Teetering on the cusp of transition: BEHOLD! The Autumn Equinox! 🍂🍁🍃🌗

This post is taken from an earlier piece originally published in 2011 and is now a transcript of the podcast episode #18, recorded in 2018. Here's a link to listen to the show + get the shownotes

I wanted to share a post with you talking about the significance of the autumn equinox and offer some self care tips and ideas for rituals that are helping me transition and find balance. (There’s a bigger post of these here!)

Although it feels strange to talk about autumn when it’s still Blazin’ (Squad...sorry, i couldn't help myself), the Autumn Equinox is almost upon us. The winds of change. Reaching the point of equal day and night. Leaving the glorious and gluttonous summer behind make big shifts as we transition towards winter. Endings and beginnings...Can you feel it?

Speeeeeeaking of which, before we dive in, i should mention a freshly baked project, right out of the oven::::::

It’s launching September 2022 and you can get a reminder when it’s live by signing up below!

Take Care of You AUTUMN

Self Care. Ayurveda. Mindfulness. Creativity. Movement. Ritual.

A programme to nourish and inspire you through autumn.🍃

Now open for enrolment

Finding rest, tenderness and creativity amidst a global pandemic.

These have been deeply intense and overwhelming years. I’m aware of the deep craving for feeling better, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. I want that for us. I want that for us so much…

I also want us to find ways to do that in ways that don’t make us feel even more depleted. So i’m devoting this last part of the year towards practices that support us to find nourishment, tenderness and space, by any means necessary.

For the fifth year running, i’m holding space this season to journey into exploring self care and creativity via my updated online programme, Take Care of You Autumn. A self-paced self care package delivered over 4 weeks, but can be dipped into any time you need during the season.

I’m holding space to support and explore
how we can take care of ourselves
and our creativity this autumn!

It’s a practice, so this is for those who want to commit to being well, but without all the pressure to add more stuff that doesn’t feel spacious to our lives. Therefore, it’s not a bootcamp, more a lovefest. ...Hold on, did that sound weird? Ok it’s more a space to be you, bravely.

✨To give tender attention to being well and
actively practicing self care

✨To nourish your emotional health

✨To explore mindfulness and creativity in ways that feel spacious and accessible

✨To develop and deepen your own yoga and movement and self care practice

✨Life nourishment 101.

It’s all very exciting and this will be an intimate and nurturing space. A combination of yoga + movement + meditation + wellness + creativity + self care with heaps of support, this programme is a holistic one.

We’re not interested in “how to get fit in a month”, rather, how can we support ourselves to instil self care practices and commit to nourishing ourselves on every level as we move through the season and beyond, so that we might cultivate better attention to ourselves, and with that intention, show up from a wholehearted place grounded in feeling better.

And you don’t have to do it alone!

I’ve prepared a curriculum for you that i will be delivering to you every week via a self care package, filled with tools to develop and advance your own practice (i’ve recorded a series of videos and podcasts for you plus new bonus content), creative exercises for you to contemplate and explore, and also dollops of inspiration for when you just need to feel held and supported.

I’ll be sharing tips, encouragement and support plus expect humour. Because what is life, without practicing joy as a tool for self care.

Not only that, but you can do it at your own pace, in your own time!

If this sounds like something that could be helpful for you right now, sign up for updates above. Hope to meet you in our autumnal cocoon ✨

Ok, let’s get into exploring the autumn equinox and i’ll share some things that are helping me during this transitional time.

My relationship with Autumn

I used to really struggle with this time of year. The S.A.D was real. Living in Norway and experiencing the extreme weather and darkness of winter that was literally like an episode of Fargo (just with more rain), i struggled to find the light. Literally.

But experiencing my fair share of Norwegian winters really gave me the greatest gift: To really appreciate this idea of creating light for myself. Yeah yeah, i know that might sound like something cheddary you see on Pinterest (...and i do spend a fair amount of time on there to be fair...) but it’s true. It's good to remind ourselves that you can *ahem* weather the storms of autumn and winter, the shifts and turns in between, and in fact, any wild ride be it a change in season or a massive life shift.

But you have to start with yourself first. Nahmean?

...You know what i'm going to say here. It’s about self care (again..) but it’s core to all of this. Because it’s necessary. You can read all the links/articles/magazines/blogs you like that tell you "click here for the only 10 things you need to get motivated/find your pizzaz/get a job/be happy this season", but it's not going to change anything unless it comes from you. That is, with your own reflections and considerations. It’s not a one-size fits all thing.

But- there might be some stuff of value that pings your pants which you can apply or adapt for yourself to get what you want. Be it balance. Contentment. A job. Self acceptance. etc.

So, I’ve written this blog for you about this thing called the Autumn Equinox, which is a super symbolic moment in our calendar, but it can be applied to life whatever the season. There’s offerings and some examples of things that you might explore, but see what works for you. I really hope it helps you to find inspiration and the balance you need to ride out transitions, *ahem* whatever the weather.

Transition

So the Autumn equinox in the northern hemisphere occurs when the sun’s equator lines up with the southern hemisphere. The first day of autumn is the day this transition occurs - and this, my darlings, is the equinox in a conker shell! We are literally teetering on the cusp as the length of daylight and darkness become equal. We experience two equinox (is this the plural?) per year, one as winter shifts to spring and the other as summer moves into autumn.

This year, 2022, the Autumn Equinox will begin at 02.02 BST on 22 September.

Our days will begin to get shorter and we start the shift towards winter with longer nights and darker days.

👋🏽 Farewell to summer

Goodbye to that lighter, more energetic season, a time where we are busy packing in lots of activities and probably outside a lot. Autumn in contrast, offers a period of harvest: things dying off, coming to a natural end, a time we become more introverted, reflective and, well, simply not as energetic as summertime.

As the trees shed their leaves and go back into the earth, we are also afforded the opportunity to draw in, retreat, reflect and reconnect by releasing the stuff we don’t need. Because with endings also come new beginnings.

We are part of a bigger cycle.

Autumn in Bergen, Norway some time in 2011

💞 Autumn and the mind-body connection

Autumn offers a period of harvest, things dying off, coming to a natural end, a time we become more introverted, reflective and, well, tired. As the trees go back into their roots, we are also afforded the opportunity to draw in, retreat, reflect and reconnect by releasing the stuff we don’t need.

As the shift of the energy changes the planet, we might also experience an altering environment, observing subtle nuances in the northern hemisphere such as leaves falling away, and perhaps also the altering of our own energy, naturally connected to our environment.

We are nature and therefore connected to our environments so the equinox can be a potent time for contemplation, with visual symbolism all round. Take autumn leaves and their colours for example: ample reds, oranges, yellows and some greens - all representing the lower chakras - synonymous with the more primal and downward moving energies via the root, sacral and solar plexus. We grounding baby!

Perhaps you’re noticing around this time that you’re feeling unusually tired? Or perhaps experiencing a chill in your shoulders? Sniffles emerging? Throat got that slight closed-cave feeling? Lips a little chappy? Skin drying-up?

This period of 1-2 weeks around the equinox throws out junk at a cellular level so symptoms like these are not unusual. As we get rid of the stuff that isn't useful to us, we can make way for the goodness to move in. There’s a deeper message there eh?

Self care + ritual ideas for the equinox / how my practice shifts with the season

As we get rid of the stuff that isn’t useful to us, we can make way for the goodness to move in. In my practice, this looks like working on getting more rest, attempting to uphold a daily meditation practice to help my energy levels, and avoiding stimulants like coffee and sugar. It doesn’t mean depriving myself of things I want, rather being more conscious about how i treat myself during these changes.

Of course, my physical yoga practice also shifts to one that offers me more steadfastness. I seek more grounding postures that make me aware of my connection to the earth. I also take the opportunity to look inside, generating some heat and taking my time to warm up my joints and tissues. And most of all I love a detoxing twist, the perfect metaphor of “finding balance”: releasing and unwinding whilst also opening up potential for new space and reinvigorating my energy.

One of the most meaningful rituals for me at this time is really being aware that with endings come new opportunities. I feel so strongly that no matter what situation we find ourselves in we all have options. I think about living in Norway, observing the changing colours of the landscape, the heavier, more aggressive rain, and the relentless wind and storms. I would fight it so hard but always be defeated (hello, remember when i got stuck up Fløyen that time?! lol!), but have learned to surrender to this transition, choosing to use my energy in ways that feel in-flow. That includes, slowing down to appreciate what has come before. Taking a pause before planting new seeds in place of those things that have now died off, vouching to make the most of this moment. Having a “reset”, clearing out the space - be it ridding the toxins of the body and mind (and environment where possible).

It’s a time of rebalancing after more intense work, turning inwards and becoming more attuned to the changing season. It also offers the chance to release the past and look forward with more clarity and prepare for the coming winter.

Let go and trust.

I hope you stay well and warm in this shape shifting time. Here’s to the red gold and green fingers of transition!

✨And if you’re interested in exploring your practice of self care and creativity with me during the autumn season, you might be interested in this bumper post of self care tips and rituals for the autumn season.✨

🍃And if the Take Care of You autumn programme sounds like something that could be helpful
for you right now, head to this link to get a preview and sign up.
Hope to meet you in our autumnal cocoon ✨