As March comes to a close, our thoughts turn to the future. We recognize the freshness of the rebirth of nature that those of us in the northern hemisphere experience at this time of year.

This week many religious holidays occur. If you celebrate one or none, there is no denying the common thread throughout these three holidays. These holidays celebrate, using different rituals of course, the dawning of spring, renewal, birth and rebirth.
This week celebrates Passover, Holy Week, and Holi. These three holidays all coincide this week. While each of these holidays is marked by usage of different calendars, their occurrence is determined by nature. That is, these ancient calendars are based on the seasons that surrounded people in South Asia and Asia Minor at the time these religious celebrations were begun.

Spring Holidays Briefly Explained

Traditionally, Jewish people open up their Passover festivities before the holiday even begins by cleaning out their homes top to bottom. By the first night of Passover, everything is in place and the candles are lit before recounting the ancient story of the emancipation from slavery of the Jews in Egypt. It is the story of the Jewish rebirth as a free people.

In the Hindu calendar, Holi is celebrated today, March 29. Known as the Festival of Colors, Holi is the Hindu Festival of Spring. This is a festival that celebrates love and new life. While it is a religious holiday, it has become a securalized tradition for many Indians around the world.

Western Christians have a week of holidays that started yesterday culminating in Easter Sunday next weekend. Easter Sunday celebrates Jesus' resurrection or rebirth. Easter eggs, that are a part of this holiday ,also represent birth and spring.

It is no accident that these holidays occur at the same time of year since they all celebrate spring and new life. Whether you celebrate these religious, cultural, or secular holidays or not, the unalterable fact is that it is spring on this side of the world. Spring is the time of reawakening. As many of us are getting our Covid shots to protect ourselves and each other from the virus, this Spring feels especially sweet as we start to cautiously do a little more activity than we have in the past year. Personally, this is the most excited that I've been about Spring since I was in my 20s!

Self-Care in the Spring

This is a good time to start thinking about how you will work on celebrating a reawakening in yourself. A Yoga Nidra meditation can get you started on this journey where you can get yourself centered. Maybe you want a private lesson in yoga poses. (Both of these you can arrange to do with me by registering on my website.) Or maybe it is time to learn that karate that you've been putting off. Or maybe renewing a self-care practice or routine such as adding some oil or moisturizer to your daily body skincare. Maybe changing your diet to eat healthier or doing something extra to protect Mother Earth.

Workshops & Classes

The full moon falls on Sunday, March 28 and so this week's yoga nidra theme is centered around the spring full moon. The moon affects the tides, our balance, and even our amount of sleep. While there is no evidence that more babies are born during a full moon, there is evidence published in a recent scientific study that sleep cycles can be disrupted during the full moon. So find your center, your balance, and get a good night's sleep by participating in a yoga nidra practice. Classes I offer remain on Monday & Thursday 7:30 to 8:30 pm EDT.

I will be holding another 90-minute Yoga Nidra workshop on Wednesday April 14 at 7:00 pm EDT. This workshop is for those who want to learn about or just take a deeper dive into the Yoga Nidra universe.

Resources

18Doors. Unlocking Jewish. Pre-Passover_Preparation (2021).

History.com. Easter 2021.Wikipedia. Holi.

Casiraghi, L. Spiousas, Dunster, G.P., et al., (27 January 2021) Moonstruck sleep: synchronization of human sleep with the moon cycle under field conditions. Science Advances 7(5). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abe0465