Hello Dear Embodied Siblings  –

Here in the northern hemisphere we are in the time of Solstice and New Moon…a time of darkness, rest, withdrawal and contemplation. It is the time of transition of seasons and a place of deep considerations. I actually love this time and its invitation to turn inwards and consider where and how has the past year/season moved/grown me and landed me here. And from these roots and tendrils of now, how do I slowly renew and re-emerge towards what is next for me and my dance with the Universe. I am working this year with the Year Compass as a way to do some of this contemplation and it is feeling really helpful to sit and ponder these inquires. I encourage you to check out the process.

As I review the past year I sit with how extraordinarily full of heartbreak it was and continues to be…the death of a long time student, sometime client and dear friend at the age of 40 from complications of surgery (Blessings to you dear ancestor, Chelsey, I miss you)…the re-homing of my beautiful and high needs kitty cats (Blessings to you dear Blue and Lynxie on your next adventure)…the ongoing pressures of climate catastrophe and the ever lengthening smoke season that is now a part of my life (Blessings to you dear Mother Earth). And along with these aches, I also deepened into my in-person communities here in Bend, Oregon…the enlivening community song circle of Voices Rising Choir (thank you to my dear friend and our amazing leader, Kira Seto)…the sweet dance space of Soul in Motion (thank you to my friend Lynne for holding this space even in the horrendous year you have navigated)…starting a monthly Village Hang at my home for folks to simply come and spend time in a digital free space resting and being creative and tending to our soul needs in community.

Somehow the heartbreak summoned the connections I needed to hold it and the connections allowed me to show up not just for my heartbreak but for the heart hurt of so many around me. This is how it works, I believe. This is the goal of a mature adult, as Francis Weller, so eloquently puts it…to hold gratitude in one hand and grief in the other and be stretched wide and open to life by them equally. And so here I sit in the darkness (this was actually my practice on the Solstice) and allow my roots to find their way into the soil of now and discover in their own time how they will source and feed what is to come for me.

I am seeding this time in a Life Retreat for the next week in which I am recommitting to my contemplative practices as well as my creative practices even as I spend time engaging in the world. I will be taking two days completely offline…ahhhh. The words that are guiding me thus far are…re-connecting, re-membering, re-wilding. How are you spending this season? What is it that has impacted and formed you this past year and what is it that might be seeding itself in you for the coming season? I would love to hear from you.

One of the exciting re-emergent things that is happening in 2025 is the return of my in-person Breitenbush Hot Springs Retreat. This weekend retreat, Embodied Presence; Continuum Inquiry and Deep Perceiving, will be happening May 16-18. If you are planning on attending I encourage you to consider registering early (it is already 1/3 full). And if you are planning on coming and lodging with family or friends it is optimal for one of you to register all of you together and then you all can work out the money details privately. You can learn more and register HERE. Please reach out with any questions you may have about this offering. I would love to see you there!

May we take this time of darkness as an opportunity to decompose, rest and renew

May we allow ourselves to be stretched wide and open with heart break and love

May we show up in this liminal time with curiosity and presence

May we bring wild blessings and fierce love to all we encounter

Practice Prompts:

• What are the practices that allow you to hold the wild challenges of this life? Meditation, dance, writing, prayer, ritual, etc…are they rooted in your life or do they need a fresh seeding? How might you take this time of darkness to seed these back into your routine and life?
• What is your relationship with dark? Is it scary or overwhelming? Does it hold certain assumptions or expectations? Do you embrace only the light? I invite you to explore your relationship with dark and see if there is an opportunity to reclaim what most of our ancestors knew…that we need the dark and it needs us. That this time of withdrawal and rest is important to cultivate and honor. How might you do this in small or large ways?
• Consider if it feels right for you to have a word(s) for this coming year. Take some time to see what the soil is like right now and what wants to be seeded and nourished over this coming season. If this practice resonates with you, write it down and place it on your altar or by your bed or computer so you see it regularly over the coming months and year.
• I offer one to one sessions, in-person in Bend, Oregon, and virtually all over the world. These sessions are centered on supporting you find nervous system capacity and resiliency through various practices including but not limited to Somatic Experiencing®, Continuum Inquiry and various emboding practices.  Please email me or schedule a free 20 minute Exploratory Session.

Live Streaming Practice Opportunities:

• Yoga for Resilience, Mondays, 9:30-11am PT, livestream through Body of Insight
• All Levels Yoga, Sundays… Jan 19, Feb 9, Mar 2, 9:30-11am PT, livestream through Two Dog Yoga
• On Demand Yoga Practices…All Levels… through Two Dog Yoga
• Embodying Presence; Continuum Inquiry and Deep Perceiving Retreat…May 16-18, 2025, in person at Breitenbush Hot Springs

Inspirational Wisdom:

When we gather to wonder about the sacred,

we begin as separate scraps of cloth,
squares left on the seamstress’s floor.
Perhaps we believe we have nothing to offer
because we are not more whole.
Wonder becomes the needle.
The sacred is green thread.
Communion fills the seams.
And who, or what, is the seamstress?
Of course, we were confused
about our worth. But my god,
it is beautiful when we can’t help but see
how essential we are—the material of us
gathered into the grand cloth.
It is painful to be pierced in the joining.
No one wants to know this.
And yet each time we wonder together,
and wonder, and wonder,
we learn again just how we fit,
how integral we are, how surely
the cloth needs us all.

~ Rosemerry Wahtola Trommer