Honoring The Autumnal Season

This mindfulness will guide you in reflection and embodiment of balance, flow, and liminality, which are prominent themes in the Autumnal season. Sometimes we feel pulled in opposing directions and try to achieve balance through force or control. This mindfulness reminds you that balance in written into your being, you only need to surrender to the flow of the universe to be brought into alignment.

Transcript

Honoring the autumnal season.

In this guided mindfulness we are going to explore the themes of autumn including balance,

Harmony,

Flow,

And liminality.

We are going to start by focusing on the breath because the breath is one of our greatest teachers ceaselessly demonstrating balance,

Flow,

And liminality in each moment.

Tune into your breath and slow down your breath by breathing diaphragmatically and pausing between the exhale and inhale.

And again between your inhale and exhale.

If it's comfortable I invite you to balance your inhale with your exhale allowing the length of your inhale to meet the length of your exhale.

Then allowing the length of your exhale to meet the length of your inhale.

Notice if you can find a rhythm in your breath and move into being an observer of your breath.

Notice how your body is breathing itself.

Bring your awareness to the opposing yet necessary forces in your breathing.

In,

Out,

Expand,

Contract,

Fill,

Empty.

Dear ones this is everything we need to know about balance.

The natural world does not need to think about achieving balance.

The Sun does not worry that her light shines for longer in the summer and shorter in the winter.

The trees do not fret that their leaves are starting to sail away from their branches.

The golden rods have not been riddled with fear all summer that their blossoms are not opening like their coneflower neighbor.

No,

Instead the Sun and the moon,

The trees and the leaves,

The golden rods and coneflowers,

Butterflies and birds all know and a part of them older than their body and form that the flow of their cycles,

The harmony between light and dark,

New growth and decay,

Movement and rest,

Expansion and contraction is exactly right for them and therefore right for all that is connected to them.

Notice how this same balance is written inside of you.

Somewhere older than your body itself.

Flow,

Harmony and balance is what created you.

It is you and it sustains you.

Sometimes though we interfere in this natural balance unfolding within us,

We feel ourselves being pulled by these opposing forces of balance and believe we must take a side.

Take a moment to consider in what parts of your life or identity do you feel you are being pulled in opposing directions?

In what parts of your life are you searching for balance?

Dear ones,

When you feel pulled in two directions,

When you feel opposing energies and qualities within you,

You do not need to force,

You do not need to control,

You do not need to choose one of the two,

You do not need to take a side.

Use your breath to take a step back from these identities,

Roles,

Habits,

Behaviors that you have been trying to make sense of.

Take a moment,

Even if it's just this moment,

To allow both parts of you and your life to be exactly as they are.

Use your exhale to release tension and control you've been holding by trying to achieve balance through force.

Use your inhale to breathe in allowance,

Letting both of these parts be present within you exactly as they are.

Dear ones,

Autumn sends us this message,

You need both of those parts and they aren't exactly opposites,

Just two sides of the same coin.

The struggle you feel from the pull of seemingly opposing forces is not because you are doing it wrong,

It is because you so deeply want to do yourself right.

Take a moment to notice how intensely and tenderly you want to take care of yourself and honor the journey you are on.

That is beautiful energy my love.

Here's the thing,

You do not have to fight in force and control to find harmony within yourself.

Remember,

It is written in our beings,

We only need to let go,

To surrender,

To submerge ourselves in the beautifully mysterious flow of the universe to find the harmony and balance we so desperately seek.

Consider,

What might it look like to fully allow and surrender to these seemingly opposing forces that are working in communion to bring you into alignment?

How might you benefit from releasing control and inviting in ease and flow?

What fears,

Social conditioning,

Or systems are causing resistance to allow these parts of you to be present at once?

Often,

The suffering we feel is from trying to fight the natural flow within us to bring us into alignment.

Notice how your being has been beautifully working to bring you into alignment.

Perhaps you even feel grateful for some of the suffering you have been experiencing because that is your body's way of speaking to you,

Nudging you toward balance.

When we feel stuck,

Unable to find balance,

Yet unable to release ourselves into the flow of the universe,

We can look to the rhythm of the seasons and the natural world as our guide.

The equinox that begins the autumnal season represents liminality,

The passage between what was and what will be.

We are leaving behind the light,

Warmth,

And outward energy of the summer and entering the dark,

Cold,

Inward energy of the winter.

During this season of autumn,

We experience transition all around us.

Bountiful fields of crops and abundance transition to bare vines,

Plucked branches,

And decaying stalks.

Dewy mornings transition to frosty mornings.

Notice,

Though,

How the leaves on the grapevine are turning brown and floating to the ground,

Yet a cluster of plump,

Perfectly ripened grapes hang from her branches.

Or,

Notice those days where you feel the cool fall breeze whisk across your skin in the morning,

Yet it's replaced by a caressing summer warmth in the afternoon.

You see,

Dear ones,

Especially in this time of transition,

We are growing parts of ourselves while at the same time,

Other parts of ourselves,

Our lives,

Fall away.

We are expanding and contracting all at once.

In these times of change,

Of liminality,

We often feel confused,

Lost,

And fearful.

That is okay.

You can allow all these emotions to be present within you while holding on to this truth.

You already have everything you need within you to be carried into perfect balance.

To feel this truth in your body,

Return your focus to your breath.

And,

Again,

Notice the rhythmic pattern of your breath.

Notice your body breathing itself.

Now,

Focus your attention on the pause between your exhale and inhale.

This pause represents liminality,

The transition that is present in this season of autumn and in our lives right now.

Notice how you aren't searching for the inhale or exhale during that brief pause.

This pause offers us a landing point between breaths,

Like a landing between flights of stairs.

We are not yet going up.

We are not yet going down.

We see where we have come from,

And we see where we are about to go.

Take a moment to reflect on where you are coming from and where you are going to as you are experiencing this time of liminality on the landing between what was and what will be during this season of autumn.

Where is your energy being pulled to expand,

And where is your energy being pulled to contract?

What intentions are you thinking about setting as you balance the shift from outward summer energy to inward winter energy?

What did you learn during last winter season about yourself,

Your needs,

Or your environment,

And how can you build upon this learning to prepare for the upcoming winter season?

As we begin to wrap up this mindfulness,

Bring your attention back to your breath.

Feel in your body the balance between inhale and exhale,

Expansion and contraction.

Feel the flow in your breath,

How you do not need to think about breathing.

Your body breathes itself,

Seamlessly weaving your inhale into your exhale into one circular process.

Feel again the liminality,

The moment of transition between inhale and exhale,

Moving from what was to what is.

Dear ones,

You are balance.

You are flow.

You are liminality.

It is written into your being.

Your breath tells you this each moment.

This innate force within you,

The transition of autumn,

And the gentle balancing energy of the season are inviting you to the sacred dance of harmony.

Reviews

Such a beautiful, soothing meditation! Thank you so much 🙏💚

Thank you for truly being open and reminding us to embody this during the seasonal transition. Everything in my being extends gratitude for your intentions, dedication to time, and willingness to live life harmoniously. This feels soothing to lingering mental fatigue and brings a clearer pointer to my innate intelligence during this natural shift in rhythm during autumn.