The Spring, or Vernal Equinox, occurs in the Northern Hemisphere between March 20-22 each year. Marking the end of winter, the equinox is indicated by the equal length of day and night all over the world. Trees and plants begin new cycles of growth. Butterflies emerge. Birds remember their songs. People leave scarves and winter coats at home in exchange for cardigans and brighter colors.
Creating an intentional ceremony can be a powerful practice for welcoming in this new season of growth. Breathing, scattering seeds, introspective questions, aromatherapy, and crystals are all great tools.
CONNECT TO THE CYCLE OF YOUR BREATH
Allow the slowness and intention to continue as you breathe a quiet meditation practice that connects the rhythm of your breath to the rhythm of the seasonal cycle.
The inhale — the beginning of the cycle — is spring.
The top of the breath — the peak of expansion and brightness — is summer.
The exhale — the release and letting go — is autumn.
The bottom of the breath — the end of the cycle — is winter.
As you breathe, consider how the 4 phases of breath feel in your body. Pay special attention to how the inhale, the beginning of the cycle, feels. Complete a minimum of 10 breaths in this quiet contemplation, trying your best to keep your awareness linked to your breathing.
SET YOUR INTENTION
Consider all of your dreams that you’d like to manifest, consider the season of spring and write out a simple intention that can guide you in this season. Begin your intention with the words I AM. Intentions are life-giving. They are creative. They birth something inside of you that resonates so deeply with this season. Rip off your intention and place it on the soil of the plant you placed on your altar. Allow this placing of intention on the soil to be a representation of planting your intention knowing it will grow and blossom. If you do not have a plant on your altar, place your intention and your altar and as you place it, imagine it as a seed you are planting.
TURN YOUR FACE TO THE SUN
To end, place one hand on your belly and one hand on your heart space. Connect back to your breath. Sit so you can turn your face towards the sun. Feel the warmth. Smile. Take 5 beautiful breaths paying particular attention to the inhale– the beginning of a new cycle, this moment where the light begins to outweigh the darkness, this moment of creation and growth. Turn the edges of your lips up towards your ears for a soft smile and express gratitude for what you have.
JOURNALING
Find a sunny spot to sit, either indoors or outdoors. Work through the following questions in your journal:
If I were to grow a garden to represent my awakening, what would it look like? Would it be a small area of pots, trellises, and containers? Would it be rows of plants burrowed into fertile soil in an individual garden, or nestled among the greenery of a community space? Play with options until you can clearly picture your garden. Sketch it in your journal if you’d like. Spend about 10 minutes on this section of the practice.
Aromatherapy & Crystals
Since this is the season of preparation, of planting, and of cleaning the aromas that match these vibes are fresh & earthy. These aromas inspire openness of the heart & mind as well as happiness with self.
Citrus Oils
Oils like lemon, lime, and grapefruit offer a fresh light scent that inspire happiness in us. Citrus oils work with the Solar Plexus Chakra where our center of joy and self acceptance is located. After the long winter, these oils give us hope for the coming warmth!
Herbaceous Oils
These hearty, earthy oils will open up the Heart Chakra. Using herbs you’re pouring your care and love into your creation & nurturing the ones you love! Plus spring is all about new growth & greenery! A lot of herbaceous oils – like Rosemary and Basil – can bring about feelings of renewal & transition. So just as we move through to a brand new season and brand new growth, these oils can help ease emotional transitions as well.
Florals & Firs
Fir oils can still have a little bit of a chest opening (so heart-centric) and also help with movement through emotion. For example Cypress is known as the oil of Motion and Flow and as we’re going through this new growth season, we’ll be breaking old habits, patterns, and beliefs! Florals are oils I like to associate with the Third Eye Chakra. Much like you’d want your third eye to bloom open to developing your intuition, you can imaging the flowers of these oils doing the same: opening to the sun, growing, and developing. Since Spring is when we start to see the flowers poke through the ground reaching out to their full potential so too can we use floral oils in the Spring to open up ourselves.
I’m going for this combo in my diffuser today:
Grapefruit-self love
Lime-zest for life
Rosemary-intuition and knowing
Cypress-motion and flow
Ylang ylang-inner child energy
My favorite crystal for Spring is Fluorite. Fluorite crystal healing properties fill your spirit with positive and high vibrational energy, which can encourage you to let go of inhibitions and dream big. This makes Fluorite one of the most powerful crystals for manifestation, as well as spiritual elevation. The Fluorite crystal stone meaning combines peace, positivity and heart-opening vibrations into one powerfully effective energy tool. By balancing and clearing your heart chakra and your third eye chakra and crown chakras, the Fluorite crystal meaning can cleanse your heart and your head of negative energy or limiting beliefs so you can live your life to the fullest without holding back.
How do YOU welcome in Spring?
