Reflections From A Winter's Hibernation | Live Recording

In this talk, Meghan is sharing reflections from taking 6 weeks off of work for winter hibernation. What they share will help you imagine what is possible for you in your life. We all deserve rest as divine human beings, and now is the best time to dream about what that can look like for you. This is a recording from an Insight Timer live session from February 2023. If you find this talk supportive of your journey.

Please leave a review and let me know!

Transcript

So hello and welcome to all of you just joining us.

I'm gonna be sharing about my winter hibernation,

You know,

Why it's important to me,

What I did over that time,

And we're gonna enter into some dreaming space about how we can all invite in more rest.

And to start us off with that,

I asked the question,

What is one thing you could do today to invite in more rest?

So for me,

It's a beautiful day outside.

So I'm going to go on a hike and get away from my screens and my work,

Which is going to help me.

Yeah,

Help me feel rested and ready for quite a busy day I have tomorrow.

Yeah,

So diving into it.

This is this has been my third year of taking a winter hibernation.

I first got the idea four years ago,

I think it was.

I was sending an email to somebody who is also self-employed and wanting to connect with them.

And I sent the email in January at some point.

And I got an auto responder back saying that I am in,

You know,

This this person had taken off all of January,

The whole month of January from their work and that if it was,

You know,

An emergency,

Here's to contact.

But if it's not an emergency,

I'll get back to you in February.

And that was sort of like the first the first seed that was planted within me that was like,

Is that is that possible to do?

You know,

All all my life I had been working pretty much around the clock.

Well,

Since since graduating from college,

Right.

And in college,

Right,

All the studying and school and everything was pretty much,

You know,

All the time there weren't there weren't breaks that I was taking except for,

You know,

Taking off for vacation.

And then you're actually like going somewhere and doing something.

And there wasn't this space to just be right.

And I didn't know,

I didn't really know it was possible.

And even though,

I mean,

I had been practicing,

So I was practicing cycle awareness at that time and taking off for my bleed,

Right.

And so had pretty strict boundaries around that time around four or five days every month while I was bleeding.

But this idea of taking a whole month off or longer was a new concept for me.

So that sort of planted the seed that January and I started planning.

I was like,

Well,

Is it possible for me?

Can I do that this coming this coming winter?

Like,

Mirroring the the earth,

Right,

And nature and this time of rest and hibernation that,

You know,

The trees go in,

The animals go through,

You know,

Some of them.

And just imagining,

Started imagining and planning for that throughout my year.

So if this is a seed for any of you to start imagining what a winter hibernation could look like,

Plant that seed now.

And you've got many months to sort of plan and set that intention to move towards having a winter hibernation later on.

It's definitely a seed.

So I decided then,

Working with the wheel of the year,

That I would take off from the winter solstice through until Imbok,

Which is the end of January,

Beginning of February.

And I did that for the first time in 2020.

Yep.

So the first time in 2020.

And then 2021,

Things were a little bit last year,

Things were a little bit constrained,

Especially on myself and my spouse and my father-in-law that was living with us at that time financially.

And so out of scarcity,

I only took two weeks off last year as a winter hibernation.

And I definitely noticed the difference between just taking two weeks off.

So I feel like I didn't even get into the restful state,

You know,

There's a transition period in the beginning and the end.

So definitely notice that difference and then comparing that to this year as well.

So this year,

I came back to my six weeks off from the winter solstice through to Imbok.

And all three of those years,

There has not been a difference in my income level,

Which is very interesting.

You know,

Last year,

When I took two weeks off,

I made almost the same amount of money that I made the year before when I took six weeks off.

And I'm set up to make even more money this year,

Even though I took six weeks off again.

And I think that's really telling about the importance of resting and hibernating for us and how that can have a positive flow and impact into our work when we have that time to connect to who we are and our purpose,

Right?

That can fuel a lot of the momentum moving forward.

So I will just share that I know that this is a huge privilege that I have,

That my spouse works full time right now and makes enough money for our living at the moment,

The way that we live.

We live pretty minimally.

And so I have that freedom.

And I'm also self-employed,

Right?

So I have the flexibility of my schedule that I can really put up those boundaries.

So knowing that,

You know,

Those of you that are listening,

Not all of you are going to have those same types of privileges that I do,

But you might have privileges in other ways that you can think about how that could support taking some rest and hibernation.

But the idea of me reflecting and sharing this with you is more about dreaming and imagining what is possible.

And I'm gonna share a lot about a book that I read this past winter hibernation,

Which is all about that.

But before I do,

I want to really define rest because let me just ask,

What's the first thing that comes into your mind when you think rest or hibernation?

Like what are some of those words that are just very associated with these words?

I wanted to just share about,

You know,

Rest.

There are these more passive types of rest,

Which are the things,

You know,

Like sleeping,

Right?

Like taking a nap.

That is more of a passive rest where there's no real action that you're taking there.

And then there is the active rest,

Which is more like allowing,

Doing something action,

Activity oriented,

Right?

But that it allows a part of you to find a restful state,

Right?

So thinking about like,

When I go hiking,

Right,

That is very restful for me,

Even though my body is working,

Like my body is active,

You know,

My heart starts beating harder,

My breath,

You know,

Gets shorter,

Like I'm exercising and I'm feeling it in my body.

But my mind,

My mind goes into this rested place,

Where I am just thinking about one foot in front of the other and taking in the colors and the sounds and the smells of,

You know,

The forests around me.

And so that is an active type of rest.

And so I think it's important to remember that there are things that we do probably every day,

That depending on our intention with that activity,

It could be restful or it could be not,

Right?

Thinking about like cooking,

Sometimes cooking is really restful for me,

You know,

Chopping vegetables,

Like thinking about having that sort of like repetitive flow that just allows you to drop into this state of rest in the state of a state of flow,

Right,

Where you're not thinking about much else.

And so there's many different ways that we can really integrate rest into our daily lives as well.

So those daily rests that we take,

They,

You know,

They are connecting us back to this state of being,

Being,

Right?

And then we go back to doing,

Being,

Doing,

Being,

Doing this constant flow.

And the beauty of entering into a deeper state of rest or a more elongated period of rest is that at least for me,

So a lot of what I'm going to share is just a reflection on what this has meant for me,

Right?

When I'm able to take six weeks off,

The beginning,

The beginning week or two actually is just me trying to transition from a state of doing,

Right?

From my work rhythms,

From my giving my energy outward to come back to a state of just being,

Right?

So there's this big transition.

And especially because my winter hibernation starts,

You know,

At the winter solstice,

Which is right before holiday season,

With,

You know,

Christmas and New Year's.

And so there's still like a lot,

A lot of things going on there.

And there was this year as well,

Gatherings with families and going out on New Year's Eve and all of that stuff.

And then the ending time,

Right?

Thinking about just these last couple weeks and how I was in this state of really like planning and thinking about,

Oh,

What's coming up this year?

Where do I want to put my energy?

And this transition back into the doing state again,

That then I had this middle space,

Right?

Of about three,

Three weeks in the middle where I felt like there's literally nothing I have to think about,

Nothing I have to do.

I can just rest in this knowing that I am a divine human on this earth and in connection with all that is.

And I can really just do,

Do whatever I want to do that will enter me into that state.

And I'll share a little bit of the practicals of what I actually did during that time.

But I definitely feel you that,

You know,

Whenever we're fitting these tiny restful moments into our day,

It might not feel like enough,

Right?

But now that I do the yearly hibernation in alignment with the earth,

I find that more sustainable for me right now.

But I do wonder,

Oh,

What it would look like to take off more?

Like,

What would it look like to take off three months?

What would it look like to take off six months?

What would it look like to take off a whole year?

And how could that really change the way that I am being in the world?

And even just dreaming that seed is,

Is telling yourself that it's,

It's possible,

Right?

So even just like,

Oh,

What would this,

What would this look like?

And when you plant the seed,

It'll be much easier to actually make it a reality and build some boundaries.

And,

You know,

Maybe it means,

You know,

Working and gathering and saving money for a couple of years so that you can,

Now is my time to take six months off,

You know?

And so beginning to dream now,

Instead of just letting life continue to go and being in that,

In that state where you are out,

Continually outputting,

Right?

Okay.

Hopefully that,

Hopefully that waffling made,

Made some sense.

I'm going to share a book that has been really important for me over my winter hibernation.

And that is Rest is Resistance by Tricia Heerse.

And she is the founder of the Knapp ministry,

If you have heard of the Knapp ministry.

And I'm going to be sharing some quotes from that book that really allowed me to drop deeper into a state of rest and hopefully allows us all to dream,

Dream more about what life could look like.

So one of the first quotes that really hit me and if you,

If you know anything about me,

If you've been to my talks before,

You'll know that I do try and practice anti-capitalist,

An anti-capitalist mindset.

And just to define that a little bit for,

For those of you that might be new to that language.

This is coming from one of my,

One of my business mentors that I worked with,

Bear Hebert.

And they described capitalism having like three tenets.

And think about this in your own life and how these tenets come in your life,

Not just specifically tied to work and money,

But sort of all areas of your life.

So three of the three tenets of capitalism,

One is toxic growth,

Or toxic productivity,

Right?

So I saying I always have to be making more,

Like there's always more to make.

I always need to be doing more,

Right?

That's the toxic growth.

The second one is scarcity,

Right?

I never have enough,

Like there's limited resources and I never have enough of it.

And then the third one is extraction.

So I need to be getting the most for the least output.

So for the least amount of money,

The least amount of time,

The least amount of resources,

How can I get the most from that,

Right?

And so thinking about where those three things might be in your life right now.

And I'm sure it's not,

It's not really that difficult to think about the ways in which those three,

Toxic growth,

Scarcity,

And extraction are imbued in different areas of your life.

Okay,

So we've got these three tenets of capitalism,

Right?

Then there are thinking about the,

Thinking about the energies of anti-capitalism.

And those three are sustainability.

So I can have what I need,

Right?

I can have what I need.

And it doesn't have to be more than that.

I can satisfy myself with what I need right now.

Abundance,

Right?

I can be satisfied with what I have,

Right?

So that I am abundant with all of the things I have right now.

I don't,

I don't need more.

And the third one,

Reciprocity,

Right?

So I strive for equal exchange.

So this equal equality,

This flow of energy,

Right?

Whether it's money,

Time,

All of that.

So we've got capitalism,

Capitalism,

And anti-capitalism.

And a quote from the book,

Rest Is Resistance,

That really hit me in the beginning was,

I trust myself more than capitalism.

I trust myself more than capitalism.

And throughout the book,

You know,

She is sharing that there has been this manipulation of the grind and hustle culture,

You know,

That was built by white supremacy on the backs of slavery and exploitative labor,

Turning bodies into machines,

Right?

And so,

And it starts,

She shares a story about her when she was pregnant and giving birth to one of her children,

And how it starts from birth,

Right?

Even the process of laboring,

Trying to get the baby out as soon as possible so that the doctor can go about to the next patient,

Right?

It's like,

How can we induce labor and get them out?

And oh,

They're not coming fast enough,

Let's have a c-section.

And this sort of like,

Grind and hustle that starts from the very beginning and then goes through school.

We see that in school,

Right?

Always having to,

You know,

Always having to meet a certain standard,

Standardized testings in public schools,

Right?

And this constant push forward in this grind and hustle culture,

Right?

And talking about how this,

That culture is violence,

Right?

It's violent towards our minds,

Towards our bodies,

Towards our spirits,

Right?

And this violence creates trauma.

And so,

The other quote I'll share is that she says,

Resting is about the beginning process of undoing trauma so that we can thrive and evolve back to our natural state of rest and ease.

So that's,

That's what we're doing.

And I feel like that's what I do during my hibernation time.

Really beginning that process of awakening to this manipulation of the grind culture and undoing some of that trauma of believing in the toxic growth,

The scarcity,

The extraction model,

Right?

And so it's all,

It's all an undoing to come back to that,

That core of my divine self and imagine and dream of something that can be sustainable,

Abundant,

And the reciprocity energy.

Obviously,

Like,

Obviously,

Like,

I live in a capitalist world,

Right?

My,

And it's the,

It's the dreaming of something,

The dreaming of something new,

Right?

So to live in a capitalist world,

We have to have money,

Right?

This is,

This is the fact.

And we have to do things to make money.

I have a business,

Right?

I make money from my business.

And that's how I feed myself.

That's how I have a roof over my head.

But I'm doing business in a way where I'm dreaming about what can be different,

Right?

So doing things like offering,

Working with sliding scales so that people who are in different,

Different accessibility levels can access the things that I offer.

You know,

Doing,

All of my workshops are donation based.

You can come for free if you don't have anything,

You can gift,

Right?

Entering into a more gifting relationship.

And it is this,

We're in the in between stage,

Right?

In between stage of living in this world that is still functioning on capitalism,

But dreaming of a world that doesn't have to.

And so,

Yeah,

I don't know when,

You know,

When that will shift and more people will start dreaming about how to live beyond capitalism.

But as we are right now,

That is,

That's the reality,

Right?

And people are going to do that differently.

Some people are going to go off into the woods and live off grid and not participate in that and grow their own food.

And,

You know,

That's what they are able to do and are comfortable to do.

I'm not at that place.

And so I am working within the means that I have to live and the things that I believe in,

Right?

And we're always in that journey,

Always in that process.

Yesterday I chaired a two hour work meeting.

So I gave us a comfort break partway through.

I realized nobody else ever does.

And we are meant to work nonstop.

Yeah,

Yeah,

Definitely.

That's beautiful,

Mel.

I love that.

We often in our,

You know,

In our,

When I lead workshops or when I do like our coven meetings,

Often having that space,

Right?

Like,

Okay,

Now,

Like,

Let's look away from the screen.

Actually,

Let's do that.

If you're looking at my face,

Looking at the screen,

Taking a moment to just look,

Look away from the screen,

Giving your mind,

Your eyes a rest from this,

You know,

This,

You know,

The light coming from the screen.

And I'm going to look outside my window that I have here.

And just,

Yeah,

Just letting,

Letting yourself float your awareness,

Noticing the colors you see,

Maybe you're looking at your room,

Or maybe you're looking outside,

Noticing the light and the shadows,

Noticing what textures are present,

And just taking a moment to sense into your body,

How that feels.

Just taking a deep inhale and sigh it out.

And I'm going to ask you a question.

It's a dreaming question.

Thinking about if,

If capitalism and white supremacy didn't exist,

What would my days look like?

Dreaming into that,

Those days beyond capitalism,

Beyond white supremacy,

What,

What would your days look like?

Hmm.

Another,

Another quote I'll share as you're thinking,

Dreaming,

Writing that out.

Again,

From the,

From this book,

To rest and resist grind culture means to soften into the powerful proposal of thriving right now,

Instead of waiting for permission from a toxic culture.

To rest and resist grind culture means to soften into the powerful proposal of thriving right now,

Instead of waiting for permission from a toxic culture.

Okay,

So that's a question I'll leave you with to keep dreaming about how,

How your days would look if capitalism and white supremacy didn't exist.

Yeah.

So what did my,

What did my winter hibernation look like?

As I shared,

There was a transition period in the beginning and it was the holiday season.

So the winter solstice,

December 20th,

I took off and I started bleeding around that time as well.

I was just reading back through my,

Through my notebook.

Although I'm just going to pop in my calendar and see what day I actually was then.

Oh,

I was day one on December 20th.

That aligned beautifully.

So I,

I started bleeding right as soon as my hibernation started,

Which was,

It was so great to like,

Because I'm already used to taking off the first few days of my cycle,

That I already had that boundary in place.

And so it was very easy to sort of set up that boundary and be like,

Nope,

I'm not,

I'm not working right now.

I'm not,

I'm not answering those emails.

I'm not,

You know,

I'm not creating anything.

And so that,

That led me in nicely to my hibernation.

But then,

You know,

That weekend after was Christmas and gathering with family,

Which was lovely.

Although it did tire me out a little bit,

But also I think then pushed me into deeper rest afterwards,

Which was really lovely.

Let's see.

So I stuck with my morning routine,

But I did a lot more reading and it was much longer.

Like some mornings,

My morning ritual,

I would be in my chair.

So I usually read,

Eat my breakfast,

Drink my tea,

Do my meditation and some of my other magical practices,

Which I'll share that those are new from this winter hibernation as well.

But I got a library card right before my hibernation,

Since I'm new to this community and just got the library card.

And I would sit in my little,

My chair with my lamp in that space for,

I mean,

Sometimes it was like four hours in the morning,

Just reading and reading and writing and meditating.

And it was like really beautiful,

Like from when I woke up until like I was ready to eat lunch.

It was just like this really expansive space.

And over the six weeks,

I actually read six books,

Which is something that like I'm not,

That's not common for me,

Like throughout the year,

I don't read,

I don't read that much.

And so it was,

It was basically like I was reading a book,

A book a week,

Although I was reading usually one book in the morning,

I read nonfiction in the morning,

More stimulating and allowing myself to meditate and journal about what's coming up.

And then before bed,

I was reading fiction or I read a memoir as well.

So more,

More light and easy reading in the in the evening.

Okay,

Just catching up.

Did you set up digital boundaries,

Like the software or apps that limit other apps and notifications?

So I didn't have anything like official,

It was just my own,

My own boundaries that I set.

And I kind of went with where my energy was and aligned it to my cycle.

So like during my inner winter bleed time,

I,

I like almost never got on my computer or my phone.

I did watch TV.

So that's sort of like the only thing I was doing connected.

But then like it would change when I would come into my spring and my summer energy.

I really went with the that sort of like dreaming,

Visioning,

Creating space.

And so like I would get on like I would get on my computer and I would play around with,

You know,

I've got a I've got an Oracle deck that I am working on.

And so I would work on some of that on my computer.

And yeah,

It wasn't like,

It was more like I wasn't doing,

I wasn't doing work that was like outward facing.

I was I was doing,

Doing the work more that was like,

Filling me up that was feeling restful,

Right?

Yeah,

But I mean,

There would be like three,

Three,

Four days in a row where I wouldn't get I wouldn't get online at all,

Which is,

Is so so liberating if you've ever tried that.

There's a lot of toxic capitalism on TV.

What do you find of use to watch?

Oh,

I'm not sure if I I'm not sure if I'm I watch things that either allow me not to think,

Just like allowing my mind to rest.

So that that is one thing I like to do something that allows my mind to rest not that not that they're like good shows.

I will share I will share what I watched.

Over I watched 123455.

I watched five shows over this time.

And yeah,

I think like,

The,

The one that's the most meaningful was his dark materials.

I finished season three of his dark materials.

And like,

It's one of my favorite shows.

And has a lot of like,

Deeper spiritual meanings.

Obviously,

If you're familiar with the Golden Compass and his dark materials,

And if you haven't watched the show,

Highly recommend it.

Now,

Other things were more like fun things like I watched Wednesday on Netflix,

Which was fun.

I watched the series younger because I was reading the memoir by Sutton Foster,

Who is the the main actress in that series.

And her memoir was more on crafting and how like,

Crafting has has saved her life.

And so that's why I was interested in watching that.

Because I also I also started to crochet this winter hibernation took up took up starting to crochet.

And so that's a part of a bigger piece for of what happened for me this winter.

And so another big thing that happened over this winter hibernation is that I am now a Druid candidate with the ancient order of Druids in America.

So I had been planning on joining for a really long time,

Ever since I found out about the order,

Probably four or five years ago.

And but I knew I didn't want to join until I was here in America and had sort of like the land to connect to.

And so yeah,

It's it just became the right time now that we are in,

You know,

We're settled in our in our house in our community that we're going to be for a couple years at least.

And yeah,

So I did an initiation ritual with with them and joined the order and have started practicing some of their,

You know,

The things that make me a candidate to be a Druid.

And so one of them is a is a creative,

There's a I don't,

There's there's so much to it,

I could I could be here for an hour by itself just explaining that whole pathway.

But one of them is to connect to a creative practice that is new to you.

So you're in this learning environment.

And so crochet was the thing that came to me to learn how to crochet.

I'd never,

I've never crocheted before,

Because yarn is not available in India,

Or very hard to get because,

Mainly because it creates,

You know,

Warm,

Warm things that you don't really need that much in India.

And so I never thought it was important.

I knew some friends that had knitted and crocheted and,

You know,

Loved making scarves and hats.

And I'm like,

But I live in India,

Like,

I don't need scarves and hats,

Except for like,

Actually,

I never needed them.

Indians wear them during the winter.

But yeah,

It didn't didn't make sense for me.

But I don't even know how I don't even know how it got on my radar.

Um,

Yeah,

I'm trying to think back of like,

Why did I decide to crochet?

Because I was,

I was thinking about learning the lyre harp.

That was the other thing I was thinking about doing this learning the lyre harp for my new creative practice.

But,

Which I still might someday.

But the crochet thing came about,

I don't remember how.

And so I started,

I started crocheting.

And,

Yeah,

I've really been enjoying that.

And it's an interesting thing to do.

And I've been like,

Yeah,

I've really been enjoying that.

And it's another one of those like,

Yeah,

My arms and my fingers get tired from like the active work that my that my arms are doing.

But my mind gets restful,

My mind gets quiet in that sort of like repetitive,

You know,

Repetitive nodding and doing that.

So and I started I started making pieces that like I,

I wanted that like bring beauty,

I just brought one of them.

So here's a here's a little tapestry that I made with a with a crescent moon.

And I just pick up some sticks from my my local hikes that I go on to.

And so I've made that and I made I shared one of these before but I made a little pouch for my for my tarot cards.

So I've got this little little pouch that you put your cards in.

That I really like.

So that's that's something that I really like to do.

That's that's something that I I really love doing in my winter.

My winter rest times is getting creative.

And I made some artwork for all of the people in the sacred cycles coven that I still need to mail out.

They're all just like sitting,

Sitting on my table ready to ready to mail but like making making gifts.

I made a gift for a birthday.

I made a birthday gift for one of my cousins and that that just feels really like,

Oh I have this space that I can just create and I can share that creation with others and that feels that feels really lovely.

So some other things like during my hibernation time I was really really expansive with my sleep.

And so not using an alarm at all because I didn't really have any I didn't have anything in my I didn't have anything in my schedule really.

You know I'd have something here or there mainly based around you know family obligations or something like that.

And not having to wake up with an alarm is beautiful.

It really is.

And I was just reading back through my journal and talking about how I had one night I had slept 10 hours and how just like so expansive I felt and spacious I felt the next morning and moving throughout my next day.

And it's like oh wow like actually getting the amount of sleep that my body needs instead of you know just this,

Oh well I only need seven hours of sleep let me set my alarm for seven hours seven and a half hours.

Instead like just letting just letting my body be and sleep for as long as it needs to.

So that is that is something.

Yeah my connection with nature definitely.

I was going on hikes probably four or five times a week only taking a couple days not like getting outside and going hiking and you know I've been to all of the I've got four four local parks with hiking trails within within a 10 minute drive less than 10 minute drive.

And I've I think I've been on every single trail so far that is possible to go on in all four of those parks.

And yeah it was just such a such a way also to again quiet my mind,

Let my mind be restful and engage my body like move my body in a way that felt that felt joyful right.

And I've been trying to do this more moving away from this mindset of like oh I need to exercise right because that's coming from a more grind grind culture like I need to exercise so I you know lose weight or so I am healthy or whatever.

And instead like this intuitive like I want to like I want to I want to move my body the way a way that feels joyful.

And for me then that main way is hiking and being in in the woods.

And I went on a hike yesterday and like I got so muddy but it was so much fun like I had I had joy getting muddy like in the in the hike and I had mud like all over my shoes and all over the bottom of my pants.

And like finding the finding the joy in that movement that it doesn't you know it doesn't even feel like exercise even though I know my body is is working.

That yeah so I've I've been trying to change that that mindset within me and that's just been within this winter hibernation as well.

Changing that mindset and finding joyful movement especially in hiking has been one of those things.

Yeah being more intentional with my spouse that's also something taking taking time so like as I'm as I'm working like I do get these I do get this energy to work late at night and right now like that's the only time he's home like he he leaves the house before I wake up in the morning and then like he comes home you know before dinner and he goes to bed quite early so there's only like a few hours each day that we have together.

And when I when I was working like before taking my winter hibernation like some of those times I would just be on my computer working and not connecting with him and so that was a really beautiful time in this hibernation that like every evening like we were just together for a few hours whether we were cooking dinner together eating you know just snuggling on the couch watching some tv or whatever we were doing that that I really appreciated and hope I can get my work schedule boundaried enough to continue that moving forward as well.

Let me see oh the last thing sort of like this this connection to dreaming visioning right because most of our dreams and our visions come from a place of come from a place of rest like where where they have space you know if if you're at full capacity there's no room for anything else any more input right and so whenever we can clear away and come back into that state of being then there is space for those dreams and those visions to come and plant that seed to root in and imagine what life could be and yeah that yeah that that came through for me.

I was reading back through my cycle journal and as we were doing our cycle check-in practices I had continually week after week after week especially in the spiritual the spiritual landscape that we that we journal about in our practice that I was feeling unfulfilled I was feeling unfulfilled I was feeling uninspired I was missing like those aha moments that I really I really love like seeing the synchronicity and that connection and as I was just reading back through my my journal from my hibernation and seeing that shift and seeing the those visions that came the synchronicity that I connected with and I was just reading about one about the full moon that I meditated with this with the energy of the full moon and I also started a new meditation practice which is gosh I've done a lot over these past six weeks but this new meditation practice which is based in in the druid practice that I'm doing is it's called discursive meditation and it's basically like you you begin by a few minutes of relaxing then a few minutes of breath work and then you have a more extensive time of inner dialogue with a theme and that's the you know the discursive part of the meditation and I was meditating on the full moon and realizing I don't know if I can even like explain it now I kind of want to kind of want to read what I shared this is sort of one of the aha moments that I had so I pulled an oracle card that was full moon and the word underneath it was completion and I felt I felt off at the beginning of the meditation because I felt like it was this energy of like completion or fullness is the end all be all like like oh I'm completely healed or I have completed this this process right and like that's the the goal mark that we're trying to get to instead of like recognizing where we are now and realizing that like the moon is whole and complete at every phase right like the moon is this rock in in our system in our solar system right that is always it's always the same except for our perception of it right based on our position on the earth and where the Sun is and that's what changes right so the the moon is always full and complete yet the way we perceive it is different based on these other factors right and so I was just saying like that I really feel like that's the same for us like at at at our core like at my core I am this whole and complete divine being right this divine but the perspective that but there's a perspective that changes it based on you know pretty much everything all of the external factors all of the internal the shadows the trauma everything changes the perspective on how we see ourselves as whole and complete but it's that it's that holding of the both and that both are true right it's it's true that I am whole and complete and it's also true that I have these ways of being that aren't as you know healthy or balanced as they could be and that could benefit from some healing and and transformation right and so that came through and like one of my meditations and like those were the things I was striving for before like where where are these points of connection in my life and yeah all I needed was to create the space to allow those to come to come through me and yeah so just thought I'd share that hopefully that was helpful for some somebody here to to hear that and the other two pieces connected to that is just talking about this last week so this last week I came out of my hibernation I started doing my work again and I have a I'm a part of a like a business community that we have co-working sessions occasionally and we had a co-working session last week and as I was going through that session I was like overflowing with creativity and I was writing out and realigning to all of my values in my business to my sole purpose I like mapped out all of my creative offerings and learning pathways and really like had this such an expansive and spacious and space expansive and spacious co-working time that I I don't think I would have if I didn't just come out of my winter hibernation right so it was this overflow of creativity from taking this this rest in this just being space um yeah and then that helped me to like realize the things that I'm actually excited for that I'm like I've decided to stop certain things in my business because they're not in alignment anymore and I am planting some seeds and growing some roots for some new things and realizing that like actually being in community and diving deeper is like what's most important to me so I'm realigning in and figuring out how to make that a reality throughout this year yeah like such a valuable time to have this rest space and realize that it actually is it's allowing me to align back to who I am and at the core that that divine being that I am in my purpose and my values and how I want to give that into the world and just coming back to these last two days the last two days I've I am I am cycle day 21 today yeah cycle day 21 so I've just been crossing over from my summer into my autumn time and I have realized yesterday going into today I realized that I've put too much on my plate this these past two weeks yeah that I've been back at work and it has showed up and that these last two days I've been getting really frustrated I've been getting really angry and I've been getting into arguments with my partner and that like I I cannot remember having that energy feeling that energy during my rest time during my hibernation right my my partner and I didn't get into any fights during my rest time and just noticing my first two weeks back that hasn't even been two weeks because we're only in the middle of a week so I I started working last Monday so it's just been like within those first like 10 days of working already I have put too much on my plate to the point where I am I'm I'm full at capacity and feeling quite you know frustrated and angry if something doesn't go the way that I would like it to go right and oh that like that like was a was a wake-up and this is what I do in my cycle as well normally this is why I struggle one of the most difficult points in my cycle is the beginning of spring right and so the beginning of my inner spring and so remembering that like this it's like an easy gentle transition right and and for me I didn't I didn't remember that I I wasn't aware of that as much as I could have been coming into coming back into work and that oh I probably I probably shouldn't have scheduled four meetings for tomorrow like I have four meetings tomorrow pretty much back to back to back oh I probably should not should not have done that and so taking that awareness now and yeah implementing that for the the upcoming weeks ahead to allow a little bit more spaciousness as well but I've quickly quickly gone over into the oh so many things need to happen right now space which I don't love which is again that pull back into the grind culture it's like so it's so difficult so if no that like I struggle with it like I struggle with it every day pretty much even just this morning I woke up and I was like well I know I'm having this live session today and I'm not like fully prepared for it so I could just get on my computer and start typing out some notes or I could go into my morning ritual and do that and I noticed consciously that that question came to my mind this morning as soon as I got out of bed and I chose to to go to my morning ritual and spend I spent an hour there this morning and so yeah I'm like I notice and I know like the longer the year will go on the more difficult like the further away from the hibernation I get the the more difficult it will be to make some of those choices and to decide to continue to separate myself from that from that grind hustle culture creating creating these practices as more like it is a practice it's a practice that you know will get it will feel good sometimes it'll feel wrong sometimes it will you know the practice gets stronger the more you do it and like remembering that like sitting with this energy of like curiosity and like experimentation just like playing around with it and so like if you have if you have likes if you have vacation days right off of work if you have a like a nine-to-five job and you have three weeks vacation and you normally spend your vacation you know either going somewhere or like I know my mom usually like takes vacation days off to like clean the house which yeah if that's you know if that works but um what would it look like for you to experiment experiment and practice one of those weeks just being just calling it a hibernation week just calling it a rest week and allowing yourself to just just flow with where the spirit takes you with like not like taking everything off your agenda that week instead of oh I finally have time from work to do all of the things I've been wanting to do you know what would it be like I finally have time away from work to finally be the way that I want to be right and just like yeah taking that as like with that energy of like trying it out like I'm just trying out this is this is a practice that I'm gonna try I'm gonna experiment with and see how it feels that takes a little bit of the pressure off doesn't it before we leave I would I will ask one last question of like so I wanted this space to be not just me reflecting on what I did but sort of like that that seed planting for like what you can imagine is possible for yourself and taking rest and hibernation so yeah I think I'll just leave with the question of like what what is that seed that's been planted for you is there something that you're taking from this time together that you want to sort of like set that intention for for what is possible for you and thank you I will just share thank you for those of you that have donated something I love about insight timer is that through the donations like that energy of reciprocity and of giving giving freely for for the value you receive so I I deeply appreciate every every single donation that comes through and yeah helps helps to continue supporting supporting the yeah the anti-capitalist practices that I that I hope to keep dreaming into deeper hopefully letting them ripple out into different spaces beautiful people it's been lovely being with you I hope you have a lovely rest lovely rest for the rest of your week you could find more spaciousness and ease as you as you move through the week sending lots of love

Reviews

Affirmed a similar practice I've initiated in the last two years as well as the importance of 'being' during this time as opposed to 'doing'. Thank you 🌟😊 🙏

Really appreciate your energy and sharing the story of rest.