Sylvester the barn cat napping in his sunflower tent😻
The Autumn Equinox is almost upon us!
This is the time of the final Harvest, the time to reap all that has been sown and to begin to settle in and prepare for the coming winter.
As a long time student of Ayurveda and ancient wisdom traditions, I always find it useful to understand the gifts of the seasons as well as the power of the transitions between them.
In Ayurveda, a 5000+ year old, nature-based healing system, that may well be the root of modern medicine, there are 3 doshas, or constitutions, based upon your unique combination of the 5 elements: Earth,Water, Fire, Air and Space.
Vata is Air and Space. Pitta is Fire and Water. Kapha is Earth and Water.
We all have a birth constitution, and then we can have shifts out of our unique elemental balance with life experiences. You may recognize yourself as you consider the qualities of each of the elements.
This is the basis of this self healing modality, also known as "the Science of Life".
The seasons, times of day and times of life, and all living things are composed of these 5 elements as well.
The autumn season can exacerbate the dosha Vata, which is composed of the elements air and space. In autumn, the air becomes dry and the leaves are light as they are released from the trees.
Each of the 3 doshas has qualities unique to them, and for Vata, the qualities are mobile, changeable, cool and light.
Like increases like...so if you are made mostly of air and space like I am, autumn may cause some imbalances in your mind, body and spirit. For all of us, though, the speed of the world and its stresses can lead many of us to a state of Vata imbalance/excess, even if this is not your primary dosha, especially in these harrowing days.
Vata rules the nervous system, and is the only one of the 3 doshas that moves.
You may recognize these qualities in yourself if you are restless and have a busy mind, or feel as if you are literally blowing in the wind.
Opposites heal and bring balance,
So without knowing any more than this, by paying new attention, you already have tools to shift yourself toward balance when you feel off kilter!
If you are feeling flighty, ground!
If you are moving too fast, Slow down!
It can be that simple...and requires your intentional, present moment, nonjudgmental attention.
Traditional Chinese Medicine is also based on the 5 elements, but differs slightly from Ayurveda.
The 5 elements of TCM are Water, Wood, Fire, Earth and Metal.
While the Equinox and solstice points are ruled by the Earth element, Fall is the realm of the Metal element, which governs the acupuncture meridians Lung and Large Intestine.
Emotionally, Lung in balance shows up as inspiration; out of balance it can manifest as grief. Large intestine in balance manifests as faith, focus and the ability to strive for perfection; out of balance, it may manifest as difficulty letting go.
Autumn is a season of letting go, as gently and without resistance as the trees drop their leaves.
Fall can be especially hard, therefore if you are a Metal personality or have unresolved grief, or difficulty letting go-of people, things, slights, emotions....or for me-difficulty letting go of the warmth and vibrancy of summer!
So in general, Autumn is challenging for Vatas (but honestly, that includes most of us in this crazy busy world!) and for folks with a predominance of metal in their constitution.
The details and nuances of YOUR constitution are best and most accurately determined by pulse readings by experienced practitioners, but can be discerned to at least some degree thru questionnaires that you may find online as well as your own wisdom.
There is much to study and learn-thousands of years of work- and most of us simply will neither be able to nor desire to become expert in the theories and principles.
But the most important simple, quite revolutionary thing I am inviting you to, is a recognition that when we are "on speed", rushing around, focused on the future, regretting the past, and therefore not being present to this moment, there WILL be imbalances.
The antidote is to SLOW DOWN and pay attention to WHAT is happening rather than WHY it is happening.
Most of this ancient wisdom comes from observation.
If you start to pay attention in a new way, the world opens and there is more information than you can ever notice when rushing around.
Thus the opportunity to begin healing and balancing is right here in your own presence, in your own hands, in this very moment.
This is of course a very superficial overview of very deep and complex work!
I find it essential, though, to realize that we are all made of the same elements as nature. And since we are ALL a part of nature, we change as do the seasons, the days, the moments.
Knowing this offers a unique and fresh lens through which to better view and therefore understand ourselves and all our challenges, strengths, joys and sticky places.
Just practice being here now, like this and see what you can learn about yourself.
You are one of a kind which is why, in my humble opinion, "one size fits all" modalities are not likely to work or help. We are each as unique as a fingerprint.
Don't abandon yourself.
Practice trusting your own insights and wisdom and noticing what is so without judgment.
Start to investigate whether your choices fit you in your uniqueness.
💖If you would like to lean more about Ayurveda and its applications to your life, please scroll down and see 2 new courses offered by my mentor and dear friend, Amadea Morningstar💖
You may be starting to see that both of these ancient wisdom traditions, then, recognize that we as humans seek balance because we ARE nature.
Therefore our work in every season and at all transitions is to relax and release into the natural flow of inevitable change, as effortlessly as the seasons change.
An important part of autumn is grounding. A very simple grounding exercise is to stand on the earth barefoot, especially in the wet grass, as water conducts electricity. The earth is a repository of electrons, negatively charged particles that can neutralize free radicals that can form in the body and disrupt health. We can literally ground ourselves into the support of the earth to bring greater balance!
You may notice your body is called more to root vegetables than salads at this time of year to help ground and warm as the temperatures drop, desiring heavier foods to balance the lightness of the season.
A safe choice is to eat with the seasons. Sweet potatoes are bring dug now...because it is time.
Vata needs to ground and warm to come into balance.
You may find your skin needs more moisturizing as the autumn winds blow.
Listen.
You have the power to heal in your own hands
“Now we will count to twelve
and we will all keep still.
For once on the face of the earth
let's not speak in any language,
let's stop for one second,
and not move our arms so much.
It would be an exotic moment
without rush, without engines,
we would all be together
in a sudden strangeness.
Fishermen in the cold sea
would not harm whales
and the man gathering salt
would look at his hurt hands.
Those who prepare green wars,
wars with gas, wars with fire,
victory with no survivors,
would put on clean clothes
and walk about with their brothers
in the shade, doing nothing.
What I want should not be confused
with total inactivity.
Life is what it is about;
I want no truck with death.
If we were not so single-minded
about keeping our lives moving,
and for once could do nothing,
perhaps a huge silence
might interrupt this sadness
of never understanding ourselves
and of threatening ourselves with death.
Perhaps the earth can teach us
as when everything seems dead
and later proves to be alive.
Now I'll count up to twelve
and you keep quiet and I will go.”
― Pablo Neruda
Yoga nidra is another powerful practice that guides us to a greater place of balance, flow and ease.
It resets the autonomic nervous system so that we start again with a clean and clear slate, releasing the traumas and burdens of the past and worries about the future.
In these current times, it can be difficult to remember that we are a part of a magnificent whole.
Sometimes that energetic interconnectedness means that we take on the anger, angst and fear of the whole, which, when added to our own, can become overwhelming.
Yoga nidra gives us a way to release all that is not ours and, rather than being driven by the "consensus trance", to drop into our deepest truest selves, accessing our own deep wisdom, and planting seeds in the subconscious mind that allow us each to live to our fullest potential.
Then, as the Buddha said, we can aspire
" To be in the world, but not of it"
There are 2 yoga nidra offerings for September. I hope you can join us!
Yoga Nidra Offerings for September
Community Yoga Nidra for Razz Yoga
Friday September 9
7pm
All are welcome!
Fall Equinox Yoga Nidra
Sunday September 18
1pm
Work with Me
I've been teaching and learning from Mindfulness for the last 18 years. I'm a 20 year student of Ayurveda and have 5+ years of practice and 2 years of training in Eden Energy medicine,17 years of yoga and yoga nidra teaching and daily ongoing practice in all these modalities and more.
What I have learned is that I have lived much of my life out of touch with my body, not aligned with my true self and separate from nature. When I started this healing work, there were no mentors for me, perhaps because I didn't know where to look or more likely, I didn't know to even look at all.
It was not easy, but in the trail blazing on my own, choosing to follow my own intuition about what I needed, I ultimately found mentors that my heart resonated with, learned a lot, embodied what felt true to me and I would love to help you do the same.
My deepest wish, and the true motivation for all my work, is that no one ever feel as alone as I did when I began my healing journey (which is ongoing, by the way 😍)
If you'd like to learn more about me and my work, please click the button below. I'd love to accompany you on your healing journey💕🙏
It is a pleasure to share some offerings from 2 of my very favorite people in the world!
Learn from my Mentors
Study With Amadea
My dear friend and mentor Amadea Morningstar, author of The Ayurvedic Cookbook , The Ayurvedic Cookbook for Westerners, Easy Healing Drinks from the Wisdom of Ayurveda, and The Ayurvedic Guide to Polarity Therapy is offering some awesome, accessible, understandable Ayurvedic classes this fall. She is a wonderful teacher and makes Ayurveda come alive for everyone in this modern day!
Explore her 2 new classes for fall by clicking below:
Dynamics of Ayurvedic Nutrition, Marma, Mind, Mahagunas
https://amadeamorningstar.net/dynamics-of-ayurvedic-nutrition/
Adapt Recipes for Individual & Cultural Needs
https://amadeamorningstar.net/adapt-recipes/
Her wise and thoughtful teachings have enhanced my understanding of Ayurveda and inform my daily life. I am so grateful for her friendship and teachings for the last 20 years🙏💕
Check out her classes if this resonates!
Here's a short video with Amadea about making smoothies more digestible using Ayurvedic principals
💖💖💖💖💖💖
Learn from Prune Harris
I've been following Prune's energy work for several years.
Her work is transformative, and especially healing and relevant for my tender nervous system.
I had the great honor of interviewing Prune for my 2019 Summit Getting to the Root of Modern Disease.
Watch our interview, Your Bio-Field and You
Prune has an amazing understanding of energy, having been able to see energy for her whole life! Her offerings on her you tube channel are gentle yet powerful and I use her work daily to bring myself toward balance.
Her soft and lovely presence is a balm in itself and her teachings have helped me immensely.
Many of you know that I often share Prune's exercises to settle in before yoga nidra and in mindfulness work.
She is a marvelous human and a fantastic teacher and I am honored to share her current work with you!
An offering from Prune:
If someone asked you to describe your soul, what would you say to them?
You might try to describe your soul with a collection of words such as “happy” or “optimistic” or “sensitive”, for example. But those are words we use to describe our feelings, which may be very different from one day to the next. These words probably aren’t so useful to describe the enduring characteristics of our souls.
Prune says that a soul is a form of energy… and energy is vibration… and every vibration has its own frequency and wavelength… and those properties give vibrations COLOUR. Prune is able to see people’s soul energy the moment she looks at them. It’s amazing and quite rare.
You may be wondering, what colour is your soul? And what does it mean if your soul is red, orange, yellow, green, blue, or violet? Or a more unusual colour such as deep indigo, silver, or even opalescent?
Here’s the great news! Prune has decided to share her insights about soul colour with the world.
With this book, you’ll have a guide not only to your own soul colour, but also to the likely soul colours of the people around you -- making it easier for you to understand their strengths, challenges, and ways of being in the world.
Click the image below to receive your free ebook!
Prune also has some amazing offerings coming up that I will share with you in the coming weeks
Her work is truly transformative and I cannot recommend it enough!
💫💖💫💖💫💖💫💖💫
"We were not meant to live shallow lives, pocked by meaningless routines and the secondary satisfactions of happy hour.
We are the inheritors of an amazing lineage, rippling with memories of life lived intimately with bison and gazelle, raven and the night sky.
We are designed to encounter this life with amazement and wonder, not resignation and endurance.
This is at the very heart of our grief and sorrow. T
he dream of full-throated living, woven into our very being, has often been forgotten and neglected, replaced by a societal fiction of productivity and material gain.
No wonder we seek distractions.
Every sorrow we carry extends from the absence of what we require to stay
engaged in this one wild and precious life".
~ Francis Weller
🌻🌻🌻🌻
I wish you an autumn season rich with inspiration, the easy release of all that keeps you too small, and a deep reengagement with yourself and nature.
Learn to be YOU
Let go of all that does not serve or honor you in your uniqueness.
Learn to trust you body and intuition.
You are the one who knows you best!
Listen to your own deep wisdom.
As you actively participate in your own healing, you will feel yourself remembering the truth of who you really are.
Come now into your fullest magnificent glory
I am grateful for you!
Love
gina
💖☀️🌻☮️
