The scrunch of leaves underfoot, the honking of geese, the first windscreen scraping of the year, Autumn has undeniably arrived. What are your audible markers of our new season? Do you become more aware of your breath as we wrap up in scarves and cosy jumpers?
The visual shift is easy to see, the leaves on the trees putting on a show of shimmering golds, fire-bright orange and deep ruby reds that cannot be ignored whether we are looking up to the heavens or down at our feet. The annual celebration of Mother Nature’s sumptuous curtain-call of summer is well documented by artists and poets the world over but some countries go one better. Japan is well-known for it’s pink crazy Sakura season, when the whole country follows the cherry blossoms blooming from South to North. Did you know they also celebrate Momiji or Red-leaf hunting? Information boards go up at train stations detailing the leaf status (ranging from Not Coloured, Beginning to Colour, to At Their Best and All Fallen) at the best leaf viewing temples to let you know where to make your pilgrimage to find the most beautiful trees. This is not a casual observance, some of the most famous spots will have huge snaking queues of people waiting to admire and photograph this year’s foliage.
Japanese culture incorporates many religions but maybe this deep reverence for Autumn comes from roots in Shinto and Buddhism. Shinto teaches that each part of creation has its own spirit, each tree, each pebble is imbued with its own being. Fans of Studio Ghibli’s eco-conscious film ‘Princess Mononoke’ will have a visual prompt in the ephemeral, slightly spooky Kodama. If you spot a tree with a red ribbon around the trunk this is to honour a tree’s spirit. Buddhism teaches us the importance of letting go, of stepping off the wheel of reincarnation so maybe we can understand why the falling of the leaves is felt more strongly with these religious beliefs as a cultural background.
The Yoga Sutras teach us non-attachment in the Yamas. Aparigraha may be listed last in the Yamas but is key to our progression as yogis, helping us move beyond what can be felt as ‘stuckness’ in our lives. Natalie is holding a workshop that echoes this feeling. ‘Letting Go’ is a fusion of a creative vinyasa flow and restorative yoga to embrace the autumnal shift of energy from yang to yin. If you are feeling reluctant to wave goodbye to the summer maybe this workshop can help you move into Autumn with joy.
Among Maddy’s offering is a ‘Yoga Nidra Pyjama Party’ for those who may be feeling the chill in the air more keenly than others, here is a space for you to come and get snuggled up as you are guided gently into a state of conscious sleep. Yoga Nidra is a deep and ancient form of Guided Sleep Meditation. A wonderful opportunity to find rest and allow the brain to sink into the subconscious, helping us to unlock what our busy brain cannot. As we gather more hours of darkness our bodies are tuned to want more sleep, if your lifestyle doesn’t allow you as much sleep as you may wish for Nidra can help you brain find the rest it requires.
Feeding our senses can help us connect with our physical experience of this world, we can allow resonance to work it’s magic on our bodies and our minds. The shortening hours of daylight are an invitation from Mother Nature to root down, to spend more time quietly taking our focus into ourselves and our teachers here at New Energy are here to be your guides.
Hannah
Written by Hannah Fletcher and published on Monday 19th October 2020 at 19:15
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