Autumn represents a shift in energy, a slowing down, a shedding. Summer was
all about action and achieving but in Autumn we aren’t quite yet into Winter’s
hibernating and still energy. Instead Autumn should be a time of preparing and
planning. A battening down of the hatches if you will.
An old Scandinavian quote says “There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad
clothes”. This teaches us that we should not value seasons of the year (or our life)
more than others, we should instead prepare for change and accept what is.
For all the women out there, Autumn represents the last week of your menstrual
cycle before your bleed arrives. You may notice an internal shift towards going
inwards, you may feel things more deeply and you may feel a greater need to
attend to self-care rituals.
From an Ayurvedic perspective it represents a shift in our dietary needs to
include more warming foods such as soups and stews and moving away from
anything raw: salads, smoothies and cold drinks. We want to cultivate warmth
and internal fire to get us through the colder months.
It’s a little hard to notice seasonal shifts with supermarkets offering fruits and
vegetables at all times of the year but you may like to learn about what is in
season and the produce that Autumn welcomes in. Pumpkin, celery, brussell
sprouts, eggplant, quince, apples and cranberries are all at their peak for an
Autumn harvest.
It is also a great time to work on your immune system in preparation for the
coming “flu season” by ensuring you are consuming appropriate nutrition,
particularly Vitamins C & D, and zinc. You may also like to incorporate more
rest, herbal medicine or warm baths into your routine. We are not separate from
nature and so ebbing and flowing with the natural cycles of the Earth is
important for feeling balanced and well.