Contraction// Yoga for All Seasons

In ayurveda, yoga’s sister science of health, fall is the time of vata. Vata is characterized by cold, dryness, light and changeablity.

I am particularly susceptible to autumn.

Wind-swept, dry, scattered, bare-boned.

My prakrti (nature, in ayurveda-speak) tends toward Vata, the way of the wind, anyway; autumn’s nature  has a way of amplifying my own.

In years past, dryness and scattered energy have bothered me to the point of agitation, and I have spent many months trying to remedy the like-upon-like Vata imbalance with super-grounding practices and unbelievably unctuous foods.

This year, though, I felt inspired to find the balance in the imbalance, to find the teacher in the scattered energy and dry bones, to move with nature rather than remedying it.

I did headstands.

I ran, walked and biked fast.

I kept waking up early.

And there were days that felt too full and fast, for certain, but I found the chaos to be a great clarifier. Without the balms and remedies I relied on in years past, I found freedom to really let go of some things that were not working in order to align more completely with what is working.

It was hard work, to be sure, but I feel more clear moving into winter than I have in many years.

—–

I already feel winter’s inward pull.

I find myself quieter in all ways.

And I won’t fight it this year.

Inward.

Onward.

Love.