Is It Spring Yet?
Sitting still in the Neutral Zone of March
Earlier this week, a stranger stopped me in my tracks as I strolled down Eastern Parkway. “Excuse me? Miss?” I turned to him.
“Is it Spring yet?” he asked.
“Not yet…,” I answered, “but soon!” He nodded but looked disappointed, which broke my heart a little. As I kept walking, he mumbled, either to himself or intentionally loud enough for me to hear. “It’s been a long winter.” I smiled. Yes, it has, my friend.
Today we’re technically, finally, officially in Spring. I say technically because, as I write to you, I’m wrapped in a wool blanket sipping piping hot coffee, as bits of loose trash fly by my window in the howling winds of Brooklyn. According to my phone, it’s 4-degrees-Celsius-feels-like-minus-2, which I will not be fact-checking in person, thank you very much. And if you’re part of that precious 5% of the world that thinks in Fahrenheit, my point is, it’s f*cking freezing.
As far as I’m concerned, March in New York has never *not* felt cold. I’m not sure why we insist that March = Spring. There’s literally an expression in French (les giboulées de mars) that describes a March-only phenomenon of sudden, brief and heavy rains, occasionally sprinkled with hail. Hail!
Still, when March comes around, my shoulders release ever so slightly. We’ve made it past the Ringo Starr of our calendar, otherwise known as February, and more recently past the Spring solstice, a day of equal parts light and dark. As we transition toward the sunnier side of the year, applying SPF to my face every morning has gone from feeling wildly optimistic to somewhat relevant. It also feels safe again to look beyond my feet without running the risk of slipping on a patch of black ice when I cross the street. With this reclaimed perspective, I spotted a bluejay in Prospect Park on Tuesday.
I love bluejays.
I kicked off 2025 by enrolling in a yoga teacher training program, a personal project that’s dear to my heart. If all goes according to plan, I’ll be certified in July. I’ve practiced yoga for years, but this is my first time learning about the anatomy behind practice, how poses are connected to each other and how we can create sequences of poses where each one prepares our bodies to move into the next shape.
It turns out that a significant part of teaching yoga revolves around getting comfortable with transitions (I was, indeed, delighted, thanks for asking). It also turns out that finding a safe way to come out of a headstand, so you don’t break your neck is just as important as staying up there (revelations upon revelations in this class).
In learning about backbends last week, we also studied neutral poses, the ones we can hold before it’s safe again to loosen into a counterpose, like a forward bend. A neutral pose is the buffer zone in which our system can absorb the lingering effects of a strenuous position and avoid stressing our muscles by rushing into an opposite. It also prepares us to enjoy a release. Neutral poses aren’t the most exciting, maybe not the ones we look forward to, but they’re necessary transitions.
And maybe March is just that: a transitory month for our minds and bodies to thaw. A neutral pose of a month in which we can recover from a trying Winter before we soften into Spring. Maybe March is our chance to think about the layers we’ve worn and no longer need. By the time winter is over, I’ve usually developed a total aversion to every item of clothing I own and a visceral reaction at the sight of my own down jacket. This year is no exception, so I’ll use the rest of March to sort, swap and (dream big) sell.
I’m also spending part of the weekend journaling about the insights I gained this winter.
If you’re interested in thawing with me, here are the prompts I’m using to guide me:
🌱 What lessons and experiences do I want to carry with me into Spring?
🌱 Are there habits or patterns I want to leave behind?
🌱 What do I want to learn and develop as the days warm up and stretch?
🌱 What am I excited about?
🌱 How will I play?
If you end up journaling around any or all of these, too, let me know! I’d love to hear what comes up for you in the Neutral Zone of March.
With that, stand tall. Hold a neutral pose or two. Spring is coming.
Love,
Clara C.
Absolutely love this way of thinking about March, the shittiest month despite being full of Gerard birthdays 💕 what a nice new perspective on the mud.
How will I play? Such an vital point to ponder and experience. 😊Beautifully written.