Fall Seasonal Guide for Embodied Living

Fall Invitations

Summer gave us a lot of life that felt expansive. Longer days, looser schedule, more travel, fresh grown food, activity, and spontaneity.

Fall invites us inward. The days become shorter, structured schedules, and the garden selection changes. As the light changes and the air cools, nature begins releasing what it no longer needs.

The more we can practice noticing what is going on around us, the easier it will be to respond to what is also happening within us.

It is not sustainable to live the same way year around. This way of being can lead to illness, injury, burnout, and relational stress.

Our bodies and lives are designed to live in rhythm with nature.

What are you ready to release?

The Rhythm of Fall

Fall is a season of preparation, transition, letting go, and grounding. The attributes are cold, dry, changeable, and irregular. This is a common time when our digestion, sleep, bodies, and breath can feel out of sorts as well. As we notice these changes in nature, it is our cue to look at food, daily rhythms, and lifestyle practices to help us stay grounded, nourished, steady, and warm.

As the days get shorter and the climate turns cold and dry, shifting from day to day with the changing winds, we can cultivate regularity and well-being through simple lifestyle practices. Balance can look like:

• Eating warm, cooked foods

• Sipping warm drinks (iced drinks can "freeze" up digestion)

• Longer held yoga postures

• Time, space and method of prayer

• Earlier dinner and bedtime

Living Embodied in Fall

Move toward grounding. Move slower. Fall is about moving away from constant stimulation, activation, and drive. Choose movement that returns you to steadiness. Helpful movement might be:

• Walking (a slow "sniff" walk as my friend Amy calls it)

• Switch out cardio for weights

• Slower yoga (therapeutic, hatha)

Choose movement that nourishes you, not depletes you. In this transitional season it is most beneficial to choose movement that helps you feel a sense of being gathered, regulated, and grounded.

Create rhythm around rest.

The shorter days naturally offer more time for rest. Be mindful of excessive bright lights in the evening. We have the convenience of having lights on whenever we want, but that doesn't mean we should. More light means less melatonin. Just like the climate of fall, our sleep can become dry, irregular, and restless. Do what you can to embrace nature's invitation to slow down and prepare for the quieter months of winter ahead with an evening wind-down routine. Some ideas may be:

• Eat dinner before 7:00 pm

• Dim your indoor lighting

• Short, evening walk

• Limit sensory stimulation

• Restorative or yin yoga

• Prayer/Nightly Examen

• Earlier bedtime

• Yoga Nidra to help fall back asleep if you wake up

Establishing a nightly routine will support a regulated nervous system. How you end your evening determines how you begin your day.

Rest is not limited to sleep. Rest is a practice of receiving. Discover ways in your life to receive more this fall. For me somedays it's simply choosing to walk away from work, and sit for 5 quiet minutes.

Choose warmth and nourishment.

Fall is the time to stay warm with hot, cooked food. It's also important to slow down and receive the nourishment you're taking it. Nourishment is not only from food, but what we take in with all our senses. Fall nourishment could include:

• Soups and stews

• Root vegetables

• Warming spices and teas

• Taking 3 slow breaths before eating a meal

• Loving relationships (cut out toxic relationships)

• Scripture

• Get outside (nature is putting on a show)

• Favorite yoga postures

• Practice noticing what you are taking in through touch, sight, sound, smell, and taste.

Nourishment is about what we consume and digest through body, soul, and spirit.

Return and Reconnect. Connection is naturally about gathering in fall. The cold winds blow and the leaves scatter. We can easily feel scattered and untethered when we continue to live an over-scheduled, task-oriented, achievement-driven life, or when we try to carry the active rhythms of summer into fall. Too much doing can leave us feeling overwhelmed, depleted, and burned out.

The fall season naturally invites me to return and reconnect with the deeper sense of purpose and meaning I receive from Jesus, beyond the roles and responsibilities that can so easily define my days. For me, this return also means gently turning away from some of the busyness and expectations that can pull me away from what matters most.

I'm reminded by nature that there is wisdom in letting go. As the natural environment transitions from activity and production, it begins to soften, release, and return. I wonder what it might look like for us to do the same?

In the spirit of connection let's consider:

• Who or what helps me feel grounded?

• Is there a relationship that has become a source of stress?

• Is there anything I'm feeling anxious about in this season? Where do I notice that sensation in my body?

• How might I offer my anxiety or my gratitude to God?

• What in my life needs tending? Is it something practical? Emotional? Physical? Spiritual? Relational?

What we tend to in this season becomes what supports us in the next.