Ode to Indian Summer 2015
My whole being sings Aloha to the days when the air inside is as the air is outside. Nature know's how to serve it up best..without the alterations of modern living AC or artificial heat. I'm slurping down bare air and lasting warmth on bits of undraped skin. I linger in Summer's radiance..swimming in the ocean the last chance I get. If I could marinade in her energy a little longer..would it be easier to let her go?
Harvest flavors are bittersweet. Sun kisses evaporate. Colors dance and fade while we are cloaked in velvety protection from the ensuing colder air. Some of us yield willingly to the coziness of contracting inward, while others feel the pangs to hold on. Nature instructs us to let go. Whether we sense it or not, our bodies, hearts and minds are innately in tune with nature's vibrations.
Summer's bold energy has shifted, now we draw into the core. Sap descends through the interior of the trees settling down towards the roots. Autumn is the season for shedding the old, beautiful layers and allowing what serves us no longer to decay. Exposed and bare, Autumn reveals what is essential, what we hold precious in life, our unique worth, what we want to reveal to ourselves and to the world. Our essence. Our own gold.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Autumn is the season exemplified by the energy of Metal or Air. Trace elements of precious metals give value to the earth, facilitating disintegration of the fallen leaves fortifying the soil for the new life to emerge next Spring. The Metal element within us adorns us with our strength and reverberates our self worth. Grief is the emotion of Metal. Grief purifies us of what we no longer need, clearing us to receive what's new and pure like seeing the beauty of Winter's crystalized clandestine water. The two systems in the body most activated in Autumn are the lungs and large intestine. Both organs have the functions of eliminating what's not needed and gathering in what's essential. Autumn is as much about letting go of staleness as it is gathering in new inspiration.
It's a choice time to let go and grieve what no longer serves us..in body, mind and spirit. The leaves are doing it. Some seem frantic, dancing there way down with staccato rhythm. Others languidly waltz along their return path to the earth.
During the season of dryness, receiving bodywork supports our whole being in staying in tune with nature's ever-changing rhythm. It's a really good time of year to set aside time for a massage, breathe deeply and move fluidly. Celebrate and embody the time to fall back, let go and gather inwards. Release the issues out of your tissues and invite yourself to fall in love with the gold the universe has in store for you. Your own unique abundance is the blessing.