Winter and Spiritual Practice
Winter And Your Spiritual Practice
Deep winter. The earth is swaddled in snow, a deep silence pervades the land were 
I live, punctuated only by the occasional ” thock, thock” of the axe splitting wood.
The Winter season can be a great time for introspection and self-inquiry. One’s Chi is contracted and Yin. The life force of much of nature is quiescent, hibernating; collecting itself for the surge of life that will follow in the spring. For warm-blooded, non-hibernating creatures (this might be you!) this presents some difficulty. The active Yang part of your life force is reduced and is split between keeping you warm, fighting off colds and flu, and all of your regular mental and bodily functions. Activities of daily living, work, recreation, negative emotions, even sex can compete for your available Chi. Sometimes it seems there is just not enough energy to go around and one can easily become mentally and physically sluggish, lethargic, perhaps even emotionally challenged or withdrawn.
Additionally, aggressive exercise during this time can seem invigorating, but may result in a net energy loss, leaving one prone to exhaustion and illness. While meditation is an ideal practice in many ways for the Winter season, one’s practice should be balanced by some physical training that generates life force. Yoga, Tantric Qigong, and T’ai Chi are excellent for this purpose. They balance your mental and emotional states and generate more energy than they consume in the performance of the exercise.
Sometimes it seems to be an extra challenge to pony up the perseverance and spiritual discipline necessary to continue a yoga or tantric qigong practice in the cold stillness of January and February. The often physcially and emotionally exhausting madness of the December holiday season doesn’t help much either, does it?
Winter Meditation for Collecting Life Force
Try this meditation to collect your Chi during the cold winter season. You can do this either out of doors, making sure you are adequately wrapped up in warm clothes and blankets, or indoors, preferably in front of a window with a good view of nature. Wear warm but loose clothing, a thick, fluffy sweat suit with a sweater may be ideal for this. Make especially sure that your waist is not constricted.
1. Sit up as straight as you can, take a deep breath, and relax your legs, belly, chest, shoulders, neck, and jaw.
2. Locate the Tan Tien point, 4 finger widths below your navel.
3. As you view the wintry landscape, begin to breathe deeply into the Tan Tien, collecting your life force deeply into your center, just as the earth’s energy is collected and stored deeply underground.
4. Press you feet firmly against the ground or floor and draw in Chi from both the earth and the air.
5. Feel warmth grow in your belly as you continue to breathe deeply and continuously.
6. Feel the vast strength and stability of the earth, and how its energy abides even during the coldest time of the year. Align and harmonize your energy with this boundless earthly reservoir of wintertime Chi. Continue for 10 minutes or more.
7. Conclude by feeling that you will abide as you amass your Chi, that you are able to protect yourself from exhaustion and illness, and are readying yourself for the rebirth of spring. © 2009 Keith E. Hall. All rights reserved.
Tags: chi, Meditation, spiritual discipline, spiritual practice, Tai Chi, tantric qigong, yin and yang