‘Tis the season of long nights in this neck of the woods as the winter solstice approaches. (That’s our little log cabin home above.) We’re in the final moments of a long exhale that started back at the solstice in June. Soon, the slow inhale will commence as we build toward the light again.
In the empty moment, at the bottom of the exhale just before we draw breath again, there is a sacred pause, full of magic and mystery, if we are awake to it.
So amid the hustle and bustle, the year-end wrap and gift wrapping, this is an invitation from your Shakti Coach to claim your space in this great turning. To deliberately choose what is most important and meaningful to you during this precious time.
Given how full the holiday season can be, the idea of slowing down and tuning in right now might be laughable. I get that. If your plate is full, remind yourself that winter is long. You have a full season to heed the wisdom of the trees, to call your energy inward, down into the fertile darkness, deep into your own root system.
Do not underestimate the replenishment available from small moments of stillness, noticing the beauty of raindrops in sunlight, sharing a long gaze with your furry beast, surrendering to the warmth of the duvet. We feed the sacred feminine Shakti within through countless tiny acts of presence and love.
The Shakti Woman Way is an antidote to the imbalance of hypermasculine doing, producing, and scarcity thinking. Shakti calls us to move with the wisdom of the season, honoring the inherent intelligence of the circle-cycle-spiral. Doing so connects us with the natural rhythm and higher intelligence alive in our body, heart, and soul as awakening women.
The result is a palpable feeling of being at home in our own skin, grounded, relaxed, nourished by pleasure, intimate with our feelings, connected to our internal guidance, open-hearted, and moving with awareness of our goddess selves in human form. We are resourced for dealing with life’s inevitable challenges with a measure of grace and resilience.
You can trust this sacred call to pause from the natural world. Light the candles. Sit in the dark. Cozy up with your cup of tea or red wine. Go to bed early. Unplug from technology. Gaze at the fire. Get intimate with pen and paper. Let your heart speak.
Ask yourself what is shifting? What am I shedding, releasing, surrendering to this fertile darkness?
If you choose to write it down, consider a burning ceremony for release. It could be a simple ritual, you with a candle, or perhaps a raging bonfire is more your style. Offer it up with your full attention, gratitude for all the gifts given, and your prayers of letting go.
Then turn your attention to what you are calling in, feeling your deepest desires. Allow the sensations associated with having what you want to bathe your whole body. Drink them into every cell for nourishment. Rest into the pleasure and feel the erotic pulsation of your own longing, your creative life force energy, your Shakti. Practice experiencing what it’s like to template its familiarity.
Trust that whatever it is you desire is absolutely on its way to you. This or something better. Because so often, the Divine has something even more magnificent planned, something that our limited human mind hasn’t yet conceived of.
Then let go and trust. Cultivate faith. Let this be enough for now. No need to worry about next steps, 10-point action plans, accountability, or shiny new resolutions. Now is probably not the season.
This is fallow time. Action is likely counter-indicated and isn’t that a damn blessing. Rest with the sacred pause, at the bottom of the exhale, before the inhale. This is a real and holy place. My prayer for you: use it well and enjoy it thoroughly.
With love and many blessings to you in this holiday season,
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I’m Lisa Schrader and I coach high achieving, spiritual women who are done being driven by pressure and ready to be powered by pleasure.
Learn more here.
