SEASONAL SELF-CARE BLOG

HARVEST ABUNDANCE

Posted on October 18th, 2017

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A few weekends ago I went apple picking and pumpkin hugging upstate with my friend Melanie and her absolutely adorable 2 year old daughter, Annabella. It was incredible to be walking in the midst of the fields, picking our way through apples, squashes & veggies galore, feasting on the colors and abundant offerings of the Fall Harvest. I loved seeing it all through the eyes of Annabella, who loved tasting each apple from every tree which had low enough branches that she could pick from. Her exuberance and curiosity about life was overflowing! It was an experience of enjoying the fullness of life, the fullness of the pumpkins in all of their glory as they lay right next to their stalks that had nourished them until this moment. The birthing vines were now starting to dry up and decompose back into the earth, leaving the pumpkin as an offering, a gift from the Earth.

Ahhh Harvest time-the abundance of the last fruits and vegetables offered before nature takes it’s yearly winter’s slumber. The bounty sitting alongside the simultaneous decay of matter as it contracts, pulling inwards and downwards returning to the earth to fertilize the seeds of Spring’s rebirth. The Fall Harvest is simultaneously a celebration and a letting go. It is the time to distinguish between what is nutritional and should be kept and what can be released and left for compost. 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. This environmental distillation is mirrored in our bodies, minds, and lives. The Autumn harvest offers the opportunity to celebrate and focus our energies on that which we want to birth and let go of that which no longer nourishes our lives and dreams. It is the time to invite abundance and vitality into our lives as we 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,

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.

HOME HARVEST

Use the metal element to help you harvest your home. Cut through the disorder with the metal element’s ability to discern and systematize. Fall is the time to organize the clutter in your home, release the agitation in your mind, and clear out the chaos in your life. By releasing the excess and organizing our living space and minds, we acknowledge what we want, recognize who we are, and invite space into our homes and lives.

ORGANIZE the chaos in your home

SYSTEMATIZE areas of congestion. Pick one of these areas in your home to clear out and organize this week – filing cabinet, closet, computer, desk, bookshelves, kitchen

JOURNAL to let go of what is swirling around in your mind

FOCUS on what you want to bring to full manifestation

CELEBRATE and enjoy the fruits of your life!

Join me in Sweden this November for Seasonal Self-Care workshops at the Stockholm Yoga and Dance Festival, Nov. 3-5 and and for my Inward Journey: Seasonal Alignment workshops at AWS Studio in Uppsala, Nov. 11-12.

 

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.