Winter is the time to unpack the heavy baggage you have been carrying the past year and rest. As your load gets lighter, you come home to yourself.
Without unpacking your bags in the winter, you continue to carry your stuff throughout the year. This leads to burning out in the summer and dragging your feet in the fall as you limp into a new year.
Let this be a different year! BE in winter.
How do you free yourself of all you have been carrying around with you, especially during these trying times? One of the most potent ways to lighten your load is to feel what arises or what has been packed in your bags.
Through feeling, you integrate, unburden, or metabolize baggage of the past. Use this to fuel you through the darkness so you can emerge in the spring unencumbered and free.
Unpack your baggage this winter with one powerful practice.
For this practice, consistency is key. The medicine of this practice is the medicine of winter – which is to pause, be still, and feel. Each time you practice, your bags become a little lighter.
Let Life Unpack your Bags Practice
Each person and situation that triggers you is an opportunity to unpack a bag. These triggered moments let you know you are still holding on to something from your past that isn’t serving you, or you wouldn’t get triggered in the first place.
We all have our different triggers – mine have been getting fired off a lot this week! But, on the other side of this week, I do feel lighter, and it’s because of this practice.
- When triggered, feeling internal dysregulation such as agitation, irritation, frustration, sadness, anger – that is your cue to pause.
- Allow the felt awareness of your body to be your focus rather than thoughts and explanations as to why this is happening—suspended judgment and figuring this out.
- Noticing your breath and feeling your feet on the ground are excellent anchors to help you keep your awareness in the moment without being overwhelmed so you can stay with what you are feeling.
- Your body is where your baggage is stored. Allow yourself to feel sensations that arise within your body with compassion for yourself, not judgment. (If you have not practiced sensing what is going within your body – interoception, you might want to practice this when moments are calm so you can feel the contrast)
- Keep curious about the sensations you are feeling
- Where are you feeling the sensations in your body? Stay with this feeling, do the sensations shift with your awareness?
- Do you notice hot/cold, pressure, constriction, texture, words, or colors in the areas where you are focusing your felt attention?
- You are not “doing” anything in this practice. You are offering your full presence to yourself and experiencing what you are feeling. Be gentle with yourself as some of this baggage your feeling is from childhood.
- When you feel complete with this practice, give yourself some gratitude and encouragement, as you have just made your bags a little lighter.
*** CAUTION: If you feel really overwhelmed and tend to experience anxiety, this might not be the moment to try this practice by yourself. At this moment, feel a part of you that is most grounded, like your feet, thighs, or hands. Bring your awareness to your breath and be gentle with yourself as you ask your body to soften and relax.
Winter is asking you to slow your pace down. Through creating spaciousness, you can do the inner work of setting yourself free of the burdens of the past so you can be free to create and be you – who you came here to be.
Please reach out if you would like support with this practice – unpacking your bags and coming home to yourself.
