How Will You Celebrate the Summer Solstice?

A Solstice Meditation for Transformation.

Good Morning!  Today is the Summer Solstice - the beginning of summer, the longest daylight of the year, the beginning of a season of active energy, growth, and maturation.

We are coming off of spring, which is a time of intentions and ideas, of cleansing and clearing out the clutter.  Whether you did it consciously, on paper, or simply in the back of your mind, during spring you probably found yourself with new ideas about what you want to change or bring into your life.  Now (summer) is the time to make those changes happen.

Whenever we arrive at another solstice or equinox, I try to celebrate in some way.  I come up with a special event or ritual to acknowledge and harness the power of the seasonal shift that is taking place.  This year, this morning, I decided to start the day with some outdoors, sunny meditation.  I walked down to the river behind my building (with Keeley the dog) and sat next to the river, facing the sun.  The sun was already blazing and it felt warm and powerful on my shoulders.  I took a few minutes to mentally gather the major ideas, intentions, and changes I've been contemplating throughout spring.  I sat there, feeling the sun on my shoulders and face, feeling the light breeze off the water, and silently repeated those intentions to myself several times.  Then I took five or ten minutes to seal those intentions by breathing.  What a rejuvenating, powerful, and seasonal way to start the day!

Here's the step-by-step on how to practice my 2010 Summer Solstice Transformation Meditation:

• Find a place that feels right (and Solsticey) to you -- ideally this will be someplace outdoors.  If you can't get outside, then at least find a comfortable spot where you can sit facing out a window.
• Take a moment to jot down (mentally or on paper) your intentions.  This could be as simple as one thing you have been hoping to change or do, or you may have a list of changes.  Either way is fine, but it may be easier to focus on one or two of the biggies.  For example, one of my intentions went something like this: I will let go of the old stories I tell myself that hold me back and make room for the new realities that move me forward. (Your intentions can be more specific than this, but for me this intention had specific meaning.)
• Review your intention, or your list of intentions, several times so that it fills you up. 
• Once you feel that your intention(s) is strong and clear, close your eyes (if they aren't already) and begin to breathe in and out through your nose.
• At first just observe your breathing.  Are your breaths short and quick or are they long and fluid?  Just observe this for a minute or two.
• Then, when you feel ready, intentionally deepen your breathing.  Breathe fully into your belly.  In fact, you may want to imagine that you are breathing in and out through your bellybutton, rather than through your nose.
• Once you feel that you're in a nice deep rhythm with your breathing, add these silent phrases to accompany your exhalations and inhalations.
• Exhale.  Say silently to yourself, "Let go of the old" (habits, patterns, behaviors, stories).
• Inhale.  And say silently to yourself, "...to make room for the new" (habits, reality).
• As you sit and breathe your intentions, feel the warmth and power of the sun on your face, on your skin.  You may want to visualize harnessing that warmth to power your transformation.
• Repeat this guided breathing for a few minutes, or for as long as you like.

Let us know how this meditation felt for you. 

Or, do you have your own Summer Solstice ritual that you can share with us?  Please do.

I hope you enjoy this Summer Solstice Meditation.  And I wish you a happy and powerful summer of action, transformation, and fruition.

Eat Well.  Live Well.  Be Well.  Be the Change.