Here we are in the Winter Cave....pausing between Death and Life to contemplate, to dream, to rest and to receive a new North Star Vision for our lives.

It is in this Season that we are inside of the liminal space between Death and ReBirth, between What Was and what Shall Be, and fully immersed in the formlessness, the sacred pause, the holy stillness, the SELAH of all of Creation.

Here are some practices to help you fully embrace the season.

Building a Winter Cave

In the sanctuary of your own home, create a sacred space to crawl into between winter Solstice and Imbolc at the top of February. Make it super cozy and dark, the perfect place to gift your body anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours of rest, journey time, breathwork, journaling, meditation, and just pure beingness. The gift of this time in the winter cave will nourish and restore your body and being beyond your own imagining. If it feels liek a challenge to create such a space, getting an eyemask and crawling into a sleeping bag could be the perfect cave for you.

Embrace Darkness

Turn off your electricity at sunset and lean into candlelight or firelight as your evening experience. Our ancestral relationship with fire is so long and deep. It’s amazing what can awaken when we let go of electricity and lean into the light of our ancestors. Be mindful, of course, when working with fire. Your nervous system will thank you for such a break from the environmental pollution for our day to day life.

Go to Bed Early

Winter sleep can have a profound impact on our body and healing. Aim to go to bed around 9pm during the long winter nights. Research has shown us that it does really matter to align with the science of our circadian biology. The time we go to bed can have a profound impact on our metabolism, hormones, and overall health. Going to bed earlier is not just about going to sleep, it’s about optimizing our body’s natural rhythms. We are more aligned in the winter to go to sleep earlier. When we align with these natural rhythms, and prioritize an earlier bedtime during the winter months, we can stabilize cortisol and blood sugar, support the body’s natural fat-burning and muscle repair, maximize melatonin and growth hormone benefits. Gift yourself an early wind-down.

Embrace Early Mornings

With a circadian bedtime of 9pm or so, we will have an opportunity to embrace the early mornings and use the long pre-dawn hours as a gentle start to the day. It’s a perfect time for spiritual practice, light stretching, journaling, enjoying the ritual of a warm morning drink.

Embrace Warming Foods

In the cold months, our body does well with warming foods and spices. Enjoy winter eating by leaning into these medicines.

12 Nights of Dreaming Practice

Lean into the winter medicine of dreaming and dreamwork. Follow this free guide created to support this ancient sacred practice.

Practices & Rituals for Embracing the Yule Season