Welcoming the Wood Sheep

And this brackish plane is at once unsettling and invigorating. Losar, the Tibetan new year, is Thursday. The energetic yang of the wood horse, succeeded by the gentle nurturing yin of the wood sheep. Our building has come to roost and rest. Its a time of creativity and family. Time to open to our experience with warmth and forgiveness.

The weeks preceding the new year are, by tradition, considered to be the energetic culmination of the passing year. This intermediate phase – or bardo, in Tibetan –  is a strange and dangerous time. Our defenses become compromised by these shifting seasonal, emotional and energetic templates. Its akin to the early morning, or late afternoon, liminal phases when our sensitivity is heightened and we become more receptive. Its considered a mystical time because of our receptivity. Its also considered a dangerous time. As the shifting exposes gaps in our defenses, we become open to any number of influences. We are more impressionable and vulnerable.

The best protection is awareness; paying attention to how we feel, what we are doing and applying precision to the details of our life.  It is naturally a time of conscientious prudence and reserve. But prudence is difficult when we are longing to fill our frozen hearts with carbs and wine, trying to find that serotonin buzz. But, temporary fixes only serve to swing the system wildly, exhausting us finally, into sadness and depression. It is important, instead, to maintain a stout body mind balance with exercise, long walks and meditation practice. The Tibetans talk of rousing “Lungta” – or windhorse – our inner life energy. The appropriate way to rouse windhorse is to open up to our experience and reduce the resistance and allow inner and outer movement to occur naturally. Flowing like water, we take the path of least resistance, filling up every crevice and valley. It is not aboutexaggerating the energy, or cranking anything up. To the contrary, windhorse is best cultivated by relaxing into our body so our life energy evens out and we are able to open into our experience with clarity and poise.

Our life force energy is already there. The work is simply to release blockages and re-align the system.  In this way, our “lungta” is sustainable.  It flows gently through us like a warm river on a frozen morning.Its February. We will be slower, stiffer and more cranky. That’s how the world is on the extreme latitudes. There’s no need to fight that constriction. Instead, we can relax into the flow of the coming spring, gently opening to our experience and perhaps open a new (or old) book.

So, welcome to the year of the WOOD SHEEP where warmth and safety is the culmination of your hard work.

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