The Solstice is here! The Solstice is here!
Here in the Northern Hemisphere, the December solstice is the shortest day and longest night of the year. In the Southern Hemisphere, it is the longest day and shortest night of the year. After this, days grow longer with more sunlight in the north and shorter with more darkness in the south.
The solstice marks the changing of the seasons, and it's cause for celebration!
The seasons are caused by the Earth's tilt of 23.5 degrees off its polar axis; as we orbit the sun, sometimes we're leaning towards it, and sometimes we're leaning away from it.
Today we shift into winter where I am. During this season, the Northern Hemisphere will be tipped as far from the sun as it will be all year...hence the cold and the dead plants. For humans depending upon plants for survival (i.e., everyone), entering a months-long period of scarcer botanical life is significant.
The winter season encourages taking stock of one's community and distributing resources to those who need rations to make it through; this is one reason why gift exchanges are historically popular this time of year.
Temples and ruins throughout the world, from Machu Picchu in Peru to Karnak in Egypt to Stonehenge in the UK, precisely align with this precise cosmic event, and festivities from Saturnalia to Juul/Yule to Christmas celebrate the physical and spiritual return to light...it's kinda a big deal!
My favorite solstice observance is to light a candle and do 108 sun salutations at sunrise or sunset.
This takes a little over an hour of constant movement and presence with the breath. It is a sweaty challenge on the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual planes, at the end of which I am usually properly buzzing.
I open my little ceremony with prayers as I give thanks for yoga itself and for the miraculous web of my life, our universe, and our unseen but intimate connections. I close in gratitude for power, strength, and will as I wish for all beings everywhere to be happy and free in full thrival on our beautiful Earth.
How to Sun Salutation A:
- Start in mountain. Inhale.
- Exhale forward fold.
- Inhale as you look forward.
- Exhale step, jump, or walk back to plank.
- Inhale in plank.
- Exhale and lower for chaturanga.
- Inhale to up dog/cobra.
- Exhale to down dog.
- Hold down dog for 3-5 breaths. (For 108 sun salutations, I only hold down dog for every 10th sun salutation.)
- Inhale and look between the hands.
- Exhale as you step or jump forward to forward fold.
- Inhale and look forward.
- Exhale to forward fold.
- Inhale and rise up for mountain.
💛 Sara!