Darkness to teach us how to dance in the light

Reading from Wednesday, January 1, 2014 yoga class

A bright and shiny new year to all!!  I taught a special chakra class today.  I took chakra teacher training with Anodea Judith in October 2012 and haven't done too much with what I learned.  I trusted that it would come out of me when it was ready.   It did!!!  For me, it is hard to TRUST my own intution/wisdom, but I practice everyday.  It really feels good when I trust in myself and let it guide me.

What follows is from a newsletter that Anodea Judith sent out about the solstice.  I found it fascinating.

"Darkness and light have been the primal archetypes of consciousness since the beginning of time.  As it is in the myths, light has triumphed over darkness to the point where darkness and quiet are endangered elements in our civilized world.  We even have the term "light pollution," because in most cities there is too much light to see the stars.

Darkness has been given a bad rap, equated with evil, death and everything negative.  The ancients however, saw darkness as the richness of the soil, and white as the bleached bones of death.  Darkness was a place of rest and renewal, necessary to keep from "burning out" in the season of light.  Darkness was the womb from which we emerged, the underworld that holds the roots and seeds of plants.  Darkness is the senior partner, the one that gives birth to light.  The darkest point of the year is once again upon us.  Now is the time to let go of the past, still our minds, and quiet our souls.  This is the time when everything we do matters.  Now is the time to pause, to think carefully about where we are going, to really slow down and consider.  For as Rumi says, "We are drunk, and standing on the edge of the roof."

We must reach beyond what we know, anchor into the darkness so that we can sustain ourselves in the light before we burn up everything.  Each of us is called to play a part.  Each of us is a cell in the awakening global heart.  We are here to create miracles.  But first we must quiet ourselves and listen for the instructions that await us.  More than ever, we need darkness to teach us how to dance in the light."

So... as we begin this new year of 2014... dream BIG... there's a whole new world of possibility out there. Endings and beginnings are essential.