What are Winter Wonders❄️?

They show up in the flicker of a candle flame on the longest and darkest night, in the glowing embers of a fire surrounded by snow, in the way the shadows of bare branches play with the light of the December Cold moon.

They are felt in the sweet embrace and inward curl of hibernation, in the black bear’s den, burrowed underground with the queen bumblebee, in the box turtle’s shell, or right there cozied up in your favorite sweater sipping a warm beverage in your living room.

I share a few of my winter wonders with you in the photo collage above.

The days are getting shorter, and the nights longer and colder.

We are entering a season where many of us are asked to go at a pace that is out of sync with our animal bodies and the natural cycles of the seasons.

Here’s your permission slip to go at a pace that works for you, to say “No!” as often as you need to, and to say “Yes!” to the things that will nourish you and/or at very least get you through.

Remember to try to give yourself grace and compassion, to connect out there/in here, and to allow your animal body to be exactly as it is right now, without judgment or regret.

Try.

And a reminder that when so many of us in the northern hemisphere are entering the cold depths and darkness of fall descending into winter, the entire other half of the world is waking up to the bloom and light of spring expanding into summer.

Maybe we can flex our trust muscles and let them hold the light for a bit, while we curl up in darkness.

We need both sides of that coin.

The light will return again, just as the sun sets and rises again in the morning, just as the moon journeys from new to full and back again.

The light will return again. It always does🕯️

Reminder that this exploration of Winter Wonders is happening in a few days:

Saturday, December 13th
from 2-3:30pm EST
(on Zoom)

🎉no experience required

Details and RSVP HERE.

We will move to the Winter Wonders ❄️ playlist, which is a new playlist being conjured into existence as you read this!

This playlist is an invitation to surrender to the stillness and introspection of winter, to find that calm in the storm (or at least a rhythm you can dance to) amidst the holiday hustle and bustle, and to find warmth, comfort, and joy where you can. 

We will dance a week ahead of the Summer Solstice, which marks the beginning of Winter in the northern hemisphere, and the longest night of the year. It is, quite literally, a dark time for many and also is the exact moment we begin to welcome back the light. Our Winter Wonders ❄️ playlist is both a surrender to the dark and an opening to the light.

We will build on this theme just about a week later in our Surrendirt to Poetry 🕯️night lights workshop on December 19th. While there are similar themes in both Danceground and Surrendirt to Poetry, you are not required to attend this as a prerequisite - that's just not how we do things here!

See ya on the Danceground on
Saturday, December 13th at 2pm EST on Zoom!

Surrendirt to Poetry workshop, theme: night lights🕯️

Friday, December 19th
from 3-4pm EST
(on Zoom)

🎉no experience required

Details and RSVP HERE.

Our theme this month is 🕯️night lights, those sweet little burning flames that light up the darkest of nights.

This workshop is a continuation of what we begin at the Winter Wonders ❄️ Danceground on December 13th, and while it builds on similar themes, you are not required to attend both - that's just not how we do things around here! 

We will gather just a couple days ahead of the Summer Solstice, which marks the beginning of Winter in the northern hemisphere, and the longest night of the year. It is, quite literally, a dark time for many and also is the exact moment we begin to welcome back the light.

We will feature poets and poems that offer pinpricks of light in the dark, much like a night light or string of holiday lights offers.

We will then turn inward to stoke the source of our own inner flame, to locate the spaces within and outside of us that are 🕯️night lights, burning bright. 

See ya at Surrendirt to Poetry on
Friday, December 19th at 3pm EST on Zoom!