The winter season means short days, cold nights, and the natural tendency to feel isolated and sad. And what is known as Winter Solstice (December 21 or 22, depending on where you live in the Northern Hemisphere) ushers in the hardest time of year for many people.
Now there is help available with the touch of a button. Audio meditation download company, House of the Quiet Self is offering a unique way to relieve Holiday Blues with its free 20-minute voice-guided Winter Solstice Meditation, available for download at www.quietself.com/winter-solstice-meditation until December 31st.
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“We’re not charging for it this year,” says founder Deon Vozov. “We want to get it into the hands of everyone who can benefit from it. Our hope is that this easy meditation helps listeners celebrate what they love about winter, and put the rest into a new perspective.”
Winter Solstice is the exact moment when the Earth is leaning farthest away from the Sun. This moment varies slightly every year, but always marks the shortest day and longest night of that year. Historically, many cultures revered the Winter Solstice as a time to take stock, and express gratitude for Nature.
Today however, it is a different story. There is a higher tendency to dread and brace for winter. The colder weather and shorter days often lead to moving less, eating more, spending longer hours online and watching TV. Continuous days of gray skies can lead to thoughts of sadness and feelings of depression.
The good news is that wherever you are during Winter Solstice, know that it’s over in an instant. Within seconds of its occurrence, the days actually begin to get longer again, and we’re on our way toward spring. Still, it’s only human to forget these scientific facts. And that, says Vozov, is where visualization meditation comes in. Both spiritual practice and scientific study document the benefits of meditation in addressing depression and anxiety.
She suggests that repeated listening to the free 20-minute track before and on the Solstice helps listeners psychologically embrace the season. Also, it’s a useful visualization any time of year, whenever you need a reminder that, like seasonal shifts, sunrise is inevitable.
Winter Solstice
Here are a few times, across the U.S. and Europe, when Winter Solstice 2015 occurs. It happens everywhere in the Northern Hemisphere at once, and only seems different because of differing time zones.
21 December 8:48 PM PST
21 December 10:48 PM CST
22 December 12:48 AM EST
22 December 4:48 AM UTC
22 December 5:48 AM UTC+1:00
22 December 7:48 AM UTC+3:00
Winter Solstice
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House of the Quiet Self is a producer of unique meditation downloads. They offer a variety of guided and music-only audio tracks to help people meditate and engage in visualization practices. To learn more, visit their website here. You can also connect on Facebook and Twitter.
Winter Solstice
