Temple Wintering

It's November. The most recent new moon has been drawing us into the medicine of turning within and beginning to prepare ourselves for the coming winter months. The natural urge to slow down, stay warm and turn away from things out in the world that demand lots of our 'doing energy' is a natural response at this time.

Here in the Temple Room, after a huge surge of home and business output and set up since moving to the Island 2 years back - starting up again in a post-COVID world, has seen remarkable fruit now being born from my spring and summer labours. People are beginning to find this little oasis of calm and spreading the word about the offerings and unique 'vibe' of this urban temple space, which gathers and holds dear all the souls who travel to find me. I am grateful beyond measure at how welcomed this island has made me feel, so thank you for your support, in all the ways you offer it; I feel very blessed.

My mind has been turning winter inwards lately, and I have been contemplating much. When we are invested in the ongoing work of awakening our soul life and healing ourselves - looking to balance our nervous systems or just turning towards a life which places peace and calm at its core, its easy to feel that at this time of the year we are pulled into the cultrual norm which shouts loudly how many more days there are till Christmas, at all the Black Friday deals we should be waking up to, and how much there is to do between now and December 25th. It can be utterly exhausting if you are a sensitive soul, who feels everything, and absorbs so much stimulus from the surrounding environment.

I take a very different view to these pushes and shoves from cultural and social media, to constantly be on vigil. In a world which demands our presence and believes our time and attention to be more valuable than our own soul to heart connection, I tend now at this time of year to turn towards deliberately cultivating a distinctly opposite frequency. I walk more slowly. I spend time alone more frequently, and I also take up offers that will get me out meeting people who nourish my heart in those spaces in between clients and on my days off. I block book extra time to myself, for no other reason than to rest, trusting that even as I do, that the Universe will continue to send to me just what I need and those who need to see me can do so with ease.

I turn my phone off earlier in the evening. Nights like tonight, I may head out to a fitness class if I want community connection and want to move my body a bit more than usual, especially if I've been quite sedentry. I also read books, do jigsaws, crochet and sew. I find making things with my hands one of the easiest ways to regulate my nervous system outside of meditation and singing and playing instruments. The impulse to create and make things is deeply felt inside of me - ever since childhood, through my teen years and beyond. There is something eternally magical about taking raw materials and turning it into items or garments that hold a frequency of hand made. I sense in this over stimulated world, that there will be more of a return towards these pursuits, as the buzz word of 'nervous system regulation', lands into the practical application of what to do, when a human being who has drifted so far away from its true nature, decides to return back to the body in gentle nourishing ways.

So, I encourage you to look at what wintering looks like for you. We are after all nature - 'made from the breath of planets and stars' - with all life having its own seasonal rhythm - what is yours? And what gift of this coming Winter can you offer to your heart, soul and body this year?