Winter Solstice Traditions
The winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, is approaching and means the North Pole is furthest from the sun. With shorter days, we allow ourselves earlier bedtimes and permission to rest.
With the darkness it brings, the winter solstice offers more time for rest and stillness.
Traditional winter solstice rituals have shaped human history for centuries, and there are many celebrations. You can celebrate it however you like.
With the spirit of pausing and resting, I wanted to share three simple meditations you can do to add a little stillness to your day, permission to pause and celebrate the new season upon us – winter.
Meditation is a mental wellness exercise. Once you’ve learned a technique you like, you don’t need anything else to meditate besides your body and mind, making it an extremely simple practice to do in the cozy comfort of your winter lair.
Here are some benefits of meditation
-
You can feel more relaxed
-
It is an act of self-love when you allow yourself a moment to reflect
-
Your mind may feel more spacious and expanded
-
It’s a short break from the hustle and bustle of it all
-
Upon completion, you may feel recharged or have a greater sense of serenity
-
You can observe that you have more patience after opening your eyes
It is a practice where you add stillness to the mind and it permeates to the rest of the body. So to start meditating, go to a place where you feel still.
You cannot operate machines when meditating because you need to have both your body and mind with you in order to focus during meditation.
How to meditate for beginners
The goal of meditation is to calm and center the mind. To calm and center the mind, first calm and center the body by finding a quiet, comfortable sitting, standing, or lying position where you can be still for at least 5 minutes.
Make sure your legs and hips are comfortably placed where you can be without having to reposition them. I like to sit in an office chair with my feet flat on the floor and my hands face up on my lap.
Meditations can be done for days, but the average time I recommend when you start spending time meditating is 5-20 minutes a day, work your way up to an hour, then eventually hour(s), and if you want to make days, I can’t and I won’t stop you.
You will need about 5 minutes to complete the following meditations, so keep this in mind when choosing the area where you will be still.
Once you’ve found your seat, breathe in and out and let’s begin.
