‘In Winter, I plot and plan….’
Henry Rollins
“That, I think, is the power of ceremony: it marries the mundane to the sacred.”
Robin Wall Kimmerer “Braiding Sweetgrass”
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I took a walk in the snow today. My second this week and the second in a couple years, having received less snow in Philadelphia over the past several cycles. As I walk, there appears an open landscape of possibility. Land usually filled with vegetation are now flat and able to be crossed. The ground obscured, my steps proceed slow. It takes greater effort than usual to push on. I pause for longer periods and breathe deep to warm my body and my spirit. I am reminded of being in a desert walking through sand. Polarities hold a relationship. The yin in the Yang. A summer’s oppressive sun is today a winter’s gift of energy and hope. In elemental theory, winter is the season of water and its emotion fear. Our body’s waters find their depths in the hips and pelvis, at the base of our spine. The root of the chakra system, where the instinct to survive worries if we have enough to cross this cold desert. What is shallow will freeze and lie dormant until a thaw revealing a wellspring of feeling separated from its source. The perennial winter considered on a grander scale is a metaphor for a life, the cycles within a life and the age of an idea. All is moving. Ending, beginning. A spring follows each winter. Still… One has to wonder if “I” will make it to the other side of winter. If we consider winter as the posthumous journey of the soul, one assumes it would be inappropriate to call the entity that emerges in Spring of the afterlife by the same name. What of the transitions where self is retained or a new “I” emerges? Will it be lesser or greater? I suppose a lot depends on how we meet the winter.
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This is the last week before my retreat. Each winter I invoke the spirit of the season via a retreat from the world. A bridge across the inward universe, moving away from the outward sun with a pitstop through the lunar nature within. Instead of living in imagination I seek to transcend getting caught up in the rapturous lunacy of visionary experience. Meditation serves the bulk of my time, though movement makes appearances in deliberate ways at intentional moments. Yoga-asana is a practice of union through posture, and postures come in more shapes than a seated lotus or some other variation. I make some attempts to put down the identity projected on the world and see what’s left. I consume little, other than water for several days. I seek to balance the emotional and rational natures of self through math problems and devotional acts. I attempt to empty my vessel as best as one can. One inhales more fully after exhaling completely. The first taste of broth after a fast is a reminder of flavors and experiences that had previously grown unfulfilling. The first tart fruits of spring taste as sweet as the sugary treats of late summer, once one has become accustomed to the flavor. A retreat into winter is an attempt to unload the baggage carried from the last cycle into the coming Spring. When one travels lighter, levitation might not happen, but levity might lead toward experiencing more joy.
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My family almost lost a pet today. A companion who arrived several autumns ago, but a symbol of spring at the time; adopted young when times were bright and hope was full. Now she slows her existence in the winter of her soul where the ground bares little fruit to sustain her existence. Winter, serious and absolute, finds us all in time. I suspect making that transition as pleasant as possible for others and ourselves is as important as how we invite life into this world. One must be at peace with the past to move into the future. I have felt aspects of myself in a prolonged winter. Waiting for the snow to melt. Waiting for the ground to become saturated and new life to sprout from the fertile soil. Until then I return to my depths. Emptying. Creating Space. Each deep exhale inspires a more full inhale. I’ll touch base a few weeks after returning from the more intensive 4 days of fasting and meditation. In person I’ll still be teaching including a new 6 week Architectural Movement series at Cocoon Philly: the first week is next Monday January 28th 6-7pm,
Breath
Posture/Asana and Pratyahara (The Magic Square as a tool for concentration and body mapping)
Mobility (understanding joints and moving through full ranges of motion)
Stability (posture that stresses lower body endurance)
Stabilizing the Upper Half (Core and Shoulders)
Ability (Using the upper body; loading the upper half dyanamically)
-Preregistration required through Cocoon Philly
I’ll be taking a break from the digital as well as the corporeal social spheres. I hope to connect in class. Otherwise I hope to see you when the Spring arrives.
❤️
Also recommended at Cocoon Philly (preregistration required):
Kaeti Frady will be hosting a Handstand Happy Hour (6 week series), starting Sunday February 4th, 11-12pm
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Alex Brazinski, Dance Floorwork (6 week) begins Tuesday January 30th, 7:30-8:30pm
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Jacob Ellis, A Beginners Path to Yoga (6 week) begins Tuesday January 30th, 6-7pm