Having reached the winter solstice, in which the hours of sunlight in a day are the shortest in the whole year, we use this time of the year to carefully mature – turning to our inner self just like the seeds under the earth.

Even though we should spend more time at home during this time of the year, at some point we become busier than the usual with the preparations for Christmas and the New Year. More and more people go out to the streets, which become crowded, and confusion reigns at the stores. This is a time filled of trepidation, in which we can never relax, all in order to spend a relaxing time with our families. This is a contradiction – even though this might be the way of dharma…

It was during this busy time that I felt a pang of conscience and, while feeling 100% as if I had left my heart behind, I went to listen to the sound of the gong for one hour. This sound is way lower than that of a crystal bowl and, by using more than 10 different wooden mallets for each gong, it can produce harmonic sounds ranging from low to high. It certainly helped in freeing the energy that was trapped within my head, and with grounding myself on this earth. At the beginning one feels the sound only on the outer side of the body, but at some point it starts to vibrate inside as well. This sound helps to gradually bring one down to earth.

And then Christmas came. Manhattan becomes quiet all of a sudden. Stores and restaurants close while everybody gathers with their families at home, to a point that it this silence even feels odd. You can feel how the energy generated by the morning sun spreads. And after the winter solstice passes, you can feel how the sun starts manifesting its strength. We tend to become distracted by the decorations on the Christmas tree, but at this point we can fully realize that what Christmas is truly about is the birth of Jesus Christ. The winter solstice passes and seeds move on to the period of the year in which they slowly start to sprout. The aroma of the fir trees used as Christmas trees relax our hearts and somehow brings excitement about. But we are still within the earth. We should focus on slowly moving on to the New Year and prepare to start sprouting. Use this time to recharge your energy by eating a lot of yummy foods and to relax with your family.

This is a yule log, a traditional cake from Europe and the US. It is a Christmas cake. The Christmas and New Year celebrations include many yummy foods that are not actually very good for our bodies, so these days are a constant fight with our temptations. But it is just once a year. We can always detox after the New Year is over…

Kumiko