Happy Weekend Lovely!
I was in a yoga class yesterday and the instructor was telling us how some of her recent yoga workouts have consisted of her just hugging a bolster in the fetal position. She said she was honoring her body’s need for hibernation in the deep of winter.
This time of year while the flora and fauna is hibernating around us, we humans really do have a primal urge to slow down the system, curl up, and restore.
Unfortunately, in this relentlessly fast-paced, over-stimulating modern world, we often totally ignore this call.Instead of letting this be the restorative time of year that our body craves, we push it to output at the intensity level of nature’s highly productive spring/summer cycle. This incongruence can result in depression, sickness, and faster rates of burnout.
Now I know most of us can’t afford to emulate the black bear curling up for months on end in her dark den, but we can do little things to honor the natural winter cycle in our bodies.
In fact, how about letting the energy of hibernation shape your weekend ahead?!
Making the name of the game this weekend slowing things down, keeping cozy, getting quiet, and being uber-gentle with yourself.
Here are a few specific ideas to get you started:
– don’t set your alarm tomorrow morning…sleep until you naturally wake (what a concept!)
– do a restorative yoga class (here’s one online to try from my fave online yoga series “Yoga with Adriene”)
– stay in your PJs (or even better…a SNUGGIE!) for the whole day
– purposely walk/drive slower
– have a cuddling session with your fur baby or a human loved one
– cancel anything that requires you to be “on time”
– keep a big hot cup of tea always on hand
– turn your iPhone off for the day and read, journal, or meditate by the fire or under a big ‘ole blanket
– only play music that is ultra-soothing to you
– take a nap whenever the urge hitsEven if you have a lot on the agenda this weekend, see if you can at least set the intention to soften and slow-down a little around it all.
Winter can be deeply restorative, M’Dear…stop fighting it so hard.
P.S. I’d love to hear how you invite in the energy of hibernation this weekend. Hit reply and share your experience with me or go to my Facebook page and share there! HUGE bonus points for posting a photo of you in a SNUGGIE! (seriously, it will make my weekend)
CALL FOR ACTION
I know “action” is kind of counter to what I just talked about ;), but I felt compelled to share this call for action because I teach about being an engaged citizen and I feel this is deeply important…
For the Canadians in my tribe, I ask that you consider protesting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s complete abandonment of electoral reform this week. After making it one of his big election promises and a central part of the Liberal platform, he totally pulled the plug on all the work that has gone into reforming our broken voting system.
The current first-past-the-post system has consistently given parties 100% of the power with less than 39% of the vote. It has resulted in almost half of Canadian voters casting votes that don’t elect an MP. It has guaranteed the “old guard” always gets in and parties with vital new ideas and energy don’t get a voice. It has been forcing Canadians to “strategically vote” for years instead of voting their consciences. All of this is resulting in the kind of voter apathy (especially for young people) and lack of representation that is eroding our democracy.
Without electoral reform, we run the risk of a “Trump-style” leader becoming prime minister in the next election.
*****SIGN THE GOVERNMENT PETITION HERE*****
If you’d like to do more:
Write PM Justin Trudeau: justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca
THANK-YOU! These small actions from many of us will add up to one HUGE VOICE FOR DEMOCRACY!
