Make ourselves comfortable.
Take a few deeper breaths as we settle ourselves down.
Allowing our body to be comfortable.
Arms and legs in a neutral position and our head balanced on top of our spine so that that's neutral as well.
Taking a few long smooth breaths and relaxing into our body a little bit.
Nothing to do for a few minutes.
No demands.
Releasing our expectations.
Coming to a place of quiet and rest.
With our breath and our body.
Being in the present moment with our breath and our body.
Long smooth breaths.
As we gradually become more relaxed.
Can you feel your heartbeat?
Can you place your awareness on your heartbeat?
Can you feel your heartbeat?
Feeling it as best you can,
However that is for you.
And if your mind wanders it's completely fine.
As soon as we noticed it's wandered we just return to the focus of the heartbeat.
And then we're going to allow our attention to move down our body through our feet and notice our connection with the earth beneath us.
So the physical connection.
We're feeling a ground beneath our feet.
Gravity in the air holding us.
And also the energetic connection with the earth.
And we can make this feel stronger by exhaling all the way down through our spine into the air.
Inhaling from the air through our spine up into the sky above us.
Gently comfortably exhaling all the way down again.
And keeping that going for a moment.
As we establish our connection with a space about us.
Allowing the breath to be comfortable and still relaxed.
As we connect the infinite space above us and the earth beneath us.
And next time we exhale let's allow our attention to come down into the earth and we'll leave it leave our attention in the earth for a little while.
Feeling the solidity and the stability.
Our anchor.
Let's imagine a heartbeat of the earth.
Visualizing that however works for you.
Our heart has a big electromagnetic field.
And can we visualize the fields of our heart and the earth's heart connecting.
Meeting and touching.
And merging.
Your heart and the heart of the earth beating together.
And you can feel how the earth feels.
As part of our sleeps in the cold and the dark of winter.
Can you get a sense of the hard soil?
Water frozen.
Can you get a sense of the seeds and the bulbs and the roots waiting in the soil?
Can you place yourself there?
Merged with a seed.
Becoming a seed yourself.
Full of potential.
Full of stored energy that is dormant and waiting.
And as winter starts to recede and the warmth and the light start to increase slowly.
What happens to the seed?
And you may wish to really physically embody what happens to the seed.
You might choose to move.
Or you may visualize how you,
The seed,
React to the warmth and the light.
Transformations taking place inside the seed.
In the Wicca tradition the winter is a time for introspection.
Going within and discovering and our journeys into the darkness.
Discovering ideas.
Healing.
Exploring ourselves.
And as the light and the warmth increase we bring those ideas and discoveries out into the outside world.
They emerge from us like sprouts,
Like shoots.
Just like the seed.
Is there something you have discovered?
In the long,
Cold,
Dark winter months that might now grow and enrich your life.
And sprout and flourish.
Considering how the earth nourishes the seed.
What do you choose to nourish?
How might you nourish this new tender sprout?
In the season of growth and regeneration.
Just noticing how that feels for you.
It's through soup-and-at- CNN andlocator tape.
Noticing if we tend to flow with the cycles of aging and destruction,
Cold and dark and as the wheel turns into growth and regeneration.
Can we flow with or do we resist?
I'm just noticing.
Once again,
Noticing our heartbeat,
Our body and our breath and taking a few energizing breaths,
Bringing movement into our body,
Our arms and legs,
Having a little stretch if that's for us.
Thank you for practicing with me.
