Happy Winter, Awesome People!
Winter used to be my least favorite season. I would get very depressed by the overcast days, being stuck inside, and emerging from school or work after dark, feeling like there was nothing left to the day. Since I began the practice of winter hibernation, it’s become my favorite season.
I’m getting a bit of a late start having just gotten back from a month-long trip, so it’s time to dive right in - dim evening lighting from candles and Himalayan salt lamps, getting in bed ridiculously early (my record is 8pm), luxuriating in bed reading a book, or being with my love, or letting my body shake out tension with TRE, closing my eyes when they get heavy and sleeping as long as I can. Waking up early and enjoying slow, quiet mornings. A cup of tea with a meditation or effortless daydreaming. Appreciating the beauty around me outside the windows, and inside our apartment. Some prayer and acknowledgment of the invisible world, with requests for support as I move through my day.
Our culture expects us to always do, always produce, week by week and year by year. This expectation fails to factor in that every manifestation must begin with a vision. Arguably, the vision is more important than the manifestation itself. A clear, inspired vision is much easier to follow through on than a half-formed vision that will get you who-knows-where.
Synching up with the seasons aligns with how humans lived for over 99% of our evolution. We seem to have forgotten that we are a part of nature, which lives in cycles of mini deaths and rebirths, cycles of output and pause. Partially hibernating in winter, spending as much time as possible in stillness, darkness, and rest allows us to connect with our visions for the coming year - a process that can’t be rushed.
The spring is the time to plant the seeds for our visions. In the summer we work to bring them to life, and in the fall we reap the benefits of our efforts. Most of the time when winter arrives we haven’t completed as much as we would have liked, and entering hibernation asks us to let go for the time being rather than push ourselves into depletion.
Each year, Mantak Chia, one of the foremost chi gong masters in the world, spends a full 6 weeks around the time of the winter solstice in meditation all day every day. He says this period of rest and stillness is what fills his energy stores to be able to travel all over the world teaching throughout the rest of the year.
A lot of us here have done plant medicine journeys and deeply explored the theme of surrender. But what keeps us from surrendering to the cycles of life? Many of us have major resistance to the slowness and stillness of a winter hibernation, which is fruitful to explore. Perhaps we hold ancestral patterning around the Puritan work ethic, and feel guilt or shame when we’re “doing nothing” or “not being productive.” It’s very counter-culture to see the immense value in slowness and stillness, and to refuse to allow anyone to judge this choice (including yourself).
I’ll go so far as to say that winter hibernation (at any level you can commit to) is revolutionary, in that our society is consistently pressuring you to do exactly the opposite. Many people’s winters are their most busy and stressful time, between holidays, travel, socializing, entertaining, shopping for gifts, and navigating challenging family dynamics. I’m here to remind you that all of these things are fully optional, regardless of convention or outside pressures. My first “breakout” from traditional holiday celebrations back in 2015 was a ten-day Vipassana meditation retreat that encompassed Christmas and New Year’s. At the time, it was the hugest relief to check out of all the pressures and obligations, and to be in silence and contemplation. Today I do celebrate the winter holidays, but in an extremely simplistic way, exactly as I want to.
A safe home environment is a hibernation prerequisite, and I realize not everyone has this. If your home is not a place of peace for you, please reach out and let’s talk about what’s going on. I needed to evolve through several dysfunctional relationships in order to be able to ultimately create my own peaceful home environment, which I consider one of my greatest achievements. When your home is a nourishing peaceful sanctuary, as anyone’s home should be, being stuck indoors for winter is cozy and relaxing.
I hope this gives you some fresh ideas and perspectives on how to make your winter more nourishing and restorative, accumulating potential energy to lurch you into the full realization of your dreams come springtime.
With love,
Mia
Ongoing Offerings:
As always, I offer one-on-one sliding scale calls for individuals who are seeking to heal trauma or various mental health issues. I specialize in methods that catalyze healing such as psychedelics and breathwork, working together to move toward physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual harmony.
My wife Azra offers weekly low-cost private and group Tension/Trauma Release Exercises, a somatic healing modality that discharges trauma from the body and nervous system without needing to go into stories about the past. It’s a practice I do several times a week that has changed my life.
Azra and I together offer free weekly group calls for women in the veteran community (veterans and family members of veterans) through The Hope Project, on Wednesdays at 11am PST/2pm EST.
Please reach out if you’d like more information.
Thank you so much Mia for your beautiful explanation on winter. I have suffered from SADD for a few years now and have dreaded it. This year with a light to use, I have decided to change my way of thinking. With your article, you have put a beautiful spin on how I can look ahead for the winter season. So far it has been pleasant. You have a beautiful soul! N. Evans