This week, I’ve been thinking about the cycles that mark out time passing. Possibly this is because I am now a woman at a certain stage and possibly because the weather has been so unseasonal until this week!
As mentioned in some of our Pranayama & Savasana recently, we tend to measure time in hours and days, the diurnal cycle that naturally fits in with a more ‘yang’ way of living. For women, we are often predisposed to being more in tune with lunar or seasonal cycles, especially when aligned with our natural rhythms. It’s normal and natural to be more extroverted during a full moon and more introverted during a new moon, for example, and this also follows for the seasons. We’re heading towards the summer solstice and the longest day, 21st June, and we can feel a strong urge towards more yang ways of behaving: busyness, fast-pace, hot, longer hours in which to do more, be more.
But STOP. We’re quite sensitive to illness and disease at these turning points of the year so it pays to sloooooooooow down and listen to our bodies. Rest. Take time to sit in natural light when you can for a few minutes of tuning in to yourself and your intuition. The days start to get shorter even though we have only really just hit summer. Notice how the light changes, the natural rhythms continue even when we aren’t aware of them. Frequently observing wildlife will show their natural rhythm, moving between seasons of yin and energy restoration to yang productivity.
Equally, if you’re a woman at a certain stage and find your hormones doing unpredictable things, this makes us feel disorientated and also very tired. Steer a calm course. Try to cut back on pressured things. Maybe hot yoga isn’t the right thing for you to be doing in high summer! Listen to your body. Google some intuition exercises to try to tune in to how you are really feeling. And breathe. Go for a walking meditation. Laugh.
We can mark time passing in so many ways – however, the sensitivity to our natural environmental rhythms is surely the most important for our mental and physical health. Tune in and feel the benefit. Namaste.
Zen Yoga Cricklade 