Resting through a Calgary winter

On the shortest day of the year, the sun is up in Calgary for just under eight hours. The cold arrives before we have decided how to feel about it. By January, many of us are tired in a way that sleeping does not quite fix, and we call it a lack of discipline.

It is not. It is a northern winter.

What winter asks

Most living things at this latitude slow down in winter. The bears sleep. The trees let go of what they can no longer afford to carry. We, who keep the same alarm and the same calendar from July to January, are the odd ones out. Then we wonder why we feel heavy.

Winter also narrows the day. In December the sun sets around half past four. Many of us fight that with brighter screens and later nights. Another way is to let the evening begin when it actually begins: lower the lights, put the phone away a little earlier, make the last hour of the day smaller.

Resting with the season does not mean doing nothing for four months. It means noticing that the same day can cost more in January than in June, and allowing the hours around it to be softer.

Small things that help

Go outside early. Even on a grey morning, the light outdoors is much brighter than the light in most rooms. Five minutes at your door or on the corner, before the day’s first screen, is a gentle way of telling your body what time it is.

Pause before you go in. We have a practice called Arriving at your own door: two minutes on the doorstep, setting the day down outside so that home begins when you do. At minus twenty, the porch or the entryway will do, boots still on.

Keep one long rest in the day. Twenty minutes lying down, after lunch or before supper, is enough. In the evening, let the out-breath run long before sleep. It will not put you to sleep on command, but it gives the day a soft ending.

When a chinook comes, take it. The warm wind off the mountains can lift the temperature by ten degrees or more in an afternoon, and then it is gone. It is not a day for catching up on email. Go out. Let the day be different from the ones around it.

Hold something warm in both hands. After class we serve tea, and the habit is simple enough to take home: one warm cup, held in both hands, for the length of three breaths. The air indoors in a prairie winter is dry, and a cup of warm water by the bed is a small kindness too.

Take care

For some people the dark months bring more than tiredness: a low mood that does not lift, a loss of interest in things, heavy sleep, changes in appetite. If that sounds like you, please speak with your doctor or call Health Link (811 in Alberta). It is not something a lie-down or a cup of tea can be expected to answer, and you do not have to wait for spring.

What is one thing you would do less of between November and March, if you let the season decide?