This blog series is my offering to you, a chance to see how Ayurveda is weaved into my life & how you can apply these principles to your own life.

The end of summer had been a time for a reset and reflection, I had my August Wellness Challenge under my belt and my agni reset week had provided time to reflect on the past year. It proved to be a productive time and after the fun of summer I really needed the rest and reflection. As September progressed I realised that the process somehow remained incomplete.

I felt really well, everything was back on track, I was fully rested. My meals were more organised. My dinacharya (daily routine) was working well. I had time just to be….

With Inner Nourishment and Nourish & Flourish I felt excited, everything was coming together nicely. My overarching plan was taking shape plus a few new ideas were gently brewing. But there was something still out of balance, something that I couldn’t put my finger on.

Hidden Hurry

I was tempted to reflect further but I knew that no amount of looking at the past or future would provide the answer. I knew that being present, living in the moment was where I needed to be. It was only as I contemplated what my life looked like from the outside and how I felt on the inside that it came to me, the realisation that I was still in a hurry, still pushing and driving forward. Now this’hurry’ looked different, it wasn’t so much a physical hurry in my daily life ~that has been a breeze compared to working full-time in the city. After retiring I had studied, I studied daily and I studied hard. Determined study, complete with spreadsheet and milestones! I had operated in the same fashion that I operated in corporate. Then faced with a new challenge of launching Inner Nourishment I was still very much in the mode of achieving. Like anyone, I had a vision of what Inner Nourishment would and should look like, I juggled lots of ideas at once, not wanting to miss an opportunity.

This was a different kind of urgency, borne out of my pitta dominance that favours achievement and being results driven. Understanding my Doshic balance provides opportunities to look deeper at my thought processes and actions. I now understand why I have these tendencies and I am able to ground myself and self-reflect in way that wasn’t available to me years ago.

Seasonal Transition

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"The meaning of life is just to be alive. It is so plain and so obvious and so simple. Yet, everybody rushes around in a great panic as if it were necessary to achieve something beyond themselves"

~ Alan Watts

My tea experiment

I decided to do a little experiment. How many cups of tea did I actually sit with my cup of tea and simply drink it? How many cups do I just sit and enjoy the tea, take in the moment?

Morning warm water = mixed experience, mostly relaxed but sometimes moving around the house, cup in hand, sometimes sorting out the pup.

Morning tea = easily distracted, particularly if the house is busier or I am working and not focused on having a tea break.

Afternoon tea = fared a little better than the morning. My new ‘no laptop’ afternoons have helped with this one. I have made an effort to sit in the garden if I am at home.

Evening tea = also a mixed bag, I thought this one would be better but I can easily get distracted with little jobs or find myself scrolling or ordering something.

Aligning my values, my mission and my vision

What I’m learning is that Rest & Digest (one of my main anchors) isn’t just about food and sleep, it is about how I approach life itself. Choosing presence over hurry, intention over striving. I wonder, what are your little rituals where you find yourself rushing while meaning to slow down? Have a play yourself, even if it the tea experiment. Let me know what you find.

Over the autumn equinox I took the opportunity to set new intentions, to live consciously. Intentional living or conscious living, these concepts both feel more aligned with where I am at. Conscious living feels achievable. I can’t always be living slow, I don’t always want to be living slow but the lesson learnt is that I do want to live consciously and I do want to live intentionally.

With that neatly resolved I still wanted to explore what was feeling out of balance for me. I revisited some work I did with my coach Wivi-Anne Nyberg. She helped me work through my mission and my vision ~ I had the two co-mingled. In approaching these separately I could see that my mission was clear and my vision was not so clear. My mission was easy, to share Ayurvedic wisdom in a way that’s relatable and grounded in real life. A living, breathing guide if you will. To take people on a journey to better health, increasing their own awareness and to lead by example.

I’m here to guide you along your own path, not by being prescriptive but by raising your awareness and helping you reconnect with yourself. What I teach and share is not just part of my studied knowledge but part of who I am and how I experience living Ayurvedically. I continue learning as I walk this path too.

This period of contemplation has come at a time of harvesting the fruits of my summer, choosing those fruits that I to take forward. Not all things are meant to stay. My ability to let go grows stronger over time. Witnessing the falling leaves of the trees is nature’s reminder that letting go is necessary. This led to a new thread opening up for me as we enter Autumn. I see the Autumn and Spring as shoulder seasons as in England they bridge the gap between Summer and Winter which feel like the dominant season in terms of weather. Ayurveda teaches us about the importance of seasonal transition, to take care of our whole being.

An Autumn invitation

During the Summer I had lots of energy and driven (and lots going on), as autumn begins to set in, I can feel a calling for something different, something softer. It is no surprise that I am feeling this way, the shift is obvious in everything around me. I have always found September to be a great time to get organised and to start new projects, this September isn’t about new projects as such but more a shift towards focussing on just a couple of things rather than spinning every possible plate available.

Autumn is a time to diffuse the accumulated heat from the Summer months but to not disturb Vata. Ayurveda shows us that Summer is a season of Pitta (fire), as Vata (wind, air and movement) takes over it is easy to get out of balance. With cooler air and darker evenings we naturally look to get a little more cozy at home, an extra layer or blanket, some candles in the early evening.

As Autumn guides me to surrender, letting go becomes easier, I am learning to trust that conscious, intentional living is enough. This time of year feels more aligned to setting new intentions, more so than in January when everyone goes crazy setting resolutions that often don’t last longer than a week! I return to myself, reconnect and recalibrate in some way season by season. There is always room for growth.

So as you watch the trees let go of their leaves be reminded that conscious living isn’t just about slowing down.

What will you do during this transitional season? What can you let go of and what will you do with the space it creates for growth?

This all felt a little disappointing, how am I not that good at having a quiet cuppa? Was hitting around 2 out of 4 cups ok, surely better than no quiet, mindful cups? Maybe that balance is ok, I can always aim higher. I won’t be beating myself up over how many conscious cups of team I have a day but I did find it interesting. Aiming to be present is how I move forward. My little experiment highlighted that my vision of slow living is not my current reality. And this is ok. You might be thinking oh its just a cup of tea but to me it is reflective of how I am living. Maybe slow living is just a goal, just an expectation created by social media. Is it really achievable? Is it even necessary? Life is about balance, surely not everything needs to be slow….

Below are some tips to ease the transition.

• Nourishment (soups, root vegetables, warm drinks)

• Grounding (oil massage, candles, cosy layers)

• Stillness (journaling, meditation)

  
  

Or better still combine them, light a candle for journaling or meditation, a nourishing bowl of soup under a cosy blanket followed by a good book to read.

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