Winter is the time of stillness and quietude; nature’s energy turns in during this most inward looking of all seasons. Trees and plants look skeletal, the sap has sunk, and outward signs of life have disappeared. The energy is latent and potent, resting deep within, collecting and held in reserve. It is the concentrated, internal force that enables a seed to burst in spring growth.
Winter is also emphasizing the essence of life. Without the external ornamentation of leaves, flowers, and fruits of the growing season, the plant is just bare essence. As it is for all of nature, it is also for our internal work: meditation, containment, concentration, self-recollection and the storing of our energy. Use this season to deeply rest, fill and maintain your reserves and discover the essence of your self.
With all the upcoming holiday celebrations this is not always easy done. Our Western culture is not anchored in this understanding of nature’s circles, as it was in the Celtic culture, for example. The Druids, their spiritual leaders, found that winter solstice is more than an astronomical point of the year. They believed that the moon-change as well as solstice with its magnetic storms on the sun create a strong electromagnetic force, which initiates a huge life change on earth with a powerful influence on all life. These solstice forces reach their full strength on earth on December 24th, fol- lowed by an integration time of 12 nights. The historical tradition tells us that it goes from sunset December 24th to sunset January 5th. The night from the 24th to 25th is the birth of a new life, a new start, the beginning of a new year. The following time of integration demands a lot of energy for every life on earth and challenges our body. I observe an increase of colds and other health issues in those days, as many other healer do as well.
Please observe this cycle for yourself. You might want to follow the following recommendations in order to stay healthy and well in this time of transition.
Tips:
• be less active
• get more rest: go to bed earlier, sleep late
• allow yourself to be still, quiet and empty enough to be filled
• reflect and meditate about the essence of who you are
• gather strength, ideas and plans
• deepen relationships with those closest to you. Keep gatherings simple and relaxed
• eat healthy, fresh and whole foods
• don’t overeat (in the Celtic cultures people would even fast)
• be mindful with alcohol and other drugs
Other Diet Suggestions:
Choose “warming” foods. As the weather cools and the body needs to generate more warmth, include more cooked foods, as soups and complex carbohydrates. Eat dishes made with whole grains, squashes, beans, peas, and root vegetables such as potatoes, carrots, and garlic.
Please read more winter tips in former 2008 and 2009 Newsletters: http://www.bermanhealingarts.com/publications.htm
I would like to share a beautiful meditation:
Meditation: Catch and Release by Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche
Sitting Meditation
One of the most effective methods of meditation is the practice of following the breath. To begin, you simply sit in a meditation posture and watch your breath. There’s nothing else to do. Your breathing should be natural and relaxed. There’s no need to change your normal breathing. Start with bringing your attention to your breath, focusing on the in- halation and exhalation at your nose and mouth. There is a sense that you are actually feeling your breath, feeling its movement. When you do this, you’re not just watching your breath. As you settle into the practice, you actually become the breath. You feel it as you exhale, and you become one with it. Then you feel the breath as you inhale, and you become one with it. You are the breath and the breath is you. As you begin to relax, you begin to appreciate nowness, the present moment. Breathing happens only in the present. Breathe out. One moment is gone. Breathe in again. Another moment is here. Appreciating nowness also includes appreciating your world, your existence, your whole environment, being content with your existence.
How to Begin
To begin a session of sitting meditation, first you need a comfortable seat. You can use any cushion firm enough to support an upright posture. You can also sit in a chair. The main point is to have a relaxed but erect posture so that your spine is straight. If you are sitting on a cushion, cross your legs comfortably, and if you are sitting on a chair, place your feet evenly on the ground. You can rest your hands in your lap or on your thighs. Your eyes can be half-open with your gaze directed slightly downward a short distance in front of you. The most important point is that your posture is both upright and relaxed. Once you’re sitting comfortably, the main thing is to be fully present — to give your practice your full attention.
Catching Your Thoughts
During meditation the chatterbox of mind will open up, and you’ll have lots of thoughts. Some will seem more important than others and evolve into emotions. Some will be related to physical sensations: the pain in your knee or back or neck. And some will strike you as extremely important — things that can’t wait. You forgot to respond to a critical email, you need to return a call, or you forgot your mother’s birthday. These kinds of thoughts will come, but instead of jumping up from your cushion, all you have to do is recognize them. When a thought tries to distract you, just say, “I’m having a thought about forgetting Mom’s birthday.” You simply catch your thought, ac- knowledge it, and then let it go. Sitting in meditation we treat all thoughts equally. We don’t give more weight to some thoughts than to others. If we do, we lose our concentration and our mind will start slipping away.
You may wonder why I’m talking about thoughts. We’re supposed to be focusing on meditation, right? Thoughts deserve a special mention because we tend to forget that the practice of meditation is the experience of thoughts. We might think our meditation should be completely free of thoughts, with our minds totally at peace, but that’s a mis- understanding. That’s more like the end result of our practice than the process. That is the “practice” part of the practice of meditation — just relating to whatever comes up for us. When a thought ap- pears, we see it, acknowledge its presence, let it go and relax. That’s “catch and release.” When you meditate, you repeat this catch-and-release process over and over again. One minute, you’re resting your mind on your breath, then a thought comes up and pulls your attention away. You see the thought, let it go, and go back to your breath. Another thought comes up, you see it, let it go, and go back to your breath once again. Mindfulness, catching your thoughts, brings you back to the present and to a sense of attention, or non- distraction. You can strengthen the power of your concentration with repeated practice, just as you strengthen the muscles in your body every time you exercise.
HEALING PLANTS
RED CHESTNUT (Aesculus Carnea)
The Cutting-Free Flower – From Symbiosis to Autonomy
Key Questions:
• Are you distressed and disturbed by other people’s problems?
• Are you excessively concerned and worried for your loved ones?
• Do you constantly worry that harm may come to loved ones, family members, or others you care for?
Red Chestnut people are gifted with great empathy and compassion. Like the flowers of the Red Chestnut tree they radiate a clear, warm strength that is both loving and powerful.
If the described potential is in imbalance, the fear and concerns for the safety of others are taking over and you are challenged with the following symptoms and behaviors:
• You worry too much about the problems of others
• You don’t go to sleep at night until your close ones are safely home
• You feel the life of another as if it is your own
• You are unable to ‘cut the cord’ with someone close to you
• Your inner bond with another is too strong
• You know the feelings of another better than your own
• You are afraid that behind the harmless symptoms another is dealing with is a serious disease
• You burden others with your worry
Healing path
Negative thoughts for safety, health, success, even if unexpressed, have a powerful impact. They can help to create the pattern that brings misfortune about and do harm not only to yourself but also to those you care for. They create a connection at a wrong level out of to strong symbiotic bonds, if between parents and children, couples or other connections.
The healing power of the Red Chestnut flowers is to balance and calm the mind in feelings of concern about the well-being of others. They reconnect you with the potential of:
• having compassion and empathy without making sorrows of others your own
• knowing how to balance your concern with a respect for another’s autonomy
• radiating to others positive thoughts of security, well-being, and courage in difficult situations
• trust. You might begin thinking in terms like: ‘I hope s/he does well. Let’s hope the best for her/him. S/he’ll find the right way’.
Empowering Statements of Red Chestnut are:
•I am myself
•I stay with myself
•I am me and you are you
I am wishing you warmth and inner light during this dark and transition time of the year. May your life go smoothly and the New Year bring you a deeper fulfillment of who you are.
Warmly, Lisa
