Meditate with the solstices and equinoxes
- intensives with a purpose
WHY A MINDFULNESS MEDITATION INTENSIVE ? Intensives help create and cultivate sustainable meditation practices as well provide the opportunity to dive deeply into a topic. If you are a beginner, intensives will guide you to dissolve your limitations in a safe and supportive environment and cultivate a regular stable home practice. If you are a frequent meditator intensives will explore your boundaries, improve your understanding of a personal practice and deepen your strength through collective (Sangha) practice. HOW IS A SOLSTICE OR EQUINOX MORE BENEFICIAL? These are magical times of the year and throughout the ages of mankind religions have gravitated toward these dates to hold major ceremonies, celebrations and sacred observations. We are intrinsically tied to these cycles of nature whether we like to admit it or not, influenced by the stages of the moon with its ebb and flow of energy. The sun ' the life giver ' marks the days of death and decay back into regeneration and growth. Winter Solstice is the shortest day and the longest night of the year. It marks the gradual return of the sun and signifies birth when new seeds of life will spring forth. A good way to remember this special Solstice is, as the hours of daylight grow, so too, we can let our inner light of understanding, love and intuitions grow. Allowing both the dark and the light to resonate within us, for it is part of us and we can practice new beginnings of unity, compassion, empathy and global love. The spring equinox marks equal hours of light and darkness, and in the northern hemisphere it is a time of moving toward growth in the natural world an inspiration for accelerated growth in our lives. As the equinox is a marking point, it is an opportunity for celebration of the spirit running through us all. The power of the Sun is increasing, the days are lengthening and the nights are shortening. We begin to feel empowered to reach out for what we want and to take risks, strike out on our own, go for walks and connect to the Earth again. The Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year (Northern Hemisphere). Symbolically, light and darkness represent soul and shadow, so now, with the Solstice, the light of the soul is shining its brightest over the darkness of the shadow. It is a portal opening of energy that overwhelms obstruction, blockages, and EGO. The autumn equinox is the time of balance between day and night, and we can use the potential and fertility of this time to create opportunities for positive change in our lives and in the world. At this point we are poised between opposite forces, light and dark, receptive and active, unconscious and conscious, inner and outer. These can be united within us so that we are whole and balanced individuals. This gives birth to actions that come from the heart.
