Winter Solstice Meditation As winter starts to lock down we have the opportunity to recharge our batteries physically, mentally and spiritually so that we can absorb the Energy of new beginnings in the springtime – rather than feeling jaded after a long and wearing winter.
The metal energy of late autumn has passed by and we have now moved into the hibernation part of the Energy cycle that is dominated by water energy. The solstice gives a short break from the hibernation where we can come out of our caves and maintain our levels before returning to the cave to rest. Winter solstice is the point where the contracting Energy starts to change slowly to expansion. The reminder here is that even though the time of the year feels very dark, light is on the way.
www.ki-ways.com
Wake House, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9AE
Tel 07413 620344
Winter Solstice Meditation Session Warm Ups We will start the session with some very gentle warm up exercises to relax our body and minds and help us get to a more spiritual feeling.
Shaking and breathing. This very simple exercise helps you to loosen up winter stiffness and refresh the air in your lungs Meridian streaming. This helps you to open up all of the energy channels in your body. Cloud hands. This helps to keep your kidneys strong at a time when they are most threatened by the seasons.
Health Tip Keep your feet warm! The Kidney meridian starts at the base of your foot. Kidneys are very susceptible to the cold and this is the time of the year when we need to look after out kidneys most. If you let your feet get cold you will deplete the vital energy that is stored there.
Drink water – not too much though! It is fashionable amongst some circles to “detox” by drinking copious amounts of water. Whilst we certainly do not want to get dehydrated it is worth remembering that your kidneys are a fine filter and if you try to “flush” them like a toilet, you can damage them After meditation you will probably need a little more water than normal.
www.ki-ways.com
Wake House, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9AE
Tel 07413 620344
Inner Smile Meditation A smile can have different flavours. We will use the ancient oriental “Five Element” system to sample the different flavours of a smile.
Start by sitting in a comfortable position and taking a few deep breaths Relax your breathing and follow your relaxed breath with your attention Think of something that makes you very happy. Let the smile radiate throughout your body Follow by working through the elements as shown in the table below. In-between each element, return to just following your breathing Finish by focusing the whirlpool of colours into your Tan tien
Smile into your:Feeling Challenge Colour Tissue
Heart
Stomach
Lung
Kidney
Liver
Love Arrogance Red Blood
Serenity Worry Golden Muscles
Clarity Grief White Skin
Courage Fear Blue Bones
Feeling
Like the warmth of a real fire radiating and being pumped around your body
Muscles relaxing
Sigh
Energy in your back – having a backbone
Generosity Anger Green Nerves and tendons Growth and expansion like a new shoot in springtime
Especially in the abdominal area
Tingling in the skin
Body feels more gentle
Gratitude for being loved and for being able to give love
Inner balance
Intuition of a brighter future
Gentle courage to stay true to one’s self
Emotion
Grounded
The feeling of just having made a good decision Emotional sensitivity – to your own emotions as well as other peoples
Time for a cuppa! www.ki-ways.com
Wake House, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9AE
Tel 07413 620344
The Transformation of Metal into Water Just as we remove our clothing before going to bed, metal energy strips the dead leaves from trees before going into their dormant hibernation period. Chaff is removed from wheat so that it stores better and is ready for the cold winter months. Metal energy helps us to shed excess baggage that can accumulate in the summer time.
Have you ever felt held back by the past? I have, here is an example. My degree was in Engineering and whilst not being the best engineer in the world I was fairly good at it. My life was comfortable but I did not feel that I was on the “path of my heart”. Most of my friends agreed but this was not enough to make a difference. It was going to need something fairly serious to move me! It had taken me a long time to pass my degree and even longer to become a professional engineer. Part of me felt that to switch careers in my forties would be to waste all of the effort I had made to become an engineer. In short, I was being held back by the past. Then the metal energy came. I lost my mother to cancer. One of the things that she said to me was that she hoped that I would live my life how I wanted to do – not how I thought that other people wanted me to live it. This along with a few other factors was enough. The last leaves were cut from the tree. I gave up the engineering and set out to create my own business. In the beginning, I had no idea how to run my own business. The best that I could do was to watch, learn and think. I had to explore what it was that I really wanted to do with the life gifts that I have and wait for the ideas to come. I was in the water phase – a time to gather resources on all levels. We are all held back by things from the past to a greater or lesser degree. Learning how to feel and control our metal energy allows us to intuitively cut away that which we do not need or that which holds us back before contemplating our next move.
www.ki-ways.com
Wake House, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9AE
Tel 07413 620344
Transformation of Metal into Water Metal
Transformation
Create images in your mind of anything that you associate with the metal element – ore, crystals, rocks, stone, metals, minerals, knives, swords, molten metal
Feel the release and expansion as the bond that was pulling you back is loosened. Feel your body and soul relax slightly.
Imagine the leaf falling from the tree. Imagine a tree ready to lose its leaves in the autumn. Make it a tree that you know. Think about the emotions that the fact that leaves are going to be shed bring to you.
Think about one thing that is holding you back from doing something that you want to do. Explore the feelings around that one issue. Symbolise the thing that is holding you back as the leaf on the tree.
www.ki-ways.com
Water
Follow its journey as it floats to the ground. Imagine the leaf as it decomposes to join the Earth. Note the feeling that this visualisation brings. Connect the leaf falling from the tree to the thing that was holding you back in your life. Imagine that the link is cut.
Feel the boundaries relax and soften slightly, like ice that has started to thaw. Imagine the ice gradually becoming fluid. Imagine and feel a spiritual connection to the water of the planet – seas, rivers, oceans, drinking water etc. Imagine that you are floating in a sea of energy. You cannot feel the boundaries of your body – just the flow. Relax and become recharged spiritually by the feeling.
The memory is still there just as one can remember the summer leaves but the effect that it had on you has now changed.
Wake House, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9AE
Tel 07413 620344
Five Elements Life Stages Meditation Element Primal Force
Wood Trees and plants
Fire Fire Lightning Rainbow
Earth Soil Planet Earth
Metal Metal Rocks Minerals
Movement
Upwards
Outward
Stabilising
Contracting
Season
Spring
Summer
Indian Summer
Autumn
Plant Life
Sprouting
Flower in full blossom
Life Cycle
Infancy and childhood
Adolescence
Doyo Fruit ripening
Maturity
Water Water Steam Clouds Lake Ice Flowing Conserving Winter
Fruit and leaves falling
Old Age
Dormancy, tree looks dead Seed Death
In the annual Yin and Yang cycle, the Winter solstice represents the most Yin time of the year. The most yin part of our lives is our death. The elements for the winter solstice are water and Earth In death our connection to the Earth dissolves into the spirituality and flow of the water element to nourish the seed for new life in the oncoming springtime. The promise of the darker times is the light to come. Absorb the spirituality of the water element as is dissolves the Earth ready for the new life and light in the springtime. Remember that just as a plant can become weakened if it is forced to grow too quickly that we should absorb the spiritual aspects of the time of year and not try to rush to the next phase. www.ki-ways.com
Wake House, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9AE
Tel 07413 620344