Summer Solstice Heart: A Rhythm of Rest and Return
Solstices mark the longest and shortest days of the year. It is on these days that surround the Solstice that the sun seems to stand still, like a great ship upon the ocean, coming to a complete stop before changing directions. I’m not sure if large boats actually do this but for some reason, the metaphor makes sense to me. All of the momentum has been headed in one direction, expansion in the North and contraction in the South. And now, with the solstice threshold, the direction shifts.
Litha, the Summer Solstice, marks the longest day of the year for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere. For our neighbors to the South, it's Yule, the Winter Solstice. That really gives me pause—to know that the flip side of the hot and bright world I’m living in also exists. I love the sense of balance in recognizing this, and I love that it means I can tap into that energy as well.
It’s very hot in the Southeastern U.S. where I live—hot and humid, with regular afternoon thunderstorms. And yet, within the intensity of summer exists a hidden, mirrored rhythm: the energy of winter. In the natural world, we call this estivation—a state of dormancy in response to extreme heat or dryness. Just as winter calls us to hibernate, summer can invite us to slow down, rest, and seek shelter in the shade during the hottest part of the day.
I see my hydrangea bushes and cucumber plants doing the same—wilting in the afternoon, only to perk up again in the evening. It’s our primal sense of temperature that invites us to adapt, to shift behavior for balance. We also carry a seasonal sense of time that tells us when to sleep, when to wake, when to act, and when to wait.
The Heart as Our Inner Home
As beings of nature, we need a place to rest during these dormant cycles—a burrow, a den, a home. And energetically, that home is our heart. Within our bodies, it’s the heart that provides a safe space to restore. The wisdom of the heart offers a rhythm that can bring us back into coherence when the world feels overwhelming.
“When the heart’s coherent rhythm reaches the brain, we have the capacity to align the heart and mind. When this happens we experience an interconnectedness of all things—a oneness that unifies and overcomes separation.” – Dr. Joe Dispenza
Many of us feel disconnected from ourselves due to the pressure to conform, to keep up, to follow predetermined paths. This conditioning pulls us away from our natural rhythm. But there is a call—a call to return to your own pace, to forge a path that is truly your own.
To do this, we must be embodied: steady in the mind, open in the heart, and rooted in the body. It is through the heart that we come home to our authentic, sacred, wild self.
The threshold of the Solstice offers this pause for reflection, for going into the heart, acknowledging what has been accomplished, noticing where any shifts need to be made to navigate this next part of the year.
Cultivating Coherence
Consciously connecting with your heart—bringing it into coherence with your brain by feeling elevated emotions like love, joy, appreciation, and wonder—is essential. This is the fertile ground for creating a life aligned with your values. When your heart and brain are in coherence, your electromagnetic field becomes the highest vibration in your environment. It affects others. It creates a ripple.
Nature supports this. Simply by spending time outdoors, we entrain with its coherent rhythms. We become grounded, resilient, and creative. And when we make it a habit to return to this state, we hold a resonant field that others can attune to.
Herbal Allies for the Heart
One of my favorite ways to come back to the heart is through nourishing herbal infusions. I especially love linden flower. It helps me to soften my heart and release anxiety, to settle into my true home. Teas made with linden, mint, rosemary, or tulsi invite us to relax, to breathe, to let go. These rituals gently support heart coherence.
They also support our physical heart. When we’re relaxed, our heart rate variability (HRV) increases, which is a good thing. HRV reflects our resilience—our ability to adapt and respond. When we live in chronic stress, our HRV drops, and our risk for heart disease increases. Practices like tea rituals, meditation, and heart-focused breathing help raise our HRV and support our whole system.
A Meditation for Heart Awareness
Here’s one simple practice I love—a meditation from a Kundalini tradition to help connect with your pulse, sink deeply into the body and focus your awareness:
Pulse Meditation
Sit quietly and find your pulse on your wrist with three fingers.
Bring your full attention to the rhythm of your pulse.
Feel its variability, its shifting tempo.
Stay with it for 3 to 11 minutes.
This builds focus and returns you to the present moment.
Stepping Away to Come Home
Recently, I reached a moment of clarity about how social media—especially Instagram—affects me. One post can send me into deep contemplation; another inspires me. So much I see evokes a thought, plucks a thread in me that then I follow and explore. And that takes a lot of energy! It also pulls me away from my natural rhythm and scatters and dilutes my focus.
To root deeper into this, I pulled out my tarot deck. As I shuffled, The Hermit fell out. Then I drew the Princess of Cups. And I remembered that, according to Michael Tsarion’s tarot cycle method, I’m stepping into the energy of The Emperor as the Sun moves into Cancer.
The Hermit spoke to me clearly: withdraw, go inward, conserve energy. The Princess of Cups reminded me of the soft power of feeling, dreaming, and tending beauty. And The Emperor represents structure, sovereignty, and sacred responsibility.
Together, these cards affirmed my need to pause, step back, to focus on my life, my goals, my creative vision. To reclaim my power as a sensing, feeling woman of nature. To build from the inside out.
So I’m choosing to consciously seek this balance between summer and winter, to embody it—doing and being, moving fast and slowing down. To be present with it all. To direct my attention to where I want the energy to flow. To expand those slow moments by being fully in them. To weave the nourishing support of the heart into the busier, doing moments—with linden tea, with iced tea touched by rose and mint. To place my fingers on my wrist and feel my heartbeat, even in the midst of the busy. To feel the soil between my fingers and remember that my pace is sacred.
If you feel this call too, it’s not random—it’s your nature responding. You are a being of rhythm, of cycles, of the Earth itself.
Let this solstice remind you:
Rest is not retreat.
It is rhythm.
Embrace this pause to celebrate, recalibrate and remember who you are becoming.
The plants help us. Our hearts lead us. The rhythm will carry us home.
With love and Solstice Blessings,
Annie