Welcoming in the New Year
December 21st marked the winter solstice and the shortest day of the year. This day marks the lowest energy time of the year the yin of the yin. Oftentimes, our winters are filled with visitors, festivities, endless events and filled with excessive indulgence. This year the picture has looked quite different for most of us. After a year that feels like we’ve been running an emotional marathon, many of us have hit this low-energy time of year with far less umph than we’re used to. From a Chinese medicine perspective, the solstice marks a major energetic transition where the energy has been slowly sinking into the winter and starts to redirect and make the slow crawl towards spring. Yang is beginning to emerge from the yin.
The weekend of the solstice, my family picked up our new 8 week old Pembroke Welsh Corgi, my 5 year old daughter’s early Christmas gift this year. For us, the joy of bringing home this little bundle was an incredible burst of newness into our lives that was much needed. The holidays were quiet for us as I believe, they were for many of you…. Except for this little ball of puppying gnawing excitement! What a whirlwind! I am very pleased to say I can already tell just how much joy is coming to my daughter’s life by having a companion at home with her at the end of this very long year of social isolation.
I’d personally like to wish you all a very Happy New Year! I personally celebrated this week by getting my first haircut since 2019. I somehow managed not to get a haircut through all of 2020 and boy does it feel liberating! While the transition of January 1 doesn’t really change all that much from the past year or the current state of the world… we are still in the midst of a pandemic, we are approaching the Lunar New Year on February 12th, 2021.
February 12th will mark the year of the Metal Yin Ox. And despite the world situation, the energy of the cosmos will start to reveal an energetic transition away from this wild year. The year 2020, the year of the Rat, can be characterized by quick-thinking, direct initiative. We will begin to see a shift to calmer, steadier times for the coming year. The Ox year is characterized by the slow and steady intentional action, dependability and warm-hearted reliability. Doesn’t that sound incredible right now?! I am truly thankful for all of you that continue to support all of us at Alpenglow Acupuncture and extend to you a big, warm-hearted hug for the coming year. We appreciate all of you!
