Spring Equinox 2021
March 20, 2021
Happy Spring Equinox!
Spring Equinox has always felt more momentous than New Years Day. More resonant with nature’s rhythms, shifts, and movements than our Gregorian calendar. Spring melts winters curtain, revealing sunshine, new growth, and the murmerings of running rivers, hot summer nights, whooshing bike tires, fragrant BBQs, and sticky lime juice. Spring is a time for cleansing, creation, and development. Of gratitude and new beginnings. I supposed it feels pretty darn timely to be writing this first blog post for Spruce Tip Lodge.
Spruce tips themselves are a gift of Spring; the young growth of Spruce trees, poised like a paintbrush, bursting with vitamin C, our Northern taste of citrus, ready to branch out come Summer. Find yourself in the alpine and you can enjoy spruce tips all Summer long.
On Spring Equinox, day equals night. For the next six months, the sun and yang principle dominate. This is a time of renewed inspiration and energy. According to Chinese Medicine (intimately tied to the dance of Earths seasons), this is a good time to look at your life and make new plans. To discern what you want to clear away, within and without, and what you wish to create. Spring Equinox can be a new start. I encourage you to take a few minutes to write down your desires, break them down into a few small action steps, and plant your Spring seeds.
Spring is time to flower and flourish. When we obey the laws of nature, we shift with the seasons. Spring is time to welcome the present and let go of the past. Since Springtime brings a greater variety of seasonal greens, it feels especially fitting that Revelstoke’s farmers market is taking place outside today for the first time in 2021. Springtime is a perfect time to start a meditation practice, allowing openness, peace of mind, focus, and decisiveness to grow. Physical movement helps open both body and mind. Creativity is nourishing now and always. As we reflect on the need to make room for the new, Springtime reminds us that elimination equals illumination.
Here in Revelstoke, we’re lucky to enjoy multi-sport Spring days. Abundant alpine snowload means winter lasts longer in the alpine; early Spring is an opportune time to get way up there while snowpack is stable, days are long, and clear skies are likely. Meanwhile, at valley bottom, warmer weather and snowmelt bring opportunities for hiking, waterfall exploration, trail running, crosscountry skiing, and mountain biking.The video below is of Andrew and I enjoying some sled-boarding adventures just South of Revelstoke last weekend. Today, we will celebrate Spring with a dog walk up the lookout trail, brunch at Terra Firma’s Kitchen, yoga class at the beautiful Alchemy Studio, and, finally, a fire on the flats, featuring fetching faces, furry friends, and a look forward to flowers. Our kind of Spring.
Wishing you a happy Spring equinox, and much love, wherever you are.