Dear Reader,

Thanksgiving happens in the US this week, followed in a month by Christmas. While these holidays can allow us to connect to a deep soul need during this cold inward season, they can also be a significant source of stress. Under stress, we regress and can lose sight of our soul needs, get distracted and ungrounded. Many then can't wait for the season to be over, instead of taking the time to honor our soul needs during this precious time.

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​Here are five ways to stay connected to your soul during the holiday season:

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1) Intentional Grounding. It's easy to get ungrounded, even dissociated, with all the stresses, of travel, of arranging holiday events, making it to work parties, etc. Start every day with a grounding practice and do it as often as necessary throughout the day. A simple grounding practice can be to sit quietly, focus on your breath, make sure you are taking deep abdominal breaths and feel your physical body as you sit. Feel your bones and muscles, your connection to your seat. Just observe your physical body from your heart awareness. Don't let your awareness be led astray by judgements or distractions. If your awareness does get distracted, just focus on your breath again. Feel the pleasure and gratitude that you get to be in a body, which allows you to experience. A helpful essential oil for tuning into the body is ruh khus (vetiver), which you can smell during this exercise and throughout the day, as a quick reminder to stay grounded in your body. A convenient way to apply it is to put a drop on the soles of your feet.

2) Honor your emotions while at the same time not taking on others' emotions. The holiday season can bring up all sorts of emotions in us, which we often judge, telling us we shouldn't feel a certain way. When a strong emotion comes up, take a few moments, center and ground yourself and ask yourself: "What am I feeling?" As feelings come to your heart awareness, welcome them without judging them. With every feeling, ask yourself: "Is this my feeling or am I unconsciously taking on someone else's feeling?" You are only responsible for your own feelings, but you do need to honor those. Many of us taking on others' feelings, because we've been subtly trained to do so, and it can be a way to avoid our own feelings. You can add this to the daily grounding practice described in 1) above, and you can also do this throughout the day. Helpful essential oils for this practice are rose attar, rose geranium, neroli or other floral notes. You can anoint yourself with these. If you feel you're taking on others' emotions too much, consider yarrow. (You can read more about yarrow here.)

3) Let your thoughts serve you, but don't let them rule you. Our ego-mind is great at carrying out tasks, but it has a tendency to want to rule us. Remember, you are not your thoughts. There may be plenty of planning and other ego-mind tasks during this season, but remember they are in service to your soul needs. If you find yourself getting 'spun out' by too many tasks and planning, and it feels like you're drowning in the demands of your ego-mind, center and ground yourself and remember that the ego-mind is in service to your soul. What does your soul need? Is your ego-mind honoring this, as it plans and executes? A helpful oil to remember that the ego-mind is the servant of the soul is Angelica Root, which you can also put on the soles of your feet.

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4) Remember you are a spiritual being, having an embodied human experience. No matter how stressed or ungrounded you get, remember that those parts of you are not all of you. There is a part of you that has never been wounded or traumatized. As you practice grounding, honoring your emotions and putting your thoughts in their rightful place, you become aware that you are doing this from another perspective, a bigger part of you that you may have been unaware of. Cherish reconnecting with this part. A great aromatic ally to remember this is Sandalwood, long used for meditation and other spiritual practices. Embodiment, or immanence are the spiritual practice for this time.

5) Remember that you are amidst a vast stream of those who came before you and will come after you. The shared rituals of the holiday season stem from this communal need, but modern demands, that focus on being a consumer, have lost touch with this. Remember your ancestors and the community around you, those living around you and the ancestors of place. Imagine them like a river across time and you are in that river. As you decide how to honor this holiday season, check in with what your soul needs in relation to your ancestors, your descendants and the soul needs of your community. A great oil to connect with your ancestors is Marigold. (More about Marigold here.)

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Here's to all of us going through the holiday season soulfully grounded!
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Florian & Cathy

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PS: Thanksgiving sale starts today at Cathy's Attars. Everything will be 25% off, no coupon required.