
Energy,
It's okay if that isn't what comes up for you.
Simply observe what is here for you today.
Now take a moment to connect with what seeds or intentions you would like to plant for this new cycle and this new beginning.
What are you calling forth into your life?
What experiences would you like to bring into your world?
What goals or dreams are you seeding now?
Now that we have connected to both the darkness and the light,
Take a moment to have gratitude for it all.
For without darkness and dark times,
We wouldn't fully appreciate the light.
In this year that has felt particularly challenging for so many of us and where there has felt like a great deal of darkness,
Can you still find gratitude for what you have learned,
Who you have become,
Or the simple blessings that you have learned to appreciate that before didn't seem so visible?
As we come to the end of this meditation,
Remember these seeds and intentions that you planted and remember to nurture them as you move forward into this new cycle.
Connect to them regularly and ask yourself if there are steps to take to keep helping you make them a reality.
As we come to the close of this meditation,
You can allow yourself to rest and relax a bit longer,
Or you can begin to bring your awareness back into the room,
Noticing the sounds around you.
You can choose to bring some movement into your body by wiggling your fingers and your toes.
And when you're ready,
You can choose to open your eyes and go about your day.
Thank you.
