I'm so happy to share this short video about this year's Winter Solstice Essence – a sweet looking, yet mighty, little essence.

At first blush, the theme of this season's essence – Joy! – may seem slight. But dig deeper and you will see that Joy is at the heart of our expanded communication skills. Cultivating joy is an extremely smart thing to do this winter.

Joy wants to be heard this season. The secret, most powerful ingredient we can tap into right now is joy.

Joy is an atmosphere we can cultivate. Joy is a pair of glasses we need to wear. Joy needs to come out of our hearts, our mouths, and our hands. The highest expression of self-esteem is joy.

A small well-defined seed withstands turbulence better than weathered leaves. This autumn, focus on refining and sheltering the essential you. Not so much for protection, although that is important. But to preserve this seed for future growth. That’s important to all of us.

Do you want to know more about this year's very important Summer Solstice Essence? Didn't have time or brain power to read the written interpretation?

You might like the AV edition, in which I show you how I make the essence and describe its main messages. All in 8 minutes!

These days are calling us to stretch into the nature part of our lineage. When the going gets strange, our nature brothers and sisters know how to follow the trustworthy inner message that says "move" or "stay" or "look over there." They don't need to know how or for what ultimate purpose, but when that message comes, our brothers and sisters in nature listen. They trust.

Can we do the same? I know we can. And I hope we will. This essence will help.

This is a wonderful time to do some personal spring cleaning. As we know, shaking is one of the most effective ways we have to deal with stress or a trauma response. It allows us to shake off and reset. Raise your hand if you haven't felt stressed at some point this year! I shake most days in my qigong practice. But today, I want to add more joy to my shake. And I invite you to shake along with me—to shake out those bits that may be hanging on to you only loosely, to loosen up the more stubborn bits, and to clear the lens of perception with which you regard yourself and your world.