Wintry Meditation:  The Practice of Centering

Have you ever seen a medical stress scale?  It includes heavy hitters like death in the family and divorce.  Each item has a score number, and as you mark off which items you’ve experienced in the last year, your final score number indicates the severity of your medically understood stress load, which weighs on your life and your health.  While not as high ranking as death or divorce, the Christmas holiday makes the list.  Whether or not you host a large family gathering, we all experience the winter holidays.

It certainly seems like the end of the year rushes past in a big blur.  There are all the mad preparations on the farm before winter sets in, then Thanksgiving, then Christmas and New Year’s, with all its gatherings, decorating, and unending lists of things to “do.”  We rush around doing this and going to that, and we lose connection with our inner being and innate goodness, which can cause plenty of stress and a nagging sense of imbalance.

In the process, we become hurried, scattered, and self-critical.  The cruel, nagging inner critic hikes its game up a notch, happy to judge and compare our efforts with those around us or what we see portrayed in the media.  This burns up our energy and leaves us frustrated and unavailable for what makes our hearts sing…let alone any possibility of renewal.  So, what key principles can help us regroup amidst the push-pull of the holiday rush?

Stopping.  Take a beat periodically during the day to check-in with yourself.  Notice your breath, without the need to change it.  Notice the feeling in the soles of your feet.  Let your eyes rest softly on the snowscape outside.

Centering.  Reconnect with your inner, peaceful knowing.  This may require a quiet hike or sitting before the crackling fireplace.  If you find a meditation or gentle movement practice helps reconnect with your inner peace, renew your dedication to keeping this an active part of your daily life.

Affirmation.  In the face of the incessant inner critic, make time for that which encourages a positive relationship with yourself.  Celebrate the goodness and worthiness that is an innate part of your being.  Ease up on any need to be “perfect” and enjoy being human.

Choosing a practice of stopping, centering, and affirmation is a way to step out of the tangled mess society can spin around us.  It may at first seem hard to justify time for self-care, but the truth is that we place our attention with our priorities.  In the pursuit of renewal this winter, make self-care a priority and embrace the subtle journey to a deeper contentment and inner peace.

Where to start?  One of my favorite winter practices for stopping, centering, and affirmation is with coloring mandalas.  Mandala is a Sanskrit word that translates as “sacred circle,” but the image of the mandala appears in many forms across all cultures and eras—from stained glass rose windows to sand paintings and beyond.

I was first introduced to coloring mandalas through the books of Susanne Fincher.  In her book Coloring Mandalas 2, she writes, “Mandalas express completeness and invite us to experience ourselves as a whole being, an individual. …and also help us relate to the ineffable mysteries that give rise to our existence.”

My favorite mandalas are of a type called Crystallization.  They are circular in design, radiating from the center into an even number of points.  Crystallization imagery can be found almost anywhere in nature’s winter wonderland—from the inestimable beauty of a single snowflake, the spiraling pattern of a pinecone, or (should you have a telescope handy) the swirling patterns of galaxies in the night sky.

Working on a mandala helps me to tap into an inner quietness that gives my hands something positive to work on while my mind can be at ease.  I don’t pre-plan how I will finish the piece, instead letting the color choices arise organically as I start in the middle and slowly work my way to the edges.  There is no rush or any need to finish within one setting.  It’s a process, not a performance.

While some prefer colored pencils, I’ve grown fond of the fineliner porous-tipped art pens, like those made by Straedtler or Sugarloaf.  The full saturation of the color is personally rewarding as the motif comes together, stroke-by-short-stroke.  What started as a black-and-white line drawing gradually transforms into a reminder of the vibrancy of the summer garden.  Without even trying, my breathing slows down and deepens, my mind stills, and I can enjoy the subtle nature of this quiet moment between me and color.

Fincher describes crystallization as “a time of significant spiritual understanding, when our spiritual nature comes together in harmony with our physical nature.”  A mandala coloring practice invites us into this space, no matter where we might be otherwise in our lives.  I may have just hauled frozen chicken waterers into the bathtub to thaw or shoveled until my fingers were numb, but now I can come inside, warm up, and take a breather from the workload to just be in the moment.

And you can too!  There are many coloring mandala books available, or you can print your own for free on www.mondaymandala.com/m to get started.  There’s no “right way” to color your mandala—just let it be a time for you and an image that speak to you for quiet reflection and centering.

All those things on the “to do” list can wait a moment while you fill your inner cup.  As Mom always likes to say, “Take care of the being, and the doing will take care of itself.”  See you down on the farm sometime.