Dear Friends,
Today’s Autumnal Equinox marks the ushering in of Fall and the advent of the Sun’s waning light and the waxing dark. On the Equinox there is a balance of equal night and day. Our illumining Sun crosses the celestial equator where the Earth’s equator line reaches into space. The equinox occurs precisely when the Sun’s center passes through this line. When the Sun crosses the equator from north to south, this marks the autumnal equinox initiating harvest time, a time of reflection.
What are you grateful for? I have been reflecting on my own ‘inner harvest’ to clear the way for new beginnings ahead and to let go into the contracting energy of the Fall season. I am grateful for the ways I allow myself to move toward awe and wonder and to take time to be in nature every day despite the challenges of the last year. Lately, I have been enjoying the company and reflection of trees, offering my thoughts and intentions to the ancient standing ones, the cedar trees, on the property here.
The yogis, sages and poets speak of the potential contained in the pause, or the gap ~ in silence ~ where wholeness resides. I have been contemplating what it might look like to embrace the polarized energies of dark and light in the world and the sweetness of this still point, a crossroads of sorts. The balance within the pause contains such a powerful teaching; the pause that initiates the exhale and the pause that initiates the waning light are an invitation to let go into the darker days, to make space and empty out, to be with the shadow in the absence of summer’s light and expansive energy. We can not have expansion without contraction, light without dark, the outer without the inner; this is the paradox of duality and of the rhythm life. I love working with the seasonal rhythms by allowing them to inform and guide my self care and well-being practices.
I recently included pranayama practice on a daily basis with alternate nostril breathing practice (Nadi Shodana), before I meditate or at the end of my yoga practice. This simple balancing of sun and moon channels in the body, masculine and feminine, light and dark has been both balancing and revealing places that were stuck or held. The pranayama has also been healing for the histamine intolerance and allergies I am working to balance in my body. If you’d like to learn Nadi Shodana I’d love to offer this simple teaching as my fall gift to you! Drop me a line and I’ll send you a link to the zoom room or if you are in the Seattle area we can do it in person!
I love that meditation offers us this movement from the outside to the inside and teaches us how to step back with awareness from thoughts and emotions and allows us to BE in the pause, to come into a state of equilibrium and balance, with a renewed ability to respond rather than react. Check out the upcoming courses I’m teaching to see if one resonates with you or you might know someone who is ready to learn how to meditate. The 5-week courses include tools for mindfulness, the art of compassion and work with emotions to reveal the wellspring of inner guidance in meditation. It is my joy to support you in developing and deepening your meditation practice, to offer space for healing and transformation, and to provide nourishing movement through yoga. May you find respite in the pause, the spaciousness of equilibrium, as you usher in the Autumnal energy.
Love,
Tarakini Susannah
Comments