Wisdom Rising

Embracing Shadow Work: Solstice Wisdom + Guided Meditation

• Christine Renee, Isabel Wells, and Shantel Ochoa • Season 1 • Episode 33

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Curious about how the winter solstice can guide you through reflection and renewal? In this episode, we illuminate the spiritual significance of embracing the longest night of the year as a powerful time for transformation and balance. Learn how turning inward and confronting our shadow aspects can actually awaken our inner light and facilitate healing. Christine shares a guided meditation designed to help process and release emotions, restoring harmony during this sacred season. 

Join us as we navigate the depths of solstice symbolism, drawing intriguing parallels to mythological journeys such as Inanna's descent into the underworld. We explore the importance of shedding superficial layers to uncover our true, authentic selves and discuss how this process of transformation mirrors the Phoenix rising from the ashes. This season offers a unique opportunity to reflect on what no longer serves us and to embrace perceived flaws as strengths, setting the stage for growth and renewal when the light returns.

In our exploration of personal experiences with the winter solstice, we emphasize the need for individual reflection and self-awareness. While some may find this season stressful and filled with consumerism, others discover a time of rest, creativity, and inspiration. By balancing activity with moments of quiet reflection, we are encouraged to assess our needs and release preconceived notions. Whether you seek solitude or engage in social festivities, find what truly nourishes you during this time and make space for your own unique interpretations of the solstice’s energy.

Moon Rising Shamanic Institute Links:
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Book a session with Christine: https://calendly.com/christinerenee/90-minutes-intensive

Book a FREE 10 minute connect call with Christine: https://calendly.com/christinerenee/10-minute-connect-call-srpt

Speaker 1:

It's time to remember your divine purpose and limitless potential. Welcome to Wisdom Rising, the official podcast of Moon Rising Shamanic Institute. Join shamanic Reiki practitioners Christine René, isabel Wells and Chantelle Ochoa as we guide you on a journey of radical self-discovery and spiritual guidance. Each week, we'll dance through the realms of shamanism, mysticism, energy, healing and personal development to illuminate your path to true healing and self-sourced wisdom Through weekly inspired conversations and interviews with leading spiritual and shamanic practitioners. We are here to help you acknowledge, reconcile and balance your energy so that you can awaken to the whispers of wisdom rising from within. Welcome back to another amazing episode of the Wisdom Rising podcast. I'm your host for today, isabel Wells, and I'm so excited to be joined with Christine Rene as we dive into the spiritual significance of the winter solstice. In today's conversation, we're going to be talking about how the solstice, as the longest night of the year, invites us to embrace the darkness not as something to fear, but as a powerful opportunity for reflection, healing and renewal. Together, we discuss how this sacred time encourages us to turn inward and confront the shadow aspects of ourselves, awakening to the inner light that can guide us through the rest of the year. This podcast is really intended to help us honor this turning point in nature as a catalyst for our own personal transformation and spiritual growth. So, along the way, we're going to be talking about the ins and outs of shadow work and what shadow work really means. How embracing the darkness doesn't mean inviting in negative energy, but rather acknowledging that darkness and light are just part of the nature of life here as human beings, and how we can use the message and the energy of the solstice to transform and transmute heavier energies so that we can come back into alignment and balance. Christine also offers a beautiful guided meditation to help you really embody this energy process any emotions, acknowledge them and then release them so that you can step back into your own harmony and flow.

Speaker 1:

We would love to hear your top takeaways from today's episode over in our Moon Rising Shamanic Mystics Facebook group and, of course, don't forget to send us a message if you're looking for more support. Our Soul Rising Shamanic Reiki course is also open for early bird enrollment, in addition to holiday discounts on all one-on-one sessions. So if you're looking for support in your spiritual, shamanic or personal development journey, we're here for you. We would love to connect, but in the meantime, let's dive in to today's show. Today we're diving into solstice and really the symbolism of what winter solstice is bringing us as we look towards the longest night of the year. What does that mean for us? Energetically, spiritually, physically, all of these different things that come together on this solstice event that can help us really lean into permission, to be exactly where we are and feel however we're feeling and not try and fight against the current of energy that's bringing us back into internal reflection and rest and hibernation.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, absolutely. And you know I'm offering a winter solstice guided meditation for on Friday in Bozeman, montana, and it's given me a lot of time to reflect on what is it that I'm called to offer in that, you know, back in the day I would just show up to a shamanic guided meditation and allow whatever needed to come through and come through my mouth, just be completely channeled and guided. And you know, it's nice to have some type of pre, not totally planned out, but like the idea, like letting that percolate beforehand, letting that come through through divine, the having those downloads and you know, if you haven't checked out our podcast on channeling, like that is that's right. In alignment with this, I feel like right now I'm in that download, that channeling phase of like how do I want to offer this opportunity to dive into the shadow, dive into the darkness and embrace it. And what it reminds me of is Inanna's descent, or Persephone's descent, into the underworld, into the darkness, right, and so if you don't know their stories, you can easily go look those up.

Speaker 2:

But for the most part, the idea is that here's this beautiful original goddess of heaven and earth, inanna, from very much a Sumerian text, right, and she is queen of heaven and earth, and she is dolled up, she is in her fullness of gorgeous regal um beauty and and robes, and jewels and all of the things. And she has to go through the seven gates into the underworld and at each gate she has to remove something of herself. And so she's removing her crown and she's removing her jewelry and she's removing her jewelry and she's removing her clothing and she's removing all of the things that can't be entered into the underworld and in this way she strips herself of her identity that is materialistic and she's left naked in her shadow, in her rawness. And in that way I feel like that's a really beautiful reflection of what solstice can offer us. Like how can we surrender, what do we need to take off, what do we need to release, what do we need to let go so that, when the fullness of light arrives, how can we step fully into our true, authentic self-empower without this materialistic overlay?

Speaker 2:

And so I'm really excited because I think that's going to be a very similar to what I'm going to be offering for this Friday solstice meditation of, like, how, what is it in you passing through these seven gates that need to be released? And if you could just even journal that out. What are seven things that you need to release during the darkest times? Like where are we letting go? What are what needs to be released so that, when the light arrives, arrives, you can say a full yes to that. And what does that look like? What are you going to be cloaking yourself in in the light? Are you going to be saying yes to peace? Are you going to be saying yes to self-care? Are you saying yes to peace? Are you going to be saying yes to self-care? Are you saying yes to your self-worth and self-respect? Like, what are we saying yes to? And so we have this opportunity during solstice to really self-reflect and release and let go and then say yes to what is of the light that you're willing to step into.

Speaker 1:

And you know, I love this solstice energy too, because I think there's an additional element that invites us to reflect on how the darkness transforms into the light. There is this process of melding and, in a way, this kind of energetic alchemy that happens where, yes, we have the light and the dark and we have this longest night of the year where we are called into that reflection of what are we releasing, what are we letting go of, what is no longer serving us, and can we bring ourselves into a space where we can sit with that for a moment, so we can really acknowledge and recognize what those things are? But there's also this reflection here of noticing that it's not like a light switch flips on and all of a sudden it's light. It's this transition back to the light and this reawakening to our true selves and to our highest power, and knowing that that re-ignition, if you will, has to happen after a period of darkness. Right here at Moon Rising, we have the Phoenix as part of our logo and it's that same idea of we have to go through the process of being burned away, of transmutation, so that we can rise from the ashes.

Speaker 1:

We take these things that are dark and heavy and we go through the process of transmutation or alchemy, or healing, or whatever you want to call it, to come back to that true gold state of light and wholeness and perfection in a way. And what I love about this is it really reconnects us with this idea of non-duality, because when we're looking at the solstice, yes, we're looking at light and dark and these two sides of the same coin, but if we can zoom back a little further, we can recognize that they are the same coin and that means that everything that we see here in the darkness has an element of the light and vice versa, everything that we see in the light has an element of the dark, because it's constantly shifting and changing. And so, as we're doing this reflective work of looking at what do I want to release, what isn't serving me anymore, what is this season calling me to in terms of transmutation for my energy, we can recognize as well, in this really gentle, loving way, that it's not because we're flawed or we're not good enough or we are lacking in some way. It's because these elements of ourselves that are in the darkness, what we would call our shadow selves, have potential. They are these unbroken seeds of potential from life, if you will, how you have an acorn or whatever it is and it goes into the ground and it's perfectly intact and it has that hard shell and once it breaks open, that tree is allowed to grow. But it has to go through that process of being buried in the soil and breaking open. And so this winter, this solstice, is really an opportunity to look at where do you need to break open, where do you need to go into that solitude and that darkness and a little bit of that isolation even if that's not physical but that energetic isolation so that you can look at where is my process of cracking open starting? And I think a lot of us.

Speaker 1:

When we come to the end of the year, whether it's the stress that we carry with the holidays and all of the expectations or it's just the fact that we made it through another year right and we can feel the energetic weight of everything we've picked up we come to this end of the year feeling like we aren't enough. We don't have enough, we don't have enough resources, we don't have enough time, we don't have enough money, we don't have enough energy, we don't have enough to be where we're supposed to be, to be what we're supposed to be at this time of year. And what I think solstice really calls us to recognize is that that darkness, those parts of ourselves that we feel like aren't enough. Our shadow selves are worthy. They have purpose and they have reason and they are an invitation to go deeper into ourselves, not to just kind of like pick off those shadow parts and say, oh, I can throw that away and I can release that. Because if we release all of the parts that we don't like about ourselves and we only keep the ones we do, we're going to throw most of ourselves away. We're going to end up losing so much of ourselves because we've decided that there are these aspects that aren't worthy.

Speaker 1:

But if we look at solstice as this opportunity for transmutation, for alchemy, for that transition of bringing the darkness into the light and we know that stepping into that darkness, stepping into that cracking open phase, is just the beginning, it allows us to approach this with a much more balanced perspective because again, it gives us that permission to say you know what? This is just part of the process, it's not the end. This period of hibernation if I need to be calm and quiet, this period of isolation, if I don't feel like being really vibrant in my energy and going out and doing all the shopping and all the parties and all the things. If I don't feel like doing that, it's okay, because I'm not only living in alignment with nature, but I'm living in alignment with that idea of coming into the darkness so that it can also be carried along into the light. It's not that I have to lose parts of myself in the process.

Speaker 1:

It's that I get to really take a moment to step back and reflect on where are the parts of me that have value? Where are my shadow selves that have value and purpose and potential, and what can I do to nurture them in this solstice season, while I am here in the darkness, while I am that seed under the soil, I am here in the darkness, while I am that seed under the soil, what nourishment do I need so that that process of cracking open and spreading our roots and growing our stem and really blooming that's going to happen in the spring? How can I give myself the nourishment and support and quiet and calm now that I need in order for that process to continue? And so, if you're feeling like there's all of this pressure to perform or to be a certain way or to have so much energy and be doing so much and you are feeling that drag of I'm not enough, I don't have enough, there's just not enough.

Speaker 1:

A little bit of that scarcity that can come in this season. Can we lean back into the understanding that that scarcity is a reflection of this darkness, it's a reflection of the fact that we are meant to be burrowing into the soil and receiving nutrients and receiving support and receiving all that we need so that that potential can then spring forth and bloom in the springtime, and that this is just part of the process? I think a lot of times when we feel those feelings, we start to feel like this is it, it's always going to feel this way, I'm always going to be anxious, I'm always going to be tired, it's never going to end because it feels so intense in the moment. But if we can recognize that this is part of the process and can you give yourself grace to be wherever you are, knowing that you're just in the process of being planted, you're just in the process of breaking open so that that darkness can be transformed into the light, can you allow that to bring a little more gentleness and ease to the season of life.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah. It's always interesting to me that I have I definitely have women in my life, friends that they just turn off, they just go hibernate, they just go journal, they just go tend to their families, they just go inwards and I I'm so in awe of the way they can move into that so easily and gracefully and without judgment of self. So oftentimes we put so much pressure on ourselves to be extra social or to to do to, to just feel that scarcity of all of the things and feeling all of that pressure and when you can just release it and be like I'm just going to be okay with being in the dark and being hibernating and preparing foods that I've harvested from the fall time and and just be in unison with the seasons, it's very interesting and it really I feel like there's also a bit of like depends on where you are in the world. Like I feel like if, when I lived in Alaska, it's so dark, it's so dark there, right, like the more North you are, the more you really feel this, and the closer you are to the equator, the less you feel this.

Speaker 2:

Like I have people who I'm friends with who live in Costa Rica and like they don't, they don't feel the impacts of the season as much because they are they're living close to the equator and so I feel like these tails, these these seasons, um the solstice is really impactful for those who live in the, in those extreme um climates of really feeling all four seasons. And I live in Montana and I definitely feel all four seasons that you know it snows here half the year, like we're mostly in the dark times. It's like our summer only lasts a few months, our spring is like a month, our fall is like a month and the rest is winter time, and so it's it's really recognizing like it's dark, it's getting darker, like when I wake up in the morning it's dark, when I eat dinner it's dark. And so I would love to also reflect on, like where are you in the world and how does that the light in your area affect your understanding of solstice?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and that's something as well to reflect on as we bring in this conversation, of not only what's happening in your physical environment, but also how does that translate in your own energy? And what I mean by this is, even though we have this idea of solstice as this time of shadow and the longest night of the year and really embracing the darkness and the hibernation and all of these symbolic energies, it can also be completely different for different people. So, for example, for me, in solstice time in winter season, I'm actually my most productive. This is my energy's favorite time of year when most people are being called to hibernate and rest. I find a lot of joy and alignment in finding balance. So I'm really, really conscious of protecting my personal time in the winter. I have a solid pocket in the morning and a solid pocket in the evening. That is just for me, where I'm not doing anything, I'm just being, and I receive that nourishment and that nutrients and that support that we were talking about earlier from those hours. But that means that when we are stepping into the working hours, for me it really ends up being really productive and I'm really creative at this time of year. I thrive in the darkness. I loved when I lived in Alaska because it was dark all the time and to my energy. There is such a feeling of connection with the earth, connection with myself, this ability to almost fly under the radar and really be in tune.

Speaker 1:

Because, as the rest of the world is slowing down in a way, nature-wise, as the rest of the world is really leaning into, it's the holidays things can be a little more loose work-wise, or it's the holidays we're not really expecting that much or we're not paying as much attention, if you will. We're all very focused on our families. As the rest of the world is starting to drift into that holiday energy, I really feel like I can sink my roots in and come into the present and notice, with this extra space, with this extra freedom, what can I do with it? And so this is where we also want to look at what is the energy of solstice bringing for you, knowing that our perception of solstice is going to impact how it affects us. So again, there's a lot of people right now who are leaning into this idea that the holidays are a time of stress and consumerism and capitalism and doing and talking and parties and all of the things, and that feels incredibly overwhelming and incredibly stressful, but it's not the only way to view this season.

Speaker 1:

There is a way of viewing it, if you choose to, that can see it as this time of rest and a little bit of extra space and time to really reflect on what's serving you, what's not, what do you want to call in, what do you want to let go of? And when you can shift your mindset into that space, the holiday season can take on an entirely different energy and an entirely different potential. And so, whether you're looking at this in terms of some people find it really helpful to think there's the holiday energy, that is that go, go, go shop till you drop energy, and then there's the solstice energy that is that quiet, reflecting inward-driven energy, and, if you choose to, you can switch from one to the other. You don't have to stay in this box of the mass consciousness perception of what this season has to look like, and I think for me, that has been something that has really opened up solstice season, because I find a lot of joy and creativity and gratitude and rest in this season and the ability to notice that those can coexist, that me being productive and creative and feeling that fire in me that's kind of making up for the darkness in my surroundings can coexist with those hours in the morning and in the evening where I need to be quiet, where I need to reflect and where I need to be gentle with myself. And so this is also an invitation to look at yourself and notice.

Speaker 1:

What is it that you need in this season? Not just what do the holiday season mean and what does solstice mean, but what do you need within those two experiences. What do you need to feel? That nourishment and that support? And is that going out and engaging with the parties and having fun with your friends? Is that sitting quietly by yourself on the couch with a cup of cocoa and a cozy blanket? Is that finding balance and being really protective of your personal hours so that you can be really active at work? Can you give yourself the permission and the gentleness to be wherever you are and say you know what? This is enough, because this is my experience, this is the experience that I am having within this solstice season, within this solstice energy, and that's okay, because we are all these unique points of consciousness and we're all going to interpret solstice energy the same way, but that interpretation can only begin when we're really willing to sit and reflect, and so that's, at the end of the day, that's always going to be the first invitation to you through this conversation.

Speaker 1:

The first invitation in solstice is can you even take those extra few hours of darkness on the night of the 21st and think to yourself what do I need right now? Can I reflect and ask myself what is this solstice bringing to me? What does the energy feel like to me? What do I need right now? And bringing in that journal prompt that Christine shared earlier of what am I ready to release and what am I ready to call in, can we take a moment to just reflect without the expectation, without the judgment, without the preconceptions of what this season is quote unquote supposed to look like holidays, solstice or otherwise, of what this season is quote, unquote supposed to look like holidays, solstice or otherwise? Can we just take a moment to sit down and reflect on what our experience is and give ourselves the permission for that to be enough, for it to be okay and for us to dive into it even more deeply, whatever that looks like for you?

Speaker 2:

Absolutely, and I feel like this is a perfect time to really sit with it, and I think there's hesitancy to lean into solstice because it's an invitation to go into the shadow. I was in a deep meditation the other day and it was like I visited Moon Rising Shamanic Institute as an entity, as a reflection of our work that we do in the world, and I'm on the moon, like here. I am energetically on the moon and the invitation is to go to the dark side, go into the shadow and go into this space of the unknown. And go into this space of the unknown. And oftentimes, when we're inviting you to do shadow work, the fearfulness, the resistance is because it's the unknown. And how can we lean into? Just because it's unknown doesn't mean it has to be scary. It's revealing an aspect of ourselves that hasn't been shined the light on, and what pieces of that do we need to witness and understand?

Speaker 2:

And so for me to be in this meditation with Moon Rising Shamanic Institute as like what that represents in the spiritual world, and to be like you're helping people lean into the darkness, you're helping people lean into their shadows.

Speaker 2:

That is the point. It's not only people waking up to their divine light. It's helping them turn into the shadow and lean into that unknown aspects of themselves, because there's so much wisdom in it, there's so much beautiful sparks of authenticity there and we don't give it enough attention. And so when we do that, then we have the opportunity to really embrace our fullness of who we are the light, the dark, the beautiful, the ugly, like all of it. All of it there, and we can integrate it in such a beautiful way so that we can come back into life yet again. And so I know we just had a full moon. There's been so much intense energy I'm so thankful for we're out of Mercury retrograde and being able to really step into. Okay, what do we need to communicate? How can I be supported in that communication with myself and with others of what I need during this holiday season, and what does that look like?

Speaker 1:

And can we recognize in that that, whatever emotion we're having, whatever we're feeling, whatever right we need in this season, can we remember that we aren't those thoughts and we aren't those feelings?

Speaker 1:

So often in this season, when we are kind of stripped bare right, when we are, our resources are really low we feel like there is so much emotion or so much thought or so much expectation that it becomes all that we experience and we lose ourselves in that. We lose ourselves in the to-do list and the stress, or we lose ourselves in the anxiety or the grief that this season can sometimes bring, or in those elements of ourselves that are in the shadow and are calling for our attention, because when they are ready to be healed, when they're perking their head up, they're going to be a little more poignant because they're trying to get our attention and say, hey, I need that nourishment and love and support too. And if we allow solstice to be a reminder of that, this can become a season of really gentle shadow work. And what we mean by shadow work isn't really viciously going after what were all of your childhood traumas and all of the limiting beliefs that came from them and really dragging everything up, but really again coming back to what is coming up for you right now, and can you sit as the awareness of that, as the witnesser of that emotion? Because so often what we want, what those emotions want, when we feel like we are reaching for either isolation or we're reaching for our closest loved one, because we have so many thoughts and emotions, what we're looking for is validation, is someone to witness us. And can we recognize that the most powerful witnesser that we have is ourselves, that those emotions, those thoughts are going to continue surfacing until they get the attention of the person they're really crying out for, which is you?

Speaker 1:

And so can we recognize that when those emotions come up, when those thoughts come up, shadow work can be as gentle as looking at that emotion and going through the process of asking yourself what am I feeling right now? If I had to put a word to it, an emotion to it? What am I feeling right now? And can I witness that? Can I look at that emotion and say thank you, thank you for coming up, thank you for keeping me safe. If it's anxiety, for reminding me of how much love I have in me, if it's grief, for whatever it is, thank you for being a signpost of the potential here, of what's waiting for me on the other side, if I allow you to have your experience, thank you for giving depth and color to my life. And can you sit with that emotion for a moment and recognize that?

Speaker 1:

When you sit with it, when you witness it, when you allow it to just be there instead of fighting it or instead of trying to shine a light on it, if you really call in the message of the solstice and you sit with those emotions and you witness them for a moment, that process of transmutation naturally occurs. It naturally lightens and lifts and transforms, because it doesn't need a bandaid, it doesn't need to be shoved down, but it also doesn't need you to poke a hole in it and get rid of it. It just needs you to see it. The same way that you as a whole being want to be witnessed by the people in your life, those individual emotions and thoughts want to be witnessed as well, and so can we take the message of the solstice as reframing our perception of shadow work into shadow work is sitting with the parts of myself that are in darkness and recognizing that they have power and potential too, and can I allow myself to witness them, instead of being overtaken by them, instead of identifying with them, can I allow myself to witness them and just notice what happens, knowing that this is just part of the process, this is just part of the phase of the cycle of life, and once I allow this cycle to fully take root and transform, it sets the stage for what comes next.

Speaker 1:

But until I give these emotions and these thoughts that attention, they're just going to keep bubbling up because it's like a toddler right Calling for a mother's attention. That's exactly what our mind and our emotions are doing is they're just calling for our attention. And so can we bring that message of courage and curiosity that comes with the solstice and really call on our bravery to sit with those emotions, to sit with those thoughts and say thank you for coming up. Tell me your story, what do you have for me today? And can I be comfortable in the discomfort of just sitting and listening?

Speaker 2:

And that's what we're going to do right now. We're going to kind of take a moment to kind of shift gears and and be able to go into a guided meditation to do just this. And so I'm going to invite you, like, if you are driving this is not the thing to do while you're driving, but if you are in a safe place to tune in um, I would love to invite you to come into the steel stillness with us, to come into a place of self-reflection. And so we're just going to prepare ourselves. We're going to start by like just shaking our bodies off, brushing off our bodies to allow us to release what has already happened in this day and in this moment, so that we can be still. So allow all of those jitters, all of those coffee jitters, anything else, to just shake off. Like shake your hands, shake your feet, bounce your legs. Your legs, pat your belly, pat your chest, just let everything out for just a moment. And then what we're gonna do is we're gonna take a nice deep breath, placing our feet on the floor, and we're gonna take three nice deep breaths, inhaling through the nose, exhaling through the mouth, and as we exhale, we're releasing anything that doesn't serve us in this time, in this moment. This is all of that monkey mind. This is the to-do list. This is everything that is holding you back from that stillness. So, breathing in and breathing out, couple more times, times, beautiful. Now we're going to take three nice deep breaths, inhaling through the nose, exhaling through the nose, to tune in to our higher self, to our bodies, to our emotions, to what is present in us today, beautiful.

Speaker 2:

I'm going to invite you to begin by envisioning yourself in a beautiful place in nature, something that you're familiar with. Familiar with something that feels safe, something that feels cozy, and it can be real or imaginary. We're going to take ourselves to this beautiful place and let it be dusk, let it be the time when the sun is setting and as we're entering into the darkness. And I want you to allow yourself to just witness and recognize what's around you, noticing what sounds you hear, noticing what you might smell or taste, noticing what colors stand out to you. Is there a sunset? Is there colors in nature that are vibrant? Whatever it may be, just notice what shows up for you and as you start to feel, I want you to feel the earth beneath you, feel the texture of what you are standing on and I want you to scan your surroundings and notice what is in shadow as the shadows begin to lengthen, because it is the time of evening.

Speaker 2:

Where can you move into the shadow, into the darkness, to find a safe seated spot that will be comfortable for you? It can be a downed log, it can be a beautiful rocking chair, it could be whatever it is that feels good for you, and just noticing that you might have sweaters or blankets or whatever. You need to be seated and cozy and in the shadow. So I want you to envision yourself doing that now, finding your, your coziness, finding your spot, and then taking a seat. For me that looks like sitting crisscross, applesauce on the earth, feeling the crunchy leaves beneath me, noticing that I'm under a big fir tree and that it's got the bareness of the snow that surrounds the nature spot. So I am cozying up against the tree, feeling my back against its bark, giving gratitude for the stability in which it's offering for me to sit, to relax, to lean into the tree, to lean into the darkness and bear witness to what is going on in my emotions, in my spirit, in my physical body. And so we're going to begin this practice of recognizing what is showing up for you, what is showing up in your body, in your mind, in your soul, in your spirit, in your heart, and allowing it to arise in this time, in this moment. So we're going to begin by doing a very slow energetic scan of our body, starting at the very top of our head, feeling the energy of your hair and where it's growing, how it feels on the surface of the top of your head, and just noticing. You may even recognize and notice if your crown chakra is open and available to receive or is it closed, tight. Is open and available to receive or is it closed, tight? Just coming into awareness of how does that area of your body feel energetically, emotionally and physically. Does your scalp feel tight? Does it move into your forehead in tension?

Speaker 2:

Noticing how above your ears feel in the back of your head, letting that scan go further down into your forehead, into your eyebrows, into the top of your ears, just noticing. This isn't a fast process, we're just noticing what shows up. How is your third eye? Is it open to perceive or is it closed and narrow? Just witnessing. There's no right or wrong. You may feel and sense energy, noticing if energy is swirling and moving or does it feel stagnant? And if that stagnancy arises, notice if there's any physical response in your body. So how do your temples feel? How do the sides of your eyes feel? How do your eyes, eyeballs, the eye socket, the internal pressure of your eyes. How does that feel? Just noticing, just witnessing, noticing your sinuses.

Speaker 2:

How easy is it for you to breathe today through your nose? Is it just one nostril or is it both? Can you feel into your cheekbones? Can you feel into your ears? Just noticing if there's any emotions that come up as we scan down our face. Where does it feel tight and where does it feel light, allowing it to come deeper down into your jaw? Where are you holding tension there? Can you feel the jawbone, the TMJ, close to your ear, or do you notice anything down in the mandible? Do you feel anything in your tongue, in your teeth, in the upper jaw and the lower jaw? How is it to swallow? Is there tightness in that? Is there tightness in your throat or in your neck?

Speaker 2:

Notice in your head position. Is it jutted forward or is it tucked in tall? Noticing what emotions rise here. Are you holding something back that needs to be spoken? How does your tongue feel? Is it held tight to the roof of your mouth or is it relaxed? Just noticing, just witnessing what's being held in the space, giving yourself permission to feel. Into what words have I been holding back? Where have I been biting my tongue? That needs to be spoken, and to whom? Just giving yourself space to witness and to recognize.

Speaker 2:

Giving yourself space to witness and to recognize, noticing if it's hard to swallow everything that's going on in the world today and noticing how that lands on your shoulders. Are your shoulders tight and pulled up towards your ears? Are they soft and relaxed? What burdens of the world do you carry on your shoulders? What burdens of your family, your community do you carry? Where have you been saying yes when you actually feel like a no would have been more appropriate? How does that weight of those yeses and commitments and energetic burdens make your body feel?

Speaker 2:

Noticing your shoulders, noticing where your arm comes into those shoulders sockets. Is there tightness there? Can you roll your shoulders and what do you notice? Is there cracking and popping? Is it loose and easy? Just beginning to notice how your neck and your shoulders, your upper back, where your arms meet your shoulder, how it all comes together. Reflecting on those relationships of give and take, and where do you feel supported in your relationships? And what feels out of balance for you?

Speaker 2:

And how does that feel in your heart space, in the center of your chest, breathing into it now, noticing how your lungs feel as you take a nice deep inhale into your body? Just noticing, noticing any grief or sadness that's in your heart today. Notice, can you take a full breath and expand all of the lobes of your lungs on the front side, the side body, in the back? Is there any place in which it feels tight, feels crackly, feels crunchy? And notice how your heart feels expansive and open and ready. Or is it contracted? Is it protective? Is there a space within you that brings your shoulders forward and hopes to protect your heart space?

Speaker 2:

Just notice, notice, if you are trying to protect your heart from being hurt yet again. And is it? You have the opportunity to roll your shoulders back and open and expand your heart, opening to the possibility of love, opening to the possibility of support, opening to the possibility to ask for help when you need it. And so we get to bear witness to our own heart, our own flow. And what does that look like for you?

Speaker 2:

And so we notice yet again, how do our hands feel, how do our arms feel, noticing that the left side is our availability to say yes to support, to say yes to love, to say yes to opportunities, and noticing our right, our availability to give love, to give support, to give our loving essence to others.

Speaker 2:

And are they in balance, that give and take? And so we notice, and then we go deeper into the body, allowing us to feel into that solar plexus space, that beneath our ribs, beneath our sternum, into the belly space, into our stomach, into our intestines, into our liver, into our pancreas, into our spleen, into our kidneys. Just notice how does our belly feel, does our bellies feel full, does our bellies feel empty? And just noticing what does it feel like to rub your belly, just giving it a little circular motion of I love you, I love my belly, I love that it is my battery, my essence of power, of nutrition, of that internal generator of strength. And are we getting to honor and witness that in our lives of saying where do my boundaries need to be? Is it self boundaries of? No, I don't need that extra cookie or is it.

Speaker 2:

I don't need to go to that event. I can say no to that and choose me and all of what I need. And is that okay? Can I say okay and yes to me? What does that look like? And so we allow our belly to be warm and to soften? And so we allow our belly to be warm and to soften, and noticing, too, our mid to lower back, knowing if it feels tight, if we can move our spine in such a way to feel supported. And what does that look like for you?

Speaker 2:

Noticing your hips, noticing that lower belly space, that beautiful pelvic bowl, and are we holding tension here or are we able to move and flow with that creative energy, that sacral chakra energy? How does that feel today? What emotions within you need to be validated? And taking a moment to witness any emotions that have been arising here, in that lower belly space that says all emotions are valid the sadness, the guilt, the grief, the anger, the love, the tension. What emotions arise and want to be witnessed, to be validated, to go, go. You know, I feel this and it's okay and I feel it. Where and how can I breathe into that space and give it an energetic hug of some kind to say. I see you, I witness you. How can I support, support you and allowing this energy, this energy and motion to move and flow within me? Where do my emotions exist in my body and allowing ourselves to feel? Into our legs, into our knees, into our calves and ankles and feet and go? I have my own stability, my own internal structure to say I am supported. I have this foundation beneath me and the earth beneath that that allows me to stand tall, to keep moving forward. And just noticing as we slowly scan the legs where does it feel stiff? Where are the motions that are trapped in our legs? Noticing our left versus our right, how our left tends to get pulled into the past and tripped up and our right leg wants to step so confidently in the, into the future, and if it can do so, if it can say yes to that next step, yes to perhaps moving outside of your comfort zone, what does that look like for you?

Speaker 2:

And as we've moved through this full scan of the body, taking a moment to recognize where we started in the beginning, being in the shadow in your beautiful place in nature, and recognizing now that we are in full darkness, the sun has set and that we are alone in our nature, with our bodies, with our emotions, with our bodies, with our emotions.

Speaker 2:

And yet we are safe, we are safe, we are safe, we are safe and we know that the light will return and it will get brighter and strengthen us. And yet today we get to honor and witness our darkness, our shadow, and where we feel and where we arrive at in this moment. And so we give gratitude for this beautiful place in nature that gave us this opportunity to do this energy scan, and I'm going to invite you once again to take a nice deep breath, inhaling through the nose, exhaling through the mouth, and to return to your body, your physical place, wherever you may be, giving your hands a stretch, your body a stretch, wiggling those fingers and toes, and fluttering open your eyes to come all the way back into this time and into this moment. So many beautiful winter solstice blessings to you all.

Speaker 1:

Beautiful, giving yourself a moment to come all the way back, no rush, noticing once again what you need in this moment. Do you need some water? Do you need some movement? Do you need a few more deep breaths? Maybe you need some time to journal what your experience was, especially thinking about, what was your top takeaway from this meditation, and we would love to hear your top takeaway over in the comments. As you're making your way back into your physical body, back into the world, into the day around you, we would love to hear how your experience in that beautiful meditation was. Thank you so much for that, christine. That was a lovely way to welcome in the solstice energies in a really gentle and flowing way.

Speaker 1:

We'll go ahead and wrap up our conversation for today, but know that we would love to hear your top takeaways, any other shares over in our Moon Rising Shamanic Mystics Facebook group. Also know that if you're interested in learning more about how to connect with energy, to lean into the cycles, to do the shadow work, to connect with your spirit team all of these topics that we've touched on today and so much more Our Soul Rising Shamanic Reiki program is open for super early bird enrollment. So if you are interested in learning more. Just leave us a comment or send us a message and we will get back to you with more information. Also know that we have our holiday discounts on all one-on-one sessions. So myself, christine and Chantel are all offering discounts on our one-on-one session. So if you're interested in scheduling, feel free to message us. I know that Christine has so many amazing in-person workshops coming up in Bozeman, in Phoenix, and then we will be together in Houston. So if you're in any of those areas and you'd like more information, let us know.

Speaker 2:

And until next time, thank you all so much for the honor and privilege of your attention and your time, and we'll see you next week, absolutely, and so until next time, may you awaken to the whispers of wisdom from within.

Speaker 1:

Thanks, everyone from withincom to learn more about our mission and find future opportunities to connect with our community of shamanic mystics. Once again, thank you for sharing space with us today and until next time may you awaken to the whispers of wisdom rising from within.