welcome to winterlight

Welcome home. 

I hope that winterlight is a space for you to rest, be nourished and connect with your own wisdom.

The inspiration for this journey

In the Celtic tradition, our equivalent of new year is celebrated early - from Halloween night through to dusk on 1 November. This understanding of the new year arose from an ancient wisdom: as the land darkens and appears empty and barren, we can trust that in the depths of the earth, life is pulsing.

This is a time for us to clear away and to listen, to offer deep nourishment to the seeds that are gathering energy in the darkness of the soil. In this time of cold and of weakened light, we keep our focus firmly on nourishing what we want to blossom once the sun strengthens again.

Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh writes about this beautifully. Where we see an empty field, the wise farmer sees a field of sunflowers...

Where do we start?

We begin this path by coming home to ourselves. 

In our human experience, we tend to prioritise our thoughts and our notions - which are often unhelpful or untrue, consumed with the past or fretting about the future. 

Our priority is to connect with our living physical self. We will aim to know that our body is always present and available for us, and that we can trust its presence. We gently allow our attention to rest in our body.

And when we come home to ourselves, we invite two energies to accompany us: ease and kindness. We need these two feelings to strengthen and support us on our journey. 

A sense of ease is key to any practice - this isn’t intended to be hard labour! When we suffer, we naturally constrict and tense against the discomfort (which creates more discomfort). So before we go deeper into our suffering, we need to know what ease feels like in our body. Whenever possible, we invite a sense of ease to infuse every cell of our body: let ease soak through your being, see what is possible to release, and know that it’s okay to let go.

It is important to establish a Sanctuary of Kindness in us, so that when we are dismissive of ourselves - or downright mean - we can know there is a place in us that is boundlessly kind, a place that always offers tender, wise care without judgement. We can retreat there at any time and simply be just who we are, protected by kindness.

There are several short guided practices this week which offer us the opportunity to come home with kindness and ease.

Making a habit of practice

Winterlight is about meeting ourselves exactly where we are - whether things feel easy or hugely challenging. The attitude we bring to ourselves on this journey is crucial.

You are not a self-help project. 

Let me say that again: you are not a self-help project.

This is simply your life. Your wonderful, challenging, contradictory, precious life.

So with this journey, allow yourself the space and the pace that is good for you. There's nothing in particular to achieve - it can be very freeing to throw away the idea of 'good outcomes' and 'deliverables' at the outset!

With that in mind:

Commit to an amount of time that you think you can practice coming home to yourself every day. The length doesn’t matter at all, it is repetition that strengthens the light of your pathway home. 

You think you can do one minute every day? Perfect. 

Five minutes? Perfect.

Twenty minutes? Perfect.

Think for a moment about what is realistically possible...

Are you feeling tempted to set big grandiose plans for your practice?

Allow yourself to be treated with kindness. Instead of making a big commitment, start with something that feels small and simple.

Guided practices

Let yourself have an easeful posture when you play these, so that you can be open and receptive. When your mind wanders, that's okay. With the poems and meditations, try to 'receive' them rather than understand them. These are not practices to be treated intellectually; instead we aim to rest in the sensations of how our body responds to them. Over time, that resting quality becomes easier.

1) Smiling meditation

Take five minutes to feel ease with the sense of a smile, and allow that warmth to radiate outwards. 

This is inspired by many teachings on smiling by Thich Nhat Hanh and Tara Brach.

2) Breathe with the bell

Give yourself one minute to come home to yourself and breathe with the sound of the bell.

3) Drawing inwards

(with poem 'In the great silence of this moment')

 Let the past and future recede, and plant yourself in the awake stillness of your body resting in the present moment.

4) Rest in goodness

(with poem 'Break your heart no longer')

Connect with your basic goodness, and know that you can trust yourself.

The importance of reflection

We spend much of our lives rushing. 

We need to allow a little time for stillness, to reflect on our experience. With this course, the reflection time may seem like an optional extra, compared to the 'proper' practices. But reflection is crucial on this journey:

• it embeds our practice into our life
• it reveals our wisdom and learning
• it creates space for our insight to arise

With the weekly reflection sheets, you can take a moment to look back on your experience of your day. The aim is simple: to notice the moments when you came home to yourself.

The reflection sheets are not to make you feel guilty! Their job is to help you shine light on the moments when you were present during the day. And being present is a practice, so the sheets may be a little sparse at first. Making a habit of being present takes time. Be kind to your precious self. 

This week's downloads

You have 4 guided meditations that you can download. You can do these while sitting, lying down, enjoying tea or walking. 

• Smiling meditation (5 mins)
• 1 minute to breathe with the bell (1 min)
• Drawing inwards: I abandon all that I think I am (2 mins)
• Rest in goodness (2 mins)

Below you'll find:

1) week 1 reflection and quotes 

• 2 reflection sheets which can be printed out or filled in electronically (download them to your device / computer first; editing in a web browser won't save your entries)
• 2 sheets with practice prompts / poetry

2) two wallpaper images

These are images that can help us be more mindful with our technology. You can set these as background wallpaper on your mobile phone or computer. Whenever we see the image, we come home to ourselves for one breath.

A very common question: What if I fail on this path?

It is not possible to fail. 

There is nowhere to fall. 

These practices are supports on the path, and are always with you, because of this:

the  path  is  you.   

Wishing you a good week ahead, Orlaith