Last night we gathered for our monthly community restorative practice, it felt timely. This potent point in cycle marks this time when the sun has bloomed in it’s fullness before the slow incremental shift as the darkness will once again slowly return.
This cycle of growing lightness and growing darkness beckons every year, the wheel keeps turning, and both are needed.
The days following the summer solstice can sometimes whisper a little louder for contemplation and quiet as the days start to retreat – and after the increased energy the solstice often brings. Honouring the quiet, simmering in the gifts of the light.
At the height of the season – during the solstice, when the sun is at its fullest, we’re invited to connect with the expansive, energizing qualities of summer, and then we get to allow that light and healing to simmer in our bones as we drink it in deeply to help to resource us for the days ahead. This gift of simmering can happen through the spaciousness of time this season brings, opportunities to connect with water, physically resting your body on the earth, feeling the warmth of the sun, and time with the bees, the butterfly’s and the dragonfly’s.
The Summer Solstice, like the winter solstice and our spring and fall equinox, are natural pause points in the wheel of the year —times for clarity, reflection, and quiet transformation – all having their own gifts with where we are in cycle. In my heart, these still points are an opportunity to reconnect with what feels true and meaningful.
It’s been profound this year, amidst everything – witnessing the world responding to this transition into summer; as creatures have returned, communities of birds have made their way back to summertime feedings, the flowers are slowly opening, the grasses have grown, and life in the garden is emerging.
Honouring all the threads of community in the more than human world.
Our lives are informed by what we focus our energy on, I am reminded that this is something I get to choose, and so do you – where we focus our energy. Our rhythms, our thoughts, our practices, our communities come to grow in the gardens we nourish – both within as well as in the ripples that extend outwards.
I wonder
What are we nourishing? Individually and collectively
What seeds are we planting for the unfolding of our own lives, and thinking about the generations to come?
What is asking for care and tending inside of you in this season of your life?
I’m grateful to be here with you, and am sending you so much love for the expanding threshold of light that this time of year has brought us.
With so much love
Amber
Our next monthly community restorative class will be held Monday, July 20th from 7:00 – 8:30 pm EST. You can register below if you’d like to join us. July’s practice is free for everyone as an offering of support to community.
This summer I’ll be sharing another 30 days of FREE tending your inner garden practices for Brooksong, as part of our annual summer fundraiser.
I hope some of you will join me for a 30 day community commitment to move, sing, breathe and explore creativity. The 30 days of recorded practices are free for everyone, with the option to make a donation to Brooksong.
If you’d like more information you can read my full blog post
Brooksong Summer Fundraiser + 30 Days of Free practices starting July 20th
I’m also sharing a link if you’d like to just sign up for the Free 30 day commitment of self care practices in honour of your personal tending through the summer.