The Slow Down of Autumn

Here we are to one of the most spectacularly beautiful times of year. It inspires clearing as the leaves change and fall, slower paces as the dark descends, fun outdoor harvest events, the celebration of the a year of planting. We all feel the call to slow down and enjoy the beauty. I have found as I am at the start of the leaf change in NC, a stillness inside that is expanding. 

Most of us do not invite the stillness. We are so trained on production and activity that stillness is like sleeping. What I am finding as I flow with the presence and the seasons, a slow pace through the whole year is far more healthy. I can go and go and then drop from burnout. It has been a pattern my whole life. As I spiral my learning of this, I am seeing how it is far wiser and more efficient to be at a slower pace that sustains differently. Truly the breath, our leader and indicator of the rhythm that will support us well. 

We all know the natural cleansing of this time of year as we head into the inward winter cycle. It feels good to lighten up, clear out, purge and slow down. It still amazes me that from  all the learning on healing and health, water and breath are the two most important simple solutions to rhythm and flow. It is right under our nose, I have studied many systems and to realize in all of it, hydrate and breathe consciously bring the best pace and health. I inspire you in this magical pumpkin time of year, to visit how you use both in your life. 

Our pace is so hurried and the level of information we receive is overwhelming. When I watched kids in Colorado for a friend, what always got me was how the kids reacted after sustained computer activity. When they played games or were given computer time to play, it really was like taking a drug from an addict when they were done. They also expressed anger and frustration when time was up and really took a minute to reorient to playing outside or doing some other creativity. I don't know if we realize how much this techno world effects us. Not that it is bad but to see how balance and remembering to connect to the reality around us needs its space too. We are so tied to the technology and it often is dictating the pace. 

We all could be run by the outside that loudly grabs  our attention. That is the mess of fight or flight. The intensity of we have to do and be alert and be ready. As I have taken this journey to find a new home, never was I in such uncertainty. My breath was my ally to remember and calm down. The water of hydrating and remembering to flow the other solid thing that kept me sane and in calm. We don't realize how much the air we take in and the water we drink are the rhythm that runs our body. So simple and so profound that in all the things we do daily, these two matter most to our pace and fluidity, adaptability. It is a power trait in these times.  To be able to adjust and reorient so important. 

Even now on this Sunday morning, as the beautiful day unfolds, I feel the stillness of the mind so clear. It is something we all contend with, the mind chatter of what should be going on and the reality  of what is. To let that stillness seep in so the mind can rest and our body can recalibrate to the slower way. It offers joy and clarity in action as well as calm in the being. I inspire you to play with these to ride in a pace that works better for your body. Gone are the days where we can ignore the body and its signals. We now how illness will speak loud after not listening to it. All these ideas really add up to pace and inward listening that we have not been trained to use. 

The exhale so powerful. The rest after it so full of contentment. The hold after the inhale of all the potentiality available before we exhale. These pauses in the breath cycle truly where the field of opportunity, creativity and possibility live. And I have missed it most of my life. So busy moving and breathing shallowly thinking I would miss something if I didn't rush. That life would pass me by. When really so much of the joy in life is in those moments of pause or savor of the wonder I am around. Whether a conversation that has no timing or a sunset that warms my whole being. These are the pauses that regulate and sustain us. Play with them and see if you find a different pace to address life. Yes your mind and patterns will kick in but see if you can override them into more peace and calm.

I share as I learn what works for me. From the very beginning of learning the feminine arts, the oxybreath or breath of passion I learned always amazed me how I could shift into parasympathetic nervous system so easily and quickly. I could get the present chills in my body of oxytocin, all through a simple breath. It shocked me then the ease of it and still I find it the most basic tool that works the most for me. Noticing how I am in a state of movement or panic that feels not so good. A few simple breathes with the pleasure sound can reset me.  Yes we all know and have heard. Are we using this as fully as we could to embody a magical life?!

Enjoy the harvest season! Reach out if you need support to shift from anxiety to flowing in grace!