Are you feeling a bit scattered, overwhelmed, fragmented this Fall. Is it difficult to focus and complete projects? If you are harvesting your living space, did you run into some difficulties? Suddenly you wanted to clear everything out all at the same time and there were piles everywhere and you flitted from one pile to the next and nothing got organized and it all became too much?You might be feeling the effect of Vata dosha out of balance. According to Ayurveda, Vata dosha, the air element, tends to gets out of balance in the Fall. The qualities of vata are dry, light, cold, rough, subtle, mobile, clear, and erratic.Is your skin suddenly super dry? Just last week my skin started getting really chapped and I started reaching for the lotion constantly. We’re feeling dry at the same time as these leaves are turning their beautiful colors, drying up, and falling off. We feel these same effects as nature because we are made up of the same elements.Other vata qualities we experience in the Fall is the erratic weather. One minute it’s warm and the next cold and rainy. With the windy Fall days, we feel the mobile quality. You may experience this increased erratic and constant movement reflected in your thoughts. Are your thoughts spinning all over the place making you feel fragmented and overwhelmed? Have you been experiencing insomnia from racing thoughts?

Mudras, are sacred hand gestures that redirect prana and enhance vitality. They assist us in connecting with cosmic consciousness and shifting negative energy to positive energy.

 

Sit in a comfortable position.

Place your middle finger on your thumb and put all the rest of your fingers at the base of your thumb. It looks like a hook.

Rest your hands on your lap.

 Close your eyes.

Relax and breathe deeply.

 Stay here for 5-8 minutes.

Fall is my favorite season. In Chinese Medicine, Fall is the season of the Metal element. It offers us the opportunity to lighten up and let go, open the door to clarity, and distill and refine our beings to their essence.I particularly love the the light which seems to be more exquisitely clear and magical than any other time of year. When I look into the clear blue sky through the almost now bare and beautifully sculptural trees, the vastness above inspires my inner being to expand and wonder and delight spreads through me.

There is a particular type of clarity that emerges through witnessing this Fall light through the trees’ shedding of their leaves. As the sap of the tree draws into the interior of the tree and sinks back to the roots, we also begin to slow down, retracting, and draw back to the interior root aspect of our beings. There is a refinement that comes from letting go, releasing that which is no longer beneficial and nourishing that which is essential.Fall is Harvest time, the time to distinguish between what is nutritional and should be kept and what can be released and left for compost. This environmental distillation is mirrored in our bodies, minds, and lives. Fall is the time to release that which is not needed or desired, as we prepare for our inward journey into the deep interior yin of Winter stillness.