Cooler Autumn mornings, the trees painting colors, spiderwebs and pumpkins, and still some bursts of sunny heat. It's a busy time for many of us, between school, work, upcoming elections, caregiving, and the rest of Life-- all the ups and downs, fears and worry, love and hope of it...
Are you holding your breath?
In Chinese Medicine, the Fall season is connected with the Lung and Large Intestine, specifically the qualities of release, letting go, and exhaling. This is the outbreath. We must breathe all the way out, in order to receive a full in-breath, full inspiration. And actually just doing this can be a great reset that takes just seconds, easy to insert (as you begin to remember to do so) as you send an email, before eating, walking in the door, or any time. Breathing practice with long exhales is known to calm stress and anxiety, stabilize the mind and steady the heart, lower blood pressure, activate the vagus nerve, balance the autonomic nervous system, enhance focus, help with sleep, and more.
(The Lung system also relates with grief, as I've mentioned recently, and with our protectiveqi- which has to do with our immunity, and with the element of Metal, which reminds us to hold precious what is lasting, what truly nourishes us-- think, the preciousness of gold, crystals in salt and rock, minerals in the soil, harvesting and storing for Winter. And more...)
The inhale, meanwhile, belongs to the Kidney energetic system, which is related with the Winter season and the element of Water. The Kidney "grasps the Qi" on the in-breath. The Kidney system is considered to be body's deepest storehouse of life essence — preserving, protecting, and nourishing our resource and vitality. It is the home of our Life-Gate Fire, our inner flame or pilot light, our deep well of fluids, our Yin and Yang. Kidney connects us to our ancestral roots, and is also considered the "root system" of the body. It governs our wisdom and our will, and its associated emotion is fear; it can also be the source of our feeling safe. When we allow ourselves to receive a deep breath inward, we are gathering life force to our depths and source; while by strengthening the Kidney system, we are able to breathe more deeply and freely.
In between Fall and Winter, the transition time of Earth element again, grounding us, nourishing us, steadying us, as our roots anchor us in for a deep Winter rest.
The seasons let us know that the further we go into the darker times of year, the more rest we need. Yet we still need to make dinner, get exercise, care for loved ones, complete our tasks-- and that's not even considering all the extra energy that goes into the Fall and Winter holidays! It can be challenging to find the balance, to dedicate the time to go inward.
So, on that note, we would like to invite you to a "Fall Into Winter" gathering on November 8.This will be Winter already on the Chinese Medicine calendar, and most likely still feel like Fall here in the Bay, but with shades of Winter making themselves known. It will also be "Earth Time", seasonal transition time.
This will be time for a re-set. A post-election exhale. A pre-holiday fortification. Time to breathe in what we are cultivating this season. To note what we are treasuring. To let go of what is no longer needed. To nourish, root, and ground; to re-source and find our deep inner vitality, breath of our ancestors. To craft protection on both a physical level and a psycho-spiritual level-- strengthening the immune system and our deepest life essence, as well as our energetic boundaries. Please join us! You are invited!