October’s falling leaves and shriveling flowers and plants represent the upcoming winter in our hemisphere. The days get shorter, the nights get longer and the opportunity to turn inward expands.
Before television and even newspapers, as humans we were able to sense these phenomena and the energy of the season. Fall is a season of grief and having to let go. The season also governs organization, setting limits and protecting boundaries. Have you felt the need to clean your closets? Have you made new resolutions around relationships in your life, either at home or at work? This is a good thing.
It is also a good time to focus on projects and on cultivating our body and mind connection. The lungs are the organs associated with the fall. One can become more mindful in letting go of anything that we might be holding onto in order to make room for new experiences and new beginnings. Death, after all, is part of the cycle of our life. Death and replenishment of cells is a daily process and part of our evolution.
Change is something that is happening all the time. Every experience that we have throughout our life carries with it an energy or an emotion — a vibrational movement of energy. Every experience we have can either can get stuck in our bodies or move in and out freely. The decision is whether to stay in movement or sit still. As with cleaning our closets, it is a good time to make sure you are cleansing your body and being an active partner in shedding the cells that are dying, as well as releasing the “emotional energy” that gets trapped when the body is going through changes.
Movement is the key to letting life flow through us and to not getting stuck in any one particular state of being. Early this year, Washington, D.C., was ranked the healthiest city in America by an MSN poll. This was based on the number of bike trails, gyms and other studios available that offer healthy ways to move our body. Although, at times, it seems that within the city we are further from nature than ever, the opportunities are there if you choose to seek them out. Health is a decision. Mental health and physical health are inseparable.
In Eastern philosophy, physical bodies are classified into three basic foundational energies. This is a general blueprint to the path of optimal healing for the mind and body. Not every tending exercise is the perfect fit for “every-body.” In the fitness field since the age of 16, I have taught, taken and participated in everything out there, from Aerobics to Zumba. However, when I found yoga it drew me in. I always come back to the benefits I receive from getting personal with my body with a daily yoga practice.
I have been on my mat for half my life now, as I approach my 50th birthday. I still love participating in all kinds of activities: indoor cycling, stand-up paddleboarding, hiking and skiing, to name a few. It is my yoga practice that has sustained my ability to be healthy enough to continue to do these things without injury. It has also given me a sanctuary in the business of life to stay not only physically healthy, but mentally balanced. There is no magic formula to ease the pain of being human, but as Buddha said, “Suffering is optional.”
