The Significance of the Autumn Equinox
By: Kimberly Blair, Reiki Master
WHAT IS THE AUTUMN EQUINOX?
The Autumn Equinox serves as a reminder that the fall season has arrived and, with that, a welcomed transition from the callous heat of the summer into the delicate temperatures and subtle colors of our autumnal season. Typically, the Autumn Equinox falls on September 22nd. On this day, our miraculous mother earth is perfectly angled sideways to the sun and thus, day and night are of equal length – the truest appeal for all of us to seek balance.
This meaningful day also invites you to step into a perpetual state of curiosity around feelings that we typically store away and hide on the shelves of the shadows of ourselves like grief, sadness, and the act of letting go…forgiving yourself and perhaps others. Autumn is the season of emotional and physical harvest – a time to pull inward on all levels and plan for the approaching stillness of winter.
WHAT DOES THE AUTUMN EQUINOX MEAN?
Each of us has our own unique relationship with the act of grieving and the unfortunate accompaniment of sadness, anger, and regret. During this season, let’s reframe the big feelings that join grief by not only allowing ourselves, but also giving ourselves permission to truly feel and move through each stage of your very personal and unique grieving process.
There has been a tremendous amount of movement in our lives as of late – change of careers, loss of friendships, loss of self, dissolutions of marriages and relationships, relocations and even losing loved ones to death. For most, taking the time to grieve the big and small endings of the many chapters of our lives is not a practice we tend toward as we are a society that is in constant need of moving on…without first moving inward.
This said, Saffron & Sage has created a safe enveloping container for you to lean into whatever is challenging you this season, and our hope is that by the winter equinox, you will be prepared and ready to welcome that season with a different and wiser perspective.
Our animal guide this season is the fierce Lion that embodies noble strength and courage with a sense of ferocity. With that beautiful imagery and tremendous feeling, our recommendations for you are as follows:
AUTUMN SELF CARE PRACTICES:
Spiritual Direction:
Meet our newest Saffron & Sage Practitioner and esteemed Spiritual Director, Judith Ray, who cultivated tremendous experience as a Chaplain at Sharp Hospital specializing in grief and rebirthing. Judy also received her Compassion Cultivation training from Stanford. During this solemn yet divine experience, you will confront and unfold any grief that you are looking to uncover and release. Not only is this an inherently therapeutic experience, but it is an opportunity to truly allow yourself to develop an awareness of what spirituality uniquely means to you. Explore how to connect the sacred relationship that you are perhaps subconsciously desiring in your everyday life and life goals with the person you want to become – all in a profound way led by an expert with decades of experience.
Breathwork:
It is known that turbid emotions and pressing thoughts can be cleansed with deep long breathing. Saffron & Sage intentionally magnifies the benefits of this modality by incorporating a powerfully conscious connected breath, unleashing an altered state of deeper understanding of oneself in just one hour. As we move through grief, we tend to hold ourselves in a tightly composed stature and not allow the body’s gift of release by crying. Sometimes all we need is a safe place to release the guttural sounds of grief, stagnation, and forgiveness. Our entire studio is yours during this experience, and we honor you in this crucial step to evolving into this season’s version of yourself.
Nutritional Therapy:
With the food as medicine approach, we encourage you to incorporate dark green and golden orange vegetables known as ‘protective foods’ because they are rich in beta carotene. These foods are best consumed during the approaching autumn months to help our bodies protect against common conditions like the cold & flu that typically spread throughout this season. Eating your greens is an extra powerful practice during Autumn; they are especially helpful due to their high chlorophyll content, which inhibits viruses and helps the lungs discharge residues that emerge from dust and toxic fumes like cigarette smoke and city smog. Dive deeper into what your body truly needs and craves specifically in the autumnal season in a 1-1 nutritional therapy session at Saffron & Sage. Our Clinical Herbalists will help guide you in your journey of health as it revolves around the food you eat.
And finally, we leave you with an affirmation to lightly nudge you through this season of deep impressive change:
I struggle, but I grow. I fall, but I get up. Even amid adversity, I succeed and prosper.