EXCERPT FROM:
Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditation
BY RICHARD WAGAMESE
OLD WOMAN:
Always be a gentleman, my boy.
ME:
You mean polite, gracious, humble?
OLD WOMAN:
No, I mean always be a gentle man. Act softly and kindly to others and to yourself.
ME:
In everything?
OLD WOMAN:
Yes. In everything. You don’t need to be hard, like others may say. Hard things break. Soft things never do. Be like grass. It gets stepped on and flattened but regains its shape again once the pressure passes. It is humble, accepting and soft. That’s what makes it strong.
REFLECTION
How does Winter model healthy softness and sensuality?
AUDIO
Overview
MEDITATION
Winter belly breathing
MEDITATION
Snowflake meditation
Sit Spot Noticings
The air temperature dropped this week freezing the ground and bringing snow. Noticing the fluctuation between softer, muddier soils and when the ground freezes/snows over - the difference in texture, the difference in my body as I walk on hardened soils, and then snow blanketed soils, and how my body slows in a different way during freezing periods. Remembering in my body the importance of freezing, it’s role in the cycle of life and healing, how it supports softening. They support each other, we freeze/contract - then we release/soften - the space between allows for growth and new insight. Also, I love the snow, amazing how slow this season is and in a night the entire landscape can transform - there’s movement and transformation even in dormancy :)
I took this month off entirely for the first time ever. I’m committing my time off to exploring more pleasure in my body, sensuality, and in general feeling my body. I find January and February are so much about coming back to the body - keeping the days simple - staying warm, preparing good food, maintaining some level of movement so that the hibernation doesn’t completely freeze us over. It’s a full time job! Yet it’s refreshing to be doing this at this time, sensuality blooms so easily in slowness, it’s so easy to be slow with the earth supporting that energy. It’s fun to play with how to welcome movement in the body that also supports dormancy.
