www.InnerConnectionsYoga.com
INTENTION FOR FALL EQUINOX: I reflect, release, and receive to enhance balance in my life.
Saturday, September 23rd is the first official day of fall in the northern hemisphere, and it brings a powerful shift as it marks the transition of the external and internal seasons of life.
The Fall Equinox ushers in the autumn season and a time when the energies of light and dark are held in balance as the length of day and night are perfectly equal. These changes in nature invite us to reflect on how we may find equanimity and balance in our lives. We are part of nature, and by promoting harmony with nature, we can also promote harmony within.
We are collectively moving out of the extroverted, yang energy of summer and into the subtler, quieter, yin energy that returns in fall and winter. Autumn is a wonderful time to ground and balance. Summer is a busy time spent outdoors, traveling, and gathering with friends and family. In contrast, autumn is a great time to slow down, ground ourselves, reflect, and rest. It is a powerful time to rebalance, restore, and refocus our energy. Fall is a time to pause and look ahead, to see where to best flow our energy during the last three months of the year. As the days become shorter and the temperatures colder, we focus on nourishing ourselves for the season ahead.
Autumn is a time of transformation – she lets herself into our lives with crisper air, fresh perspective, and piles of fallen leaves. As the harbinger of change and transformation, our inner clocks reset, inspiring us to reevaluate our dreams, aspirations, goals, intentions, plans, habits, and every other element on which we build our realities. Autumn often brings thoughts of maturity, change, preservation, abundance, wealth, reconnection, and balance. This is the time for us to look at how we have grown over the last nine months and what we are harvesting in terms of our relationships, work, personal projects, health, and well-being.
Although we may strive for balance throughout the year, how often do we give ourselves a chance to deeply reflect on this idea in our lives? Consider areas of your life where you intuitively feel out of balance and explore ways to bring yourself back to the center. What is the balance between giving and receiving in your life? How about creating and allowing?
Just as a tree sheds its leaves, we too can determine when it is time to let go or release that which no longer serves us or that we no longer need. Certain things have run their course. We realize there are things we have outgrown. During yoga, consciously moving towards “letting go” creates space for becoming more engaged and connected with our inner wisdom and truth. We are no longer held back by limiting beliefs, repetitive thoughts (for example, thoughts about groceries, work, or to-do lists), and desires for our practice to look a certain way. We transcend the limitations of the mind and body and step into a deeper knowing. We kindly and compassionately release.
Staying in tune with the energies of the fall equinox in your yoga practice can help you find balance in life. Bring some of these energies and intentions into your yoga practice and your daily life during the fall equinox:
Engage in inner reflection
Tap into a space of quiet, peace, and calm
Release people, places, thoughts, and things that no longer serve you
Turn inward for deeper rest and relaxation
Embrace surrender, grace, and trust
Prioritize slowing down
Invest in self-care
Support detoxification with twists, inversions, and breathwork
Balance the hemispheres of your brain through breathwork
Fan your inner flames to warm, ground, and balance the body (tapas)
By focusing your heart and soul on these intentions, you can turn the fall equinox into a conscious ritual that supports the transition of the external and internal seasons of life.
Invite yourself to reflect, release, and receive. Consider the year thus far and see all you have done and become. One of the biggest reasons we feel overwhelmed and continue to stay stuck in the patterns of overworking, overdoing, and burning out, is because we never take a pause long enough to receive the benefits of our actions. There is power in the pause. There is relief in release. When we reflect on our lives and find emotions, thoughts, actions, people, and situations that we have been holding on to, but have no purpose in our life, we release them so that we create more space for goodness, love, balance, and inner calm. When we pause to reflect on what has occurred, we stop making our choices from a place of stress and start making choices from our place of wisdom and awareness.
Love & light,
Jeanne and John