The Summer is slowly drawing to a end. The last few warm days are gradually getting cooler and darker earlier each evening. There can be an element of grief this time of year, the not wanting the Summer to be over. I know I can feel this, yet since living seasonally I can also find the joy in the acknowledging different energies of each season, embracing the flow of change.
In Chinese medicine we are in “Late Summer”, schools are back, and even if you don’t have children there’s a shift in energy to refocus again after all the fun of the Summer. The Fire element, (Summer) is the most Yang (active) time of the year, and the most externally focused; festivals, parties, holidays, camping trips, sea swims, long hikes, catch ups with friends/ family.
When we spend so much time “out there”, giving out energy, being more active, it can help around this time to come back home to yourself, which is the Earth Element. To feel steady and stable again, to slow down enough to be able to centre ourselves, think clearly and to create a routine again.
In fact the Earth Element can relate to any transition in life, whether it’s through the last 18 days of any season or any big change in life at all. Earth relates to the “Mother” energy, with the idea that as we grow up we start to separate from our mother and need to learn how to nurture and nourish ourselves. It’s about caring and having sympathy for ourselves and others. However if we care too much about others we can end up either being needy/ worrying to much or putting their needs above our own.
As with everything in Taoism (Yin and Yang) and Chinese Medicine it’s about balance.
Following are a few ways to connect with Earth and nourish yourself this time of year:
Barefoot walking/ time in nature.
Create simple daily routines.
Cook and eat slowly, just focus on the food. Make a ritual of it.
In Harvest time if can be lovely to acknowledge the Harvest of your life so far this year. To journal about what you have achieved, who has helped you and what /who you are grateful for. How could you share this abundance?
Root vegetable soups.
Embodied practices like Yoga/ Qi Gong/ Dance, taking the focus/ energy away from your head and into your body.
Warm drinks, the Spleen which relates to the earth element does not like icy cold drinks.
Cut down on sugars and caffeine
Have acupuncture
Your centre is a place that is naturally joyful, and at peace. It is accepting, non judgemental and it channels the voice of your heart. It knows perfect timing. It knows the rhythm of the universe, the rhythm of all creation, and it delights in that connection to that rhythm.
If you must leave your centre to learn a lesson, feel a feeling, or experience something new, do that. But come back to your centre when you’re done. And go to your centre first before you go anywhere else. Melody Beattie “Journey to the Heart”
