SEASONAL SELF-CARE BLOG

Return to Essence this Fall

Posted on October 11th, 2015

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Autumn invites us to let go, lighten up, and distill our beings to their essence. Tune up the metal element this Fall with practices that help you clear out the clutter in you mind and define your intention with clarity.

Uttarabodhi mudra 2_opt

Uttarabodhi Mudra (Mudra of the highest enlightenment)

Crystal clear light, vast blue skies, and crisp, cold, clear air—ahhh Fall, my favorite season is here! According to Chinese Medicine, Fall is the Season of the metal element. The stage in our yearly cycle, when all of nature is in a process of contraction, decay, and decomposition-returning all matter to source to fertilize the seeds of Spring’s rebirth.

Through a process of releasing and refining, the metal element transforms matter to pure essence. The Autumn leaves, brilliantly ablaze, offer their last bursts of vitality before drying up and dropping back to the earth. In the end, the essence of the tree remains, a sculpture carving a line drawing in the vast sky and the unseen roots below, stabilizing, grounding and nourishing. The sap of the tree draws into the interior of the tree and sinks back to the roots. In Fall, we also pull inwards, slow down, and become more internal to refine our being as we move towards the stillness and rest of Winter.

Fall is the time to cleanse and organize the clutter in your home, release the agitation in your mind, and clear out the chaos in your life. It’s time to shed the non-essential, resolve and release unhelpful habitual thoughts and emotions, and let go of unhealthy relationships and patterns. By releasing the non-beneficial, we create space for recognizing the essence of who we are and clarity for our intentions.

But letting go is not easy, we resist it. Often we don’t want to change. We want to hang onto Summer, our youthful yang energy, the fullness of the day. We get fearful of the dark, the time and space needed to nourish the new. The stillness and quietness is unsettling and a sort of anxiety sets in as we head towards the fallow Yin time of Winter. We are used to constant stimulus, distraction, and busyness. But this nonstop activity and productivity with little rest, leaves us depleted, stressed out, and burnt out. In the Fall we often need supportive practices to help us as we  undergo these elemental processes of letting go, releasing, and surrender. Seasonal yoga, food, and lifestyle practices can help us attune our internal rhythm more with the natural cycles and deepen our connection to ourselves and our environment.

Fall is a good time to nourish the internal practices of meditation, mantra, and mudra to quiet the agitation in the mind, deepen concentration and open insight. Try practicing Uttarabodhi Mudra this Fall to nourish the metal element and the lungs and large intestines, our Fall organs. Place your index fingers together facing upwards and thumbs together facing downwards. Interlace the rest of your fingers together. Breathe and enjoy! This mudra helps open the lungs to expand the inhalation as well as stimulates elimination through the large intenstines. As conductor of electrical and energetic impulses, the metal element enhances our ability to draw in prana (vital energy) from our environment, connect with cosmic energy, as well as recharge our inner source of wellbeing.

Leigh in light_opt

 

 

 

 

 

Joyous heart!

Leigh

Fall Tune in Tips

Posted on December 3rd, 2014

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house-Luang Prabang

detail Wat Xieng Thong, Laos, 2014

Fall is my favorite season. In Chinese Medicine, Fall is the season of the Metal element. It offers us the opportunity to lighten up and let go, open the door to clarity, and distill and refine our beings to their essence.I particularly love the the light which seems to be more exquisitely clear and magical than any other time of year. When I look into the clear blue sky through the almost now bare and beautifully sculptural trees, the vastness above inspires my inner being to expand and wonder and delight spreads through me.

There is a particular type of clarity that emerges through witnessing this Fall light through the trees’ shedding of their leaves. As the sap of the tree draws into the interior of the tree and sinks back to the roots, we also begin to slow down, retracting, and draw back to the interior root aspect of our beings. There is a refinement that comes from letting go, releasing that which is no longer beneficial and nourishing that which is essential.Fall is Harvest time, the time to distinguish between what is nutritional and should be kept and what can be released and left for compost. This environmental distillation is mirrored in our bodies, minds, and lives. Fall is the time to release that which is not needed or desired, as we prepare for our inward journey into the deep interior yin of Winter stillness.

HOME HARVEST
ORGANIZE the chaos in you houseSYSTEMATIZE areas of congestion

Pick one of these areas in your home to clear out and organize this week
filing cabinet, closet, computer, desk, bookshelves, music library, kitchen

By releasing the excess and organizing our living space, we acknowledge what we want, recognize who we are, and invite space into our homes and minds.