Y A W N !

I saw my first Red Wing Blackbird last week, and my first Robin, and my first Groundhog.  But I knew Spring was coming because I’ve had an overwhelming need to begin lengthening and strengthening.  So when the afternoons were sunny and warm, I went outside and stretched.  And stretched.  And stretched.  Before I knew it, I was yawning.  And yawning.  And yawning.

Yawns are simply the body’s way of releasing stagnant energy and tension…which is why you tend to yawn upon waking.  Spring is simply the waking up from the meditative Winter Water Element…like emerging from hibernation.  But spring technically doesn’t arrive until a week from today (March 20) at the Equinox.  

In Qigong theory, there’s never a strict line between the changes in elements.  Rather, like the weather, the elements grow and sometimes swing back and forth in the process of change.  

As Spring Wood Element grows (technically not marked by temperature, but by the growing amount of light in our days), it’s important to listen to the energy–the Qi–stirring in you.  What do you need?  As much as I want to lengthen and strengthen, when the weather resembled winter this past Friday and Saturday, I withdrew to my living room, pulled on some blankets and sunk deeply into some amazing meditations while waving my spine to keep my energy flowing (and thus keeping me warm).  But when sun came out today and the temperatures climbed above freezing, I took the dogs to our favorite grove of trees and stretched, reached up and out, did some Deer Animal Frolic Qigong . . . and yawned.