Notes from Harbor
Why we go in on cold-weather meditation
Most studios pivot to candles and heat in winter. We do the opposite. Here's why our cold-weather meditation series has become one of the most-loved things we offer.
Every November, a handful of regulars ask the same question: are we still going to do the morning meditation in the front room, or are we moving everything to the heated studio?
We keep it in the front room. Window cracked. One thin blanket.
I want to explain why.
The studio you visit on vacation is not the studio you need in February
A lot of wellness spaces are designed for a vacation version of you — the one with time, the one who is already calm. That's a real customer and we love serving them. But most of the people walking through our door on a Tuesday in January are not on vacation. They live here. They have jobs. They have a four-year-old who didn't sleep. They want the practice to actually do something.
Cold-weather meditation does something.
Discomfort is a teacher, but only if it's the right kind
Let me be clear: I am not advocating for misery. We're not doing ice baths in the parking lot. The front room in January is maybe 62 degrees with the window cracked. You're under a blanket. The fog is coming off the cove. You can hear the gulls.
What's happening physiologically is that your nervous system has a small, manageable signal to attend to — the cool air on your cheeks — that anchors you in your body. It's the same reason people meditate at dawn or during a thunderstorm. The environment is doing some of the work for you.
If the room is 78 degrees and smells like eucalyptus and there's a heated bolster, your nervous system has nothing to organize around. You drift. You make a grocery list. You think about an email.
The crew that shows up is different
The 7am cold-weather meditation has become, weirdly, the most loyal group we have. Same fourteen people, four days a week, December through March. They bring each other ginger lemon tea afterward. They text when someone misses two in a row.
I think it's because doing something a little hard, together, in the same small room every morning, is what community used to mean before we forgot.
If you want to try it
Our cold-weather meditation series runs Tuesday through Friday at 7am from November 1 through March 15. It's included in any membership, $15 as a drop-in, free for first-timers.
Bring a blanket. Bring socks. Don't bring expectations.
Begin gently
Begin a practice you’ll keep.
Your first class is on us. Reserve any class on the schedule, walk in with a friend, or stop by the desk and we'll find you the right starting point. No card on file, no pressure.