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Happy winter solstice loves!
Today at 4:47 PM ET, the sun stood still at the southernmost point of the equator, marking the winter solstice and the longest night of the year. I was sleeping off a hangover at that time, whiskey pouring down my throat last night like liquid celebration after we arrived, finally, at our winter destination of Park City, Utah. I awoke like a slate wiped clean, like the alcohol had burnt off whatever remained of the past year. As I looked out at the snow coming down on the mountain, it felt like a new start, a new season indeed.
Today’s solstice is a time for honoring the height of darkness. The beginning of the winter season. A time the deciduous trees go dormant and animals burrow in warm places with the food they stored in the fall.
An email from my primary yoga teacher, Catherine Zack, reminded me what winter teaches us. She calls it “winter’s wisdom” - things like slowing down, paying attention, getting good rest.
That is winter’s invitation.
Today’s inaugural Poetry Pause celebrates what winter is about, invites us to consider that the dark can be good. That the dark is necessary in order for there to be light.
May you slow down, rest, and listen to a mini pranayama practice and reading of Maggie Smith’s How Dark the Beginning (see the text here), located right below:
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