Reflections on the Winter Solstice

The purpose of Winter Solstice

Written by Cristina Holopainen

Images by Josh Griggs at Maruia River Retreat

I often thought that rest comes in spurts. That it is there as a break, a moment to pause and a time for leisure. It was my incentive to do good work and felt like an award and a super worthwhile prize.

I teach sleep. I tell students that we are best when we are in our natural state - that is that we are one with the universe and the rising of the sun and the darkness as the moon comes. And our best rest is when we cycle through the hours of sleep and go through the different stages over and over for as long as it remains dark outside.

When we are unbothered and not subjected to stimulation, we look internally. We find that the outside world is not distracting - that we find solace in the quiet that we recognize comes from within.

The darkness helps us see what’s within.

When the Winter Solstice came to pass, my girl friend Sarah Bell told me that this is why I feel what I feel because we are in that yearly cycle. That this heaviness and exhaustion that I feel is precisely because it is the time to nurture, to tend to one’s self, to rest - to hibernate like the bears we love and also fear.

To see is not enough - to recognize is necessary. It is time to rest, recover and accept what is. Not because it is necessary but because it is what is natural. And then we remember, not like our ancestors did, that this shall all come to pass. That the days will get longer, the sun will shine brighter, the moon will hide our fears and offer us the opportunity to rest everyday.

Recognition - the prompt for the writing exercise inspired by the most recent Writer’s Retreat.