G L O W

Every morning the sun rises with a golden glow to reveal the ineffable magnificence of life.- Debasish Mridha.

Late summer-early Autumn has a very special quality about it, some consider it to be a season in its own right. Everything around me feels golden and warm like honey. The air has a different quality to it, this subtle shift started to happen a number of weeks ago.

A little crispness in the mornings and evenings, a velvety darkness creeping in around the edges, giving glorious sunrises and sunsets and the decadence of 'golden hour’.

Crops and fruit are all reaching their maturity; ripe,heavy and rich with the summer sun. 

There is a slower pace to late summer, everything in nature starting to feel a little heavier, returning to the earth in one way or another as Autumn becomes a gently welcomed rest after the intensity of summer.

Late summer is a transitional season, like Spring this transitional period is a great time to pause and reset, a good time for a gentle detox or cleanse. Certainly a timely opportunity to pause, reflect, give thanks, have a clear out and make way to embrace the energy of the forthcoming Autumn.

Preparing for Autumn, honoring that natural energy shift in nature and within ourselves, so that we flow with, rather than resist.

I feel surrender and trust are appropriate qualities for transitioning through Late summer into early Autumn, although these are not qualities we have been accustomed to embracing. Our continuous striving for success, happiness, perfection, admiration, acceptance and so on, builds up a fear of letting go, of trusting and surrendering. 

Patanjali: Sutra 2.3: avidyā-asmitā-rāga-dveṣa-abhiniveśā kleśa Ignorance, egoism, attachment, hatred and clinging to bodily life are the five obstacles. (Swami Satchidananda translation).  The root causes of suffering (klesas) are ignorance, egoism, attachment, aversion, and clinging to bodily life (Rev. Jaganath translation).

The fruit has to fall from the tree in order for it's seeds to reach the earth and create new life in Spring. Change can feel like we’re free-falling into the unknown.

Cultivating practices of surrender and trust in our everyday life strengthens our ability to ride the waves of change. It's a daily practice, and the more we practice the stronger our faith in nature and ourselves becomes - which is ultimately one and the same

Our world is full of distraction leaving very little time to pause and reflect. Many of us feel we have lost a sense of who we really are; meeting the needs of others, of society, of the internet - perhaps we’re not even consciously aware of it.

We live in a world that is disconnected from nature so to survive we have to play the game but ultimately this causes suffering in one form or another as we are going against our better, innate nature.

So, if we pause, and fall into the unknown for a moment, maybe we get a little sense of what we need in order to find balance and wellness in a world that often doesn’t make sense.

Most likely we are all familiar with the word ‘trigger’; an experience, event or person that arouses feelings or memories associated with a particular traumatic experience, typically feelings of sadness, anger or fear.

There is an opposite to this; which is a ‘glimmer.’ An experience, event or person that arouses feelings or memories associated with joy and safety. 

A glimmer appears with the same instinctual shift in awareness but instead of fear, a glimmer brings us to a feeling of connection; to something wholesome and safe.

It could be the sound of a particular piece of music, a smell or even just a glimmer of sunlight through the golden leaves of late summer early Autumn. It is a moment that actually soothes your nervous system, reassuring you that everything is going to be okay - a moment of contentment.

Late summer is associated with returning to the element of earth, but with a glow of fiery embers within us. It's warm and heavy and comforting. It is an utterly beautiful period as we gently fall into early Autumn. Many opportunities for glimmers; the low golden sun, golden fields of harvested corn, golden sunflowers turning to face the sun, the earth and water (rivers and sea) warmed by the months of summer. We can sleep a little later as the mornings are darker and give ourselves the gift of an earlier bedtime for a good night's sleep.

The qualities we’ll honour within our practice this term are; warmth / strength / earth.

• Slow warming flows 

• Core practices to strengthen Agni (digestive fire)

• Grounding practices that strengthen our legs and our connection to the earth.

• Practices that lean into long holds, shaking and pausing, so that we can savour the release of effort and intensity; surrendering to rest.

During times of change it’s important to use anchor points which keep us grounded as everything shifts. We’ll use anchor points within our practice that will be repeated weekly as other elements of our practice change a little each week. 

One of the anchor points we'll use is the second of Patanjali's Niyamas - Santosha. I felt Santosha would be a great one to work with as literally translated it means contentment.

Reading an article on Santosha by Brett Larkin (link here) sparked an interesting reflection for me on incorporating the second of Patanjali's Yamas - Satya (truthfulness) within the observance of Santosha.

True contentment satisfies the soul on the deepest of levels, contentment and complacency are definitely not the same things! - Brett Larkin

Our foundational anchor point will be Pranayama (breath practices).

Autumn is governed by air, so we can strengthen our breathing during the period of Late Summer in preparation for Autumn. Strong digestive fire (Agni) and proper breathing strengthens our immune system which can keep us strong and resilient during Autumn and Winter. 

So this term we’ll bask in the glow of summer, make space for the glimmers, prepare ourselves for the coming seasonal changes.…..and breathe.

As many of you know, my dad was very ill earlier on in the year when we were told he had days or weeks left. An incredibly resilient, strong man in body, mind and heart, his condition resolved itself somewhat and he returned home, albeit to a very different life to the one he had before.  Dad’s health took a sudden decline recently and he sadly passed away on the 23rd of August. This time of year feels appropriate as now my dads suffering is over, all the beautiful memories are flooding back, bringing multitudes of glimmers and a beautiful glow as I think of him. There will be one week of disrupted classes as I spend time up North for my Dad’s memorial service and our daughter’s move up to Uni (what a week!) - all dates will be confirmed in the class updates this week.

Om shanti

✨🙏✨

Sophia

Rupert Alcock 2/11/40 - 23/8/24