Navigating Spring’s threshold

It’s a late February afternoon, the first day of double digit temperatures this year. Blossoms of spring have poked their heads on a walk around my neighbourhood; purple crocus, snowdrop and daffodils bursting from the soil and also supermarket shelves. Through the quiet winter months, spring has subtly been preparing for its emergence.

I’ve been spending today planning my upcoming workshop at 7 Breaths Meditation, an extended yin and somatic movement practice to mark this turning season and to help us navigate the seasonal threshold ahead.

This workshop was inspired by words from the beloved late-Irish poet, philosopher and spiritualist, John O’ Donohue:

“The rhythm of emergence is a gradual slow beat always inching its way forward; change remains faithful to itself until the new unfolds in the full confidence of true arrival. The beginning of spring nearly always catches us unawares. It is there before we see it, and then we can look nowhere without seeing it.”

This is an interesting time of year when we can consider both the wise depths of winter and the energetic, creative energies of spring. Bringing an awareness of the qualities of these two seasons into our practices simultaneously can offer a seasonal threshold that feels grounded, supported and deeply intuitive.

In Chinese Medicine, winter is considered a time of maximum yin energy. The days are short, the temperatures are colder and the light finer. Many animals are actually hibernating.

In Katherine May’s book ‘Wintering’ she describes a pre-industrial schedule of first and second sleeps.

“Before the Industrial Revolution, it was normal to divide the night into two periods of sleep: the “first sleep,” or “dead sleep,” lasting from the evening until the early hours of the morning; and the “second” or “morning” sleep, which took the slumberer safely to daybreak. In between, there was an hour or more of wakefulness known as the “watch,” in which “Families rose to urinate, smoke tobacco, and even visit close neighbors. Many others made love, prayed, and . . . reflected on their dreams, a significant source of solace and self-awareness.” In the intimacy of the darkness, families and lovers could hold deep, rich, wandering conversations that had no place in the busy daytime.”

In modern times, although we now mostly sleep through the night, we could consider how we might bring these intuitive, sensitive and wise pursuits into our lives in the darkest season. This might mean immersing ourselves in more fiction and cinema (the Oscar season helps!) and creative spaces for reflection, whether this is journaling, meditation or a yoga self-practice.

Spring represents a shift to rising yang energy. Spring is a time of growth, expansion and potential manifesting itself into being. It’s there as the plant unfurls from the ground with an unbound longing towards sunlight and nourishment.

There is also something unknown about this season, its newness an unstoppable force that can feel out of our control. This is where all the quiet introspection of the season before forms the ground to hold us.

A saw poet James A Pearson described this time as a ‘mud season’ and I love this so much.

“The mud season is that uncertain time between winter and spring, when you’re invited to hold close what’s new and tender in you as you step out into the pathless world.”

Because sometimes, even after all the subtle work of winter wisdom and reflection, life just gets muddy and the path can feel hard to find. As we approach the spring seasons of our lives, something is stirring in you, but it may well still be buried beneath the earth.

This is a time to explore experimentation and play. To move in ways that feel joyous, uplifting, empowering. To take a step knowing that it never has to be perfect but may well lead you down an interesting path for the season ahead.
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If you would like to be carried from your hibernation with me, I’m hosting a seasonal workshop at 7 Breaths Meditation to navigate the season using both the earthy stillness of the yin practice and quiet somatic movement expressions to uncover what’s stirring underneath. Sunday 8th March, 2pm til 4pm.

Join the workshop