Self-Care For Autumn
Just like clockwork as soon as the calendar flipped over to September the Colorado air started to smell like fall. The mornings are cooler, crisper and one day the high temperature only made it to the mid-60’s.
The seasons are changing.
Personally I’d be happy with summertime year round. I know, that’s blasphemy coming from a Colorado native. Pretty much everyone who lives in Colorado takes pride and boasts about how lucky they are to live in a place where they experience all four-seasons. What can I say, I’m just a warm weather kind of girl!
Anyway, I digress.
As I was researching and working on another project, I pulled Sara Avant Stover’s book out of my home library.
Her chapter on Autumn made me pause.
I was already in the beautiful Colorado mountain town, Crested Butte, by myself when I was re-reading Sara’s book. My intention was to take some time and down-shift a bit as I re-focused my energy. A solitary working retreat, if you will.
But I found Sara’s recommendations so poignant that I want to share them with you now.
According to Sara, “Autumn is a time to gather, store, organize, and wind down from summer’s high tempo and the relentless forward momentum that modern living usually demands.”
Traditional Chinese Medicine suggests that autumn is the season to acknowledge the grief and sadness we’ve accumulated but have yet to release. It’s a time to reflect and nurture ourselves.
Here are some of Sara’s recommendations for Self-Care During The Autumn Season:
1. Allow yourself more time to rest since your circadian rhythm is shifting. This could mean going to bed a little earlier (drink some chamomile tea before bed) waking up a little later, or even taking a catnap in the afternoon.
2. Indulge in quiet walks through nature if possible.
3. Let yourself cry when you need to.
4. Turn to the healing power of prayer and ask for guidance, support, and protection during transition.
5. Infuse your home or bath with essential oils of sandalwood, neroli or geranium.
6. Light candles or a fire inside. Or even better, sit at a bonfire outside with friends -release whatever you need to let go of into the flames.
7. Drink warm water with fresh lemon first thing in the morning.
8. Make yourself a cup of hot almond milk with nutmeg and drink before bed.
9. Let go of relationships, thoughts, situations and beliefs that are holding you back. She recommends writing a letter to someone or something you’re ready to let go of. Record the things you learned, the unsavory pieces as well as the blessings that you will carry with you as you move forward. This letter is for your eyes only so don’t hold back, write it all down. When complete, burn (release) the letter.
10. Build stability in your body and clarity in your mind through a flow yoga practice.
11. Massage warm sesame oil into your head (hair if you’re washing it) around your ears and face. Then work downward to your feet, paying extra attention to your belly (use circular motion there) and the soles of your feet. Use long strokes on your limbs and circles on your joints. Sit on the edge of your tub, or lie down on a towel on the floor. Relax and breathe deeply for ten minutes while the oil sinks in. Take a hot shower or bath, washing the oil off with a gentle soap. This is an Ayurvedic practice that helps to ground, warm and calm you during an otherwise cold and dry season. It draws toxins out of the tissues and into the blood stream for elimination.
12. Choose heavier, denser, cooked foods to ground and insulate you during the cold weather. The dominant color of this season is white. Add daikon (Chinese radish), quinoa, millet, bananas, apples, garlic, ginger, oats, pears, parsnips, turnips, cauliflower, okra, and onions to your diet whenever possible.
13. Make the nightly ritual of writing down all the things that you are grateful for from that day. If you sleep with a partner, share your lists with each other.
14. Create an “absolute yes list”. For example, sleep at least eight hours a night, take a candle light bath a few times a week, go for walks outside even it’s just for 10 minutes a day, spend your mornings in silence, eat simple wholesome foods, meet up with friends a couple times a week, totally unplug one day a week.
After a health scare in her early twenties, Sara Avant Stover moved to Thailand where she embarked on an extensive healing and spiritual odyssey throughout Asia and served as one of the pioneer Western yoga teachers in that part of the world. She now lives in Boulder, CO and continues to teach around the world.
