October Theme of the Month

Autumn is a season of letting go, embracing changes and slowing down and turning inwards. You may already feel in your own life how things have started to slow down from the busyness of the summer months. Just like the leaves on the trees are started to change and fall we can feel we can release what we don’t need and welcome space for the energy of the autumn season.

The mornings and evenings are feeling darker and cooler now so we may have noticed how we are wrapping up more now and spending more time indoors. Autumn can be a time when we start to look after ourselves as we have time to reflect what’s going on in our lives. We start to move towards more warming foods as opposed to the summer cooling foods. Autumn foods can include ginger, chilli, root vegetables like sweet potatoes butternut squash, carrots, stewed fruit, herbal teas and spices such as turmeric and cumin. Cinnamon is a great spice to bring warmth to dishes and try and make sure you use true cinnamon which is labelled up as Ceylon as it is much better for you.

It can be lovely to be able to get outside where we can stretch our legs, feel the autumn sun, embrace the coolness, start to hear the leaves under our feet and inhale the smell of autumn in the air. I love wrapping up and wearing my bobble hat and feeling the freshness of the season.

In Chinese medicine the lungs are the parts of the body that are associated with Autumn and yoga is a great chance to practice various pranayama practices (breathing practices that control and regulate the breath) and open the body through various asanas (yoga postures) to create room and space for the breath. Pranayama means literally expansion of our life force energy. Connecting with our breath can be great for our focus, it helps to strengthen our lung capacity and is a great way of helping to release stress and tension that we’ve been dealing with.

I have myself got into the routine for the last three-four months of getting outside for a walk in the mornings and taking some deep full breaths through the nose and releasing the exhale slowly through pursed lips. I can feel the breath moving deep within me, energising me, bringing a supply of fresh energy into the body and releasing what I don’t need through the exhale. After a while I then move to a calm style of yoga breath to balance the body and the mind. It’s so important to be able to get out in the morning and breathe full deep breaths in a place away from roads and cars, forests and the River Lee is great.

A lot of people may find their breathing is worse in the cooler months. Things that might not help is having the windows completely shut, having heaters on, burning candles, breathing in cleaning products, plug in diffusers etc. One thing that really set me off used to be fabric conditioner, so we cut that out many years ago. I never realised how bad things like this can be for you. I don’t wear perfume anymore and always have the windows open even at night. I know I use incense sticks for a few minutes before class as the smell helps to clear the energy and the air, but I make sure I use ones that haven’t got any nasty ingredients added to them.

Try to explore for yourselves where you can cut out the products that are causing you harm. I have had asthma for years since I was two and was taking inhalers regularly every day and since I have cut out many things and eating a cleaner diet and cut out alcohol, I think it’s coming up to three years that I last took a puff of one. I think it’s important especially in the morning when you’ve been stuck indoors all night in the same room to get outside and breathe deeply some good quality air!

Back to the yoga! This month we will take the opportunity to take mindful, slow breathing in poses, meditation and relaxation to cultivate stillness and to promote a sense of spaciousness and release. There will be an extra focus on different breathing practices at the beginning and the end of the classes. Finding also some gentle warmth through the body through breathing, movement and quietly strengthening poses are great ways to counterpose the coolness outside but while remaining calm mentally. Smaller backbends are great too as they gently create some energy but without demanding too much effort. Poses that help to balance our energy such as grounding poses and ones too where we can find stillness are good for this time of the year.

Take A Deep Breath

Week 1 – Opening The Body To Breath
By loosening up the body through waking up the chest, shoulders and hips the body can feel more relaxed to open and allow the breath to enter more freely the whole torso. Breathwork can have a powerful effect on our nervous system and when we extend and slow it down it can bring a sense of calm and stillness.

Week 2 – Embracing Change And Letting Go
Autumn is a great season to see the changes in the colours of the leaves and see them falling on the ground. In our own practice we can release what no longer serves us and create space peace and new growth.  Autumn is a season that invites us to release and surrender to we can be more present to each moment.

Week 3 – Finding Balance and Grounding
Grounding movements in our practice, deeper stretches and longer holds help us to feel more connected to the earth and which activates our parasympathetic nervous system and encourages deep relaxation. Finding a balance of quietly strengthening the body and creating gentle energy while finding balance in the mind is beneficial for autumn.

Week 4 – Releasing Stress
Calming poses invite us to turn inward, connect with our breath, ground ourselves, and cultivate inner peace. Autumn can be a restless and anxious season as the days grow shorter, and the elements of air and space become more dominant. Focusing on our breath and the sensations of the body can be a good way to anchor ourselves in the present moment, quieten the mental chatter and cultivate calmness.

Related Videos

Breathe & Relax Deeply
Breathing & Movement for Tension & Stress
Stress & Tension
Be Grounded, Stay Present
Grounding Yoga for Steadiness & Inner Strength (Long)
Grounding Yoga for Steadiness & Inner Strength (Short)

This Month’s Music

Here’s a selection of the music that Vicky has been enjoying this month.