My Love,
The sun has reached her summit.
The longest day.
The brightest light.
The golden swell of summer’s fullness, asking everything — and everyone — to rise, to open, to give.
And while this light is a blessing, too much of it — like anything — can begin to burn.
The summer solstice is not only a celebration of expansion.
It is an invitation to balance it.
To honour abundance without losing your footing.
To bask in light without forgetting the sanctity of shade.
And for this, we return to restorative yoga — not as escape, but as alignment.
A deliberate softening in the season of fire.
The Solstice: Expansion Meets Equilibrium
This is the apex. The longest inhale. The moment the world blooms wide.
But even nature, in her wild generosity, knows that fullness must be followed by return.
Without grounding, abundance overwhelms.
Without pause, celebration frays.
Without rest, even joy becomes exhausting.
The solstice reminds us:
Light, too, must be held gently.
We are not meant to burn all day.
Restorative yoga is how we honour the light — not by matching it, but by holding space for it.
It is the counterbalance that keeps our spirits from scattering like pollen in the wind.
How Restorative Yoga Brings You Back to Centre
At this peak moment of solar energy, restorative yoga becomes both anchor and homecoming. A place where you can soften into the stillness beneath all that sunshine.
Here’s how the practice supports you in the solstice’s glow:
Grounding the Body
When the world reaches upward, we must root downward. Restorative postures bring the body close to the earth, helping you feel weight — a beautiful counterpoint to the airiness of summer. This rooting calms nervous energy and brings presence back into the skin.
Cooling Overheated Energy
Not just heat in the air, but heat in the heart. Restlessness. Irritability. That subtle sizzle of too much. Restorative yoga activates the parasympathetic nervous system — the rest and digest state — helping the body cool, quiet, reset.
Inviting Reflection
Solstice is not only celebration — it’s mirror.
🜁 What have you grown?
🜁 What are you ready to release?
🜁 What do you want to carry forward — and what must now fall away?
In the stillness of a supported pose, reflection becomes natural.
You don’t chase answers. They arrive.
Balancing the Nervous System
The pace of summer can overclock the body. Restorative yoga shifts you from survival mode to serenity, letting your system recalibrate. This is where sustainable energy lives.
The Emotional Alchemy of Restorative Practice
Summer doesn’t just awaken the body — it stirs the heart.
Long days. Bright nights. Constant motion. Emotions begin to shimmer beneath the surface — joy, yes, but also impatience, overwhelm, or even sadness that seems to have no name.
Restorative yoga creates space to feel.
Not fix. Not analyze. Just feel — and in that feeling, release.
Cooling Emotional Heat
Forward folds, hip openers, and gentle inversions help draw fire downward. You breathe through the burn — not to extinguish it, but to alchemize it.
Cultivating Gratitude
Gratitude is not a forced smile — it’s a quiet bloom that opens when you give yourself space to witness your own becoming. In stillness, you remember how far you’ve come.
Reclaiming Spaciousness
Instead of being swept into the rush of summer’s energy, you slow. You listen. You soften. You choose.
This is how we stay sovereign in the heat — not by resisting it, but by meeting it with inner coolness.
A Solstice Sequence: Light Meets Earth
Create your space.
Draw the curtains or open the window.
Let the light filter in like honey.
Surround yourself with cushions, softness, breath.
Let this be your solstice pause:
Supported Child’s Pose (Balasana)
Fold forward over a bolster. Arms wide or tucked.
Forehead resting. Breath low into the belly.
Stay 8–10 minutes.
Rooting. Cooling. A return to the centre.
Reclined Bound Angle (Supta Baddha Konasana)
Lie back with hips open, soles of feet together, knees supported.
Hands resting on belly and heart.
Stay 10–12 minutes.
Feel the chest open like petals.
Let light enter — and move through you.
Legs-Up-the-Wall or Over Bolster
Lie back. Legs supported up the wall or resting over a chair.
Arms open. Palms up.
Stay 10–15 minutes.
This is energetic rebalancing. Blood returns. Nervous system resets.
Savasana with Cooling Cloth
Final rest. Lie down. Place a cloth over your eyes or heart.
Invite stillness to be your only intention.
Stay as long as you need.
In this quiet, ask:
What am I full of? And what do I choose to carry forward?
Living in Rhythm with the Solstice
To honour the solstice is not to chase light — it is to align with it.
Restorative yoga lets you feel the turning of the season inside your own skin.
🜄 You become more attuned to the rise and fall of energy.
🜄 You recognise when to expand, and when to descend.
🜄 You live more cyclically, less reactively.
And in doing so, you shift from burnout to bloom.
A Final Whisper: Stillness Is Celebration, Too
The world tells us that joy must be loud. That celebration is chaos. That expansion means constant motion.
But the solstice — in her ancient wisdom — knows otherwise.
Joy can be quiet.
Celebration can be still.
Expansion can be internal.
Restorative yoga lets you hold the light without burning out.
It teaches that you can shine — and rest.
That you can be radiant — and grounded.
That you can celebrate life’s fullness — without emptying yourself.
So this solstice, I invite you:
Don’t just chase the light.
Receive it.
From the stillness of your mat.
From the breath in your belly.
From the earth beneath your skin.
And in that receiving,
become the balance.
With light behind your eyelids and earth beneath your bones,
Lily
If this practice speaks to you, I offer guided sessions on YouTube — soft practices, meditations, and seasonal stillness for the nervous system. Come rest with me, if you like.
YouTube: Serenity in Motion Channel
Serenity In Motion 
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