Support Your Body & Mind During Autumn Season
Autumn is here in the northern hemisphere and I couldn't be more excited!
With the cooler breeze and dance of warming colours from tree-to-tree, it's a beauty to watch and experience. However, once the leaves have all fallen to the ground and the crispness of the air gets too intense, I'm ready to fly off somewhere hot 😄
What does the Autumn weather mean to us?
Mala featured here is the EARTH mala from the Elements Collection.
Cold and windy. For some parts, even dryness. Which means, aggravated lightness of mind, digestion, and excessive movements such as anxiety and agitation within the body, mind, emotions, etc.
To help balance out these imbalances, which in Ayurveda is considered a VATA imbalance (my most predominate dosha!), consider these 4 things in your daily routines for the season:
•stay hydrated: with good, quality water. It kind of goes without saying that hydrating during a dry season counterbalances the dryness.
•stick to a regular schedule: flying by the seat of your pants aggravates the stability that is craved during this time. Going to sleep and waking up at a scheduled time is so helpful.
•eat seasonally: what's available during this season is what will most support your body. Eat with the season! Apples, pumpkins, cranberries, eggplant, beetroot, etc.
•include calming practices: finding time to ground down and connect with the earth element balances the air-like quality of being up in your head. Meditation, journaling, grounding breathing exercises, gentle yoga, holding the Mudra below can all prove to be very beneficial during this time of the year.
•invite local herbs: same idea applies as to the "eat seasonally" point above. Local, wild plants, herbs and fungi carry with them the necessary nourishment our body needs during this time of year. Though what's available to you will wildly (see what I did there :) vary from where I live, here in the West Coast of BC, I'd be looking at burdock, dandelion root, and echinacea - among others.
Bhu Mudra
This Mudra helps activate the Earth element which is grounding, stable, and much more structured than, let's say, Air and Space.
To practice simply sit for 5-10 minutes in a comfortable position and bring attention to the smells around you.
How to Practice:
💚curl in your pinky and ring finger toward your palm
💚place your thumb overtop of them to hold
💚extend index finger & middle finger
💚holding these two fingers in a "V" shape
💚gentle press both fingers of both hands down onto the ground
💚you're creating a mountain shape with your whole body
💚breathe and take notice of the smells around you
