SPRING INTO FALL

You can actually close your eyes and FEEL the change of the seasons coming. The smell of the cooler air and the smell of the vegetation changing. Try it - go outside, practice some Pratyahara by closing your eyes and just use your other senses to taste the change. Change is all around us, and we are all part of it.

Often we don't want to be part of the change though. We want those long summer daylight hours, the warm sun on our skin. We want to continue to be as active as we were all summer. We want to go-go-go still. Often we anticipate the end of summer with some regret, or some thoughts that we still want to do more summer things. We want to continue to hike, bike, camp, swim, garden, build things, fish and boat.

Think about the bears and the moose - do they wish for more summer? Do you think they are a bit depressed about the season change? Or are they just living in the moment taking change as a natural course of events in their life? Change is every day, every hour, every moment. We are change as we are part of nature.

Ayurveda practice tells us that summer is Pitta season - hot, energetic, amped up. We are starting to move from into Vata season - light, airy, windy, variable, unsettled, changing constantly. Fall in nature is the time of harvest, of the start of pulling-in and slowing down. There are three Ayurvedic constitutions (doshas) we each have, and usually one is dominant. I am mostly Pitta. For me, the change to Fall from Summer can be unhealthy. I don't so much enjoy the shorter days. l still have things I want to do - summer things, like go boating and climbing. To stay healthy though, I am starting (as I do every year) to accept the change of seasons. I start to slow down my drive to be busy ALL the time. Not easy.

The vibratory sense of our bodies wants to be in sync with that of nature. We are all part of the energetic vibration of the universe. Our minds, actually the egoic mind, often leads us to continuing our summer schedule of go-go-go. Our Buddhi (sanscrit for the ability of he mind to reason, to evaluate, to analyze and choose the best options) is helpful to tell us it is ok to accept the change of seasons and to slow down. Buddhi says it is ok to go for that long hike, but walk a bit slower, notice nature a bit more (stop and pick some blueberries, take a picture of that golden mushroom). Buddhi says to listen to your body - your heart. Get out of the egoic mindset of going, and get into the calming nature of just being.

Take a deep inhale to fill your lungs to capacity, hold it. Now let it out very slowly. Fell that? That is nature slowing down and getting ready for Fall. Enjoy the Fall an embrace the change of seasons.

[you can learn about your Ayurvedic dosha at: www.joyfulbelly.com]