Copyright © 2023 Lee Spirit

We’re approaching that time of year when the darkness, peace, and hibernation period of winter are coming to end, and Spring is on its way! Finding balance between the darkness and light can be a bit challenging for some. That’s because Spring brings melting, slush, ice, activity, creativity, and new growth.

But before this, we need to take care of ourselves over the winter, and let go of some things so there is room for that new growth. Sometimes when Spring comes, we leap out into new adventures without having taken the time to replenish our reserves during the winter months. Not everyone takes this important time to find balance, but it’s so necessary!

The Effects of Not Being Balanced

The cold and dark winter can make some depressed or grouchy. The negative mood takes over the inner exploration of mind, body, and spirit. Ideally we want to find inner peace and be able to thrive in the darkness.

I personally love the winter darkness. It provides extra downtime and reflective time rather than being busy all the time. I’ve spent an amazing winter season doing plenty of yoga, meditation, sound healing, breath work, and dance. While that sounds pretty busy, I’ve really started to feel the benefits of slowing down. in these practices! Not only has my mind become more clear, but I have taken more space away from social media. My tolerance for it has lessened, and I have been able to let go of negative thoughts that don’t serve rather than ruminating.

Finding balance so that you can thrive in both the darkness and the light can be tricky, especially if you suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder. I have more difficulty returning to the light simply because I enjoy the slower, quieter times of winter. The snow isn’t melted until late April. So when the extra light comes early with the time change, I’m still in hibernation mode!

It can be easier with a few of these tips. I hope they help you as they have helped me…

Click Here To Fast Track To Balancing Mood Swings

Finding Balance Through Meditation in Nature

Join a Meditation Group With a Weekly Focus

Of course, as a Mindful Nature Nut, I find great balance being out in glorious nature! One way I have been connecting more with nature lately is by joining a nature meditation group. We are asked to focus on a particular meditation each week of the year.

I’m finding balance simply by having a weekly focus. For instance, one of the practices is to just arrive where you are out in nature. Being present with the sights, sounds, smells, and the feel of the earth, air or water, wherever you happen to be. The more we can bring ourselves back to the focus for the week, the more in tune we are with the present moment. This creates so much stillness when our minds go crazy with thoughts.

Do Something Active, While Also Taking Time To Sit in Nature

As you can see in my photo, I’ve been out skiing a lot this winter too. While it is an active sport, rather than a restful hibernation, I did take some time to sit against a tree to meditate. It was away from the ski trail, allowing me to be present with the Raven and bird song. I felt a poof of snow fall on my nose, which brought a smile to my face!

The next section is on different types of yoga that we can do indoors. But one of the most healing and pleasant experiences for me is riding my bike to yoga in the park. Practising Vinyasa Flow amongst the beautiful old trees and flowers while gazing up at the sky is so amazing! You hear all the birds sing in the park, and it’s a wonderful way to stay balanced.

Finding Balance Through Yoga Practices

Bikram Yoga

In the winter months, I like to practice Bikram yoga (hot yoga) because there’s nothing sweeter than arriving on your mat in the dimly lit studio, where it’s hot like Mexico. During the practice, you work up a big sweat. It’s dripping off of you as if you’re out on a hot, sunny beach sweating buckets before you jump into the cool ocean.

In Bikram yoga, you work through a series of 26 postures and some breath work. All of these are meant to work on all the systems in your body. The respiratory system, lymphatic system, circulatory system, parasympathetic nervous system, digestive system, and so on. While focusing on the postures, you forget the daily chatter in your mind, and all your troubles are put on pause for a few moments.

Yin Yoga

I’ve also been practicing Yin yoga. This is not a hot class, but a warm class involving a good 40 minutes of learning how to breathe properly to calm your nervous system. What a reset for your mind, body, and spirit! For this practice you come into a series of postures. You move to your edge where it’s not painful but slightly uncomfortable. Then you hold for time.

While all the postures are on the floor, they are not as easy as they sound. This teaches you to be comfortable in your discomfort, a great thing to know when life gets challenging. Knowing how to breathe properly is also vital to being able to make it through life’s most difficult situations. These situations normally have your heart rate, blood pressure, and stress levels elevated. Through Yin, you teach yourself to be comfortable with discomfort.

Kundalini Yoga

I’ve been practising Kundalini yoga this winter as well. It’s a series of postures, mudras (hand gestures), chanting, breath work, and movement. Usually the classes are accompanied by yogic music and chants, and end with the healing sound of the gong.

This has been one of the most powerful spiritual practices I’ve come across over the past few years. Particularly the breath work that lets out a lot of negative energy, anger, and frustration. As well, I’ve found that it gets the lymphatic fluids moving more in my upper body, which is good for healthy breasts. I’m so used to moving my lower body, so I like this practice to get things flowing in a healthy way in the upper body.

If the class is accompanied by a talk, or some spiritual words of wisdom, I get even greater benefit from it. Nothing like uplifting spiritual words to carry you through your practice and week ahead!

Yoga Nidra

Finally, I’m currently doing a series on Yoga Nidra, which means “sleep”. This is a relaxing practice of laying down on the floor with your head under a pillow and nestled under a cozy, warm blanket. The instructor takes you through a series of visualizations, opposites, and feeling sensations. As well, you will focus on moving light in and through the body. All of this is done as an active meditation, rather than falling asleep.

The benefits of Yoga Nidra are many. It helps with motivation, sleep, self-confidence and compassion. You may feel reduced pain, depression, or anxiety. It allows you to better deal with stress. Whenever you can come back to a visualization that calms you, perhaps walking through a forest, the easier it is to calm your nervous system when you’re faced with a challenging situation.

Finding Balance Through Knowing Your Sankalpa

Another practice I’ve undertaken this winter is a series of Sankalpa meditations, involving light stretching and movement, followed by 18 minutes of silent meditation. “Sankalpa” is the Sanskrit word for “intention”. Again, each week we focus on an intention that comes up for us before, during, or after the practice.

I found it very beneficial to feel into my Sankalpa of the week, and let it guide me through the rest of my week. Whenever a negative thought came up, I’d remember my positive Sankalpa. For instance, “I stand in my own integrity and truth when making decisions.” Setting positive intentions for ourselves really helps in finding balance within!

Finding Balance Through Sound Healing and Breath Work

Another great healing experience for me this winter has been doing breath work combined with sound healing. This was in the form of light yoga music, drumming, crystal bowl sound healings, and the language of light. The breath work session was my first time trying a full hour of intense breathing, and it was intense!

Many of the participants ended up in tears because so much comes up for you when you breathe heavily and constantly for an hour! Your fingers and toes start to get tingly and numb, and you have to shake it out. Sometimes you have to consolidate the energy back into your heart simply by placing your hands over your heart or in prayer.

This was done on the Solstice, and it’s also a great time to let go with breathing on the upcoming Spring Equinox this Monday. When it’s accompanied by wise words from an elder, and the healing frequencies of the crystal bowls being played, it can be a wonderful journey into the soul.

Balancing Through Dance

Sometimes we don’t take enough time to shake our bodies loose of tension through playful dance. You don’t have to join a dance club to do it – You can play some good tunes in your living room and shake it out! I have tried a couple of dance events in town that I’ve really enjoyed this year.

There was a Solstice Tantric dance where we were blindfolded while dancing freely – a practice that allows you to focus within rather than on the others around you.

I also went to a dance where we just moved in whatever way felt right for us for 1.5 hours. These dances often open and close with a beautiful sharing circle of spiritual, high vibe sort of people! Very healing for the soul to move the body freely, dance, play, and have some fun to shake our way into Spring! No dance partner is required, as you are dancing to your own rhythm!

Find Balance Through Reading Uplifting Words

Last but not least, you can really stay balanced in the darkness and the light by reading words that uplift your spirit. The one book I’m slowly making my way through now that has helped keep me in balance on a monthly basis is Asha Frost’s book, “You are the Medicine: 13 Moons of Indigenous Wisdom, Ancestral Connection, and Animal Spirit Guidance”.

Each month, there is a moon and spirit animal with particular meaning that can balance you through the month ahead. For example, the March moon is the Sugar moon, and the spirit animal is the Deer. The Deer embodies the quality of sweetness, gentleness, and invites us to be compassionate with ourselves and others.

It has really helped me to have a phrase, Sankalpa, or uplifting words of affirmation to keep me going through the cold, dark weeks and months of winter. I highly recommend spiritual reading of some sort – or even something that makes you laugh. Laughter is great medicine too!

Closing Words on Finding Balance

As you can see, I’ve had a busy, yet mindful and spacious winter! Self-care is so essential during the darker months, and finding balance will be so much easier for you if you can practice being mindful in nature, practice yoga, meditation, breath work, dance, and sound healing regularly.

Again, the benefit for me has been greater mind clarity and spaciousness. Whenever I go somewhere on vacation, I tend to freeze my social media activity. This is so that I can immerse myself in figuring out where I’m going and how to get there, conditions, and so on. By the time I get home, the last thing I feel like doing is going back to social media.

That’s how I know these meditations have been beneficial. If I don’t feel like being on social media as often, and can let go more quickly of those pesky negative thoughts, then I know I’ve done something right! I hope these tips will help you too!

Lee Spirit is an avid outdoors adventurer with a love for nature, photography, health & fitness, wellness, and spirituality. She helps those who suffer from anxiety & negative thinking to become healthier in mind-body-spirit. Her own personal journey has led her to the  study and practice of mindfulness, health, wellness, yoga, spirituality, sound healing, meditation, and personal development for over 20 years. Get mindfulness, meditation, and personal development tips in her Free Natural Mind Healing Report.