Living in Harmony with the Seasons – Autumn Transformations
Your body does not lie, so why not listen to it!
Every season brings a new transformation. Autumn brings the harvest, whatever energies of goodness you have put out there will now return to you. In the study of Ancient Healing Arts of Chinese Medicine in the five elements of nature Autumn relates to health energy of the organ of the Lung and Large Intestines. This season is the most yin and reflective after a long hot yang summer and activity. Time to take a deep breath of fresh cool air before it get too cold.AS you breath in the prana ( the breath of life) and exhale the old energies and thoughts that no longer serve you, think of the things you no longer want to carry with you in your consciousness as well as in your body,time to eliminate , the unwanted now. See breathing exercise.
A time also of reflection, a time to sort out what serves your life and your body and what does not … and just eliminate the unwanted,a time for meditation, prayer and reflection and a time to purge and refine. With that comes perhaps a time for fasting. A good fast for elimination in the large intestines.
Healthy Eating Transformations
Eat your way to health in the autumn with foods that are light, fibrous root vegetables for proper elimination along with good fats such as olive oil. The taste that goes along with the season is pungent. Enjoy your garlic, onions, mustards, fennel and ginger. Make a wonderful root vegetable soup with sea vegetables, all the root vegatables in season including daikon and turnips . Enjoy the whole grains of millet and brown rice and seeds of sesame gamasio to sprinkle as a condiment. Eat light and moderation or go on a 3 day brown rice fast especially the week before Autumn equinox, good for the body and the mind.
Beauty and healthy skin in harmony with the seasons
Your skin is the largest organ in the body and is referred to in Chinese medicine as the third kidney for it to releases any toxin in the body that cannot be processed through the large intestines and the kidneys. SO skin will take the brunt of it if not managed properly from the prior season. How this can manifest is Acne, Psoriosis , Escema. The autumn also brings cool wind and dryness to the skin and hair, therefore the best way to hydrate is from within with your omega essential fatty acids. These oils can also be used externally on your body to hydrate as well as your face, good for all skin conditions named above.
Inner transformations bring outer manifestations of that transformation… what is your autumn transformation going to look like?
Exercise: YinYang Breathing Recipe
Make a loose fist with the index and middle fingers of the right hand, leaving the thumb and the last two fingers extended. Using the ring finger and the pinky fingers, gently close off the left nostril and breathe deeply in through the right. As you reach the top of your inhalation, release the left nostril and close off the right one with your thumb. Exhale slowly and smoothly. At the end of the exhalation , breath deeply through the uncovered left nostril. When the inhalation is complete, open the right nostril and close the left one once again with the last two fingers, exhaling deeply and slowly through the right nostril before beginning the cycle all over again. Continue this exercise fro two or four minutes.
“Nagasaki Autumn Leaf” by Marufish is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
