Change In The Season = Change In Your Body-Mind
The Intelligence that organizes our bodies connects us with the same Intelligence that animates and coordinates all of the life on this Planet, along with it's natural rhythms. If we are present and connected to our bodies then we have a sense of connection to our Environment and its rhythms. Within this context being healthy means being able to perceive subtle changes within our selves and within our Environment, adapt to those changes and evolve through them with our Environment. The change in seasons--happening right now--is an invitation by our Environment to grow and evolve. Since we are entwined in the rhythms of Nature, we can come along willingly when those rhythms change or we can be dragged kicking and screaming. The change from summer to autumn happened abruptly this year. There was a sudden and clear change in the air that seemed to descend on us almost overnight. With autumn comes shorter days, fewer hours of sunlight, colder temperatures and drier conditions. If we could allow ourselves to pay close enough attention to our internal rhythms right now, we’d find the natural impulse to get quiet, to let our attention be drawn inward, to focus on what’s pertinent to the present moment, to attend to lingering grief or sadness, to be less social, to work less, to stay close to home, to get more rest, to eat nutritious and warming foods, to get more vitamin C and D to counteract the decreased exposure to sunlight and to drink lots of water. For some of us, it can be hard to let go of summer with all of it's bright light, joy and activity. But when we attempt to maintain the rhythm of the previous season it creates a distance between us and our Environment, along with a sort of tension and dissonance in our body-minds. This tension is like the tension that is created in a rubber band when its ends are pulled apart from each other, or the dissonance that can be heard and felt as two inharmonious notes are played together, or the uneasiness that we sometimes feel when we’re far from home. As the dissonance grows between our rhythms and those of our Environment, so does the tension in our body-minds, along with the increasingly urgent call to resolve that tension. If our connection to our bodies and our awareness is sufficient, this tension and the call to resolve it can be felt right away and heeded without needless drama. If our connection to our bodies and our awareness is not sufficient, the tension and the call to return will become more intense until it can be felt. If the gap between our natural rhythms and those of our Environment are far enough apart, life and our bodies may see fit to give us a little nudge to help us get back on track. And that's generally when we "get sick." We have a fever, we produce mucous, we sweat, there's pressure in our heads, maybe there's diarrhea and maybe we vomit. The "getting sick" process is our body's wisdom transforming the energy in the built up tension and resolving it. During this process our bodies demand, in no uncertain terms, that we stop what we’re doing, draw our attention inward, get lots of rest, eat nutritious, warming foods, get plenty of liquids, etc… Sound familiar? It’s what our internal rhythms were calling for in the first place.
An Interesting Aside: There's some really interesting research that has been showing up in the news and in magazines the last couple of years that I think will eventually revolutionize the way we look at the "getting sick" process and our relationship with the bacteria and viruses that we generally think are responsible. If you're brave enough, click the link to read an article I've written about the 500 trillion microbes and viruses that live in and on our bodies...
As I've been working with some of you at the office lately, a lot of you have been reporting things like headaches, trouble sleeping and increased body tension and wondering what might be happening. Well, it could be the change in the seasons. Are you still acting as if it's summer, because it's not anymore. Now would be a good time to pay closer attention to what your body needs. And if you're experiencing some of the things listed above, it may mean you're having trouble getting the message. If that's the case it might be good to come in a little more often than you usually do to help your body-mind sync up with the larger rhythm that Nature is generating right now.
