Written By Ainslee Cunningham
Celebrate our growing community on New Year’s Day! Join us for a special in-person Mindful Movement and Yoga followed by a potluck brunch in The Parlour's beautiful space.
You can sign up for one or both events. Each event is $15.
Friends and family members are welcome! Pre-registration is required.
If you are bringing family members, select the total number of tickets in the drop down menu before you purchase your space.
Sign Up for Community Building New Year’s Potluck Brunch with Momence
Sign Up for the In Person New Year Mindful Movement and Yoga.
Our December Lunchtime Learning series continues Dec 13, Dec 20, Dec 27. Learn and carry your practice into 2024 to support mindful and compassionate responses to what life brings us. Join us for the remaining Wednesdays of the year, 11:30a-12:45p EST.
December 13: iRest with Melissa
December 20: Sitting with Worry and Restlessness with Amanda
December 27: A Mind Training Practice for Stress Reduction with Sam
All things return to their root.
Returning to the root, there is stillness.
In stillness, true purpose returns.
This is what is real.
Knowing the real, there is clarity.
-Charles Eisenstein, as inspired by the Tao Te Ching
The winter solstice is upon us. Each day the sun’s journey across the sky continues to shorten, and each night the stars have a little more time to gaze upon the Earth. This shift can be jarring at first, thanks especially to Daylight Savings, and perhaps your initial reaction to the longer nights is one of aversion. Our circadian rhythm is tied to sunlight, so when the sun sets earlier, we may be more lethargic, sleepy, less inclined to want to “do.” It is, indeed, lovely to have more daylight in the afternoon: for the commute home or afternoon walk to be well-lit. However, our aversion is a result of our own labeling of this natural change of seasons as “bad,” or “not productive,” or whatever form your aversion may take.
If you find yourself in this cycle of aversion, I invite you to take a step back and consider the gifts of the season upon us. The winter is a time of slowing down, as we can observe in the larger natural world all around us: the trees have drawn their energy back down into their roots, the reptiles have crept underground to hibernate, water has started to freeze into frost and ice. It is a time to reflect on the year that is behind us: on the growth we have made, the joy we’ve shared, and the challenges we have faced. It is also a time to dream about the year ahead: to make intentions and consider the abundant possibilities that may come our way. I invite you to consider that perhaps we need the dark as much as a seed before it begins its journey of becoming.
In our yoga practice, we seek to restore balance to our body - mind - heart, and to carry this balance out into our daily lives so we may come from a place of integrity and compassion. Our society thrives on the idea that “doing” and taking action is intrinsically better and worthy. We have a problem, we find a solution and we work to fix it. It’s not that taking action is inherently bad, but rather that it is not the only way that brings about change, peace, joy. Perhaps a form of “right action” could be to be still, to not react or respond right away, to allow space, to receive. Much like the stillness of the sun at the moment of the winter solstice, that moment where the night is longest.
This isn’t a call to complacency or ignorance, but rather an invitation to cultivate a pause in our day, in our life. A pause to feel one’s breath move in and out, a pause to find the joy that is right there waiting for us to acknowledge it, a pause to find a spark of inner light, that light that can never be taken from us no matter the length of the daylight and no matter what stories we may buy into at any given moment. That spark of light within me that acknowledges and loves that spark of light that is within every living being and connects us all. This winter solstice, may you connect to this inner light and may it carry you forth as we forge ahead into the cold and dark. May you be connected to the light of community, may you find comfort and joy.
Email info@dogwoodstudioyoga.com with questions. We are here to help!
Ainslee Cunningham is a 200-hour registered yoga teacher (RYT) who is deeply inspired and influenced by nature. Ainslee aspires to support people with the mind-body connection of yoga, especially those affected by addiction and trauma. She is committed to exploring how we embody the elements of the natural world and how we can deepen our connection to the Earth’s natural rhythms.
SAM Sather, founder of Dogwood Studios, is a certified yoga therapist (C-IAYT) and an Insight Yoga Institute (IYI) endorsed teacher. She individualizes the yoga practice with appropriate modifications for participants’ unique bodies and medical histories with a focus on finding calm and improving health. She offers several live, online and in person yoga classes as well as private sessions so you can focus on your needs one-on-one.
