Autumn Equinox

Autumn Equinox – Festival of Restored Balance and Integration

We find ourselves poised at the threshold of Autumn Equinox, a doorway of equal day and night, which leads us from Summer towards Winter.  Beckoned and enticed from the outer to inner realms through the sensory delights of Autumns golds and reds, flavours of fruit perfectly ripened on the tree, and the smell of mellow early morning mists.

To welcome Equinox as a doorway is to recognise change and transformation as part of the circle of Life, and to know ourselves to part of that Great Turning.  Eastern philosophy’s such as Yoga understand the very nature of life to be cyclical and for change to be  inevitable.  Known as the Gunas, three fundamental qualities create Life as their dance gives rise to, sustains and then dissolves again.  

The Wise who know this not as an abstract or intellectual thought, but as truth experienced within one’s own body and life, transform its knowledge into wisdom and are guided by it towards harmonious balance. 

To honor the transition through Autumn into Winter is to value the art of letting go, and the ‘root energy’ of rest and renewal.  Acknowledging that unless we can give time to balance the natural cycle of growth and rest, expansion and return, we steadily deplete our resources until we find that the pace of modern life with its 24/7 mantra has left us in a state of dis-ease. 

This state, which I describe as being held in perpetual ’high summer’  has at the global level created the social and environmental crisis that fill our daily news, but at an individual level, has led to a crisis of sleep deprivation, compromised immunity, physical and mental illness. The price can be high for our personal lives and the natural world. 

So, what is our relationship to balance when we live in a culture that strives to be linear and override the natural worlds rhythm and cycles?   Perhaps we can use Equinox to consider this ‘root’ question … is it possible or desirable to live too far outside of these natural laws, without consequence?

The practice of Yoga points us towards re-integration of that that which was never separate!  Like the Taoist symbol of YinYang, each opposite half contains the seed of the other, and comes together as a balanced Whole. 

I invite you to take small moments in the days and weeks ahead to feel these questions settle within you, just like an acorn settling in the soil through Autumn and Winter.  Water regularly with some gentle attention and warm gratitude for the small and simple pleasures in your life.

Let’s each rise (and fall and rise again!) to the challenge of being the change we wish to see in the world.  Perhaps a world where greater balance in our relationship to ourselves, each other and the planet brings greater peace and fulfilment to each and every one. 

Equinox Greetings!
Ali

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