“It was when I stopped searching for home within others and lifted the foundations of home within myself I found there were no roots more intimate than those between a mind and body that have decided to be whole.” ~ Rupi Kaur
A full Wolf moon often means craziness and lunacy – something that’s been in the air for a few days now, the way it often goes with the lunar schedule. To survive that mayhem, I’ll indulge in 28 minutes of meditation – my last day at 28 minutes. Tomorrow, on the 29thof January I’ll advance to 29 minutes of daily meditation. This is the timing that works for me – you may find something more suited to your lifestyle and where you are in your own meditation journey.
Lately, as I lower myself into the lotus position in the middle of our living room – the plant-lined window to the front yard to my left, the conversation couch directly ahead of me, and a Korean tansu climbing to my right – I’ve felt the pull of the earth beneath me, felt the grounding connection between body and floor. The electric energy of the day, the charged frizzing jerkiness that comes from being too caught up in my head then drains from me as I feel the ground solid beneath my posterior. It’s similar to the feeling of grounding I get when standing in the sand of an ocean shore, the way it pulls and draws itself around my legs as the water advances and retreats.
This sense of grounding is something that didn’t reveal itself until recently, about a year into my meditation practice – proof that this is a gradual, slow, and wondrously beautiful process – a journey that takes its own pace, refusing to be hurried or rushed, unwilling to give hints or peeks of the lessons until I am genuinely ready to receive them. It’s a humbling and happy realization. The moment I think I know something is the moment a world of unknown mystery suddenly appears with more questions and misunderstandings. Embracing the uncertainty, I am coming to trust this winding path.
And so I sit in the lotus position again, breathing slowly in and out, knowing it will not be any longer or shorter than it needs to be, accepting that whatever madness the Wolf Moon may manifest is all an integral part of winter, a way to help us pass through the final days of January. In the same way I’ve slowly leaned into the wonder and majesty of winter, I will lean into the mystery and magic of the full moon, harnessing its positive energy and reining in the typical madness. A little lunacy might prove necessary for further acceptance of life’s imperfections.
The sunset embers smolder low,
The Moon climbs o’er the hill,
The peaks have caught the alpenglow,
The robin’s song is still.
~ John L. Stoddard
