Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Foreign.
[00:00:11] Welcome to Deep in your yoga practice. I'm Lauren Leduc, the owner and founder of True Love Yoga in Kansas City, Missouri. And I'm so happy you're here. And this episode is yoga for autumn. Grounding, warming and turning inward.
[00:00:26] I feel like October is one of those months where we can really feel the transition that's happening. The light is changing, temperature dropping, the leaves begin falling and our days become shorter. Maybe we're getting back into a rhythm, a routine after summer. And nature is very visibly saying that things change. We can feel it in the air, we can see it in the leaves, and yet we, we often expect ourselves to operate exactly the same way year round, to show up exactly the same every single day with the same schedule, same energy, same workout, same food, same expectations of ourselves. And one of the things that I just love about yoga and its sister science, Ayurveda, is this invitation to pay attention to what is actually happening now and to respond accordingly. So today I want to keep things simple and explore what these traditions can teach us about moving into autumn. And a few ways you might adapt your own practice for the season. So through the lens of Ayurveda, the science of life, which is the sister science of yoga, that is this beautiful system of health and well being, the season of autumn is generally associated with vata aten. Ayurveda asks us to notice these qualities within nature. So we notice what is happening, happening around us, what is happening within us, and we ask what might bring us toward greater balance. So it's a very balancing science. So again, autumn is associated with vata. So what is vata dosha? It's associated with the elements of air and space and it has these qualities of cool and dry and light, mobile, maybe irregular, subtle. So you can see and feel vata outside with the cooler air, with dry leaves, with wind, with movement, with change. And these qualities can show up internally as well. We might feel a bit ungrounded as we're dealing with transition and change.
[00:02:33] Maybe we have scattered attention or restlessness, maybe a difficulty settling. Maybe we feel dryness in and on our bodies. We might feel our routines disrupted and we might feel kind of mentally busy and craving a lot, a lot of warmth and comfort and grounding. So many of the things we tend to crave in the fall, this hygge or coziness, warmth, spice in our clothes and our foods and our activities very much are speaking to this natural need to balance out what is happening and move toward sometimes opposing qualities than to what is in our body. Or what is in nature around us. So with Ayurveda, if the season becomes cool, dry, light and mobile, like autumn, we can intentionally introduce qualities that are warm, that are nourishing, that are grounded, that are steady, and that are rhythmic.
[00:03:30] So if we're using this seasonal principle of Ayurveda, we can apply that to our yoga practice. And we might slightly change or shift our practice in the fall to create a sense of grounding and balance.
[00:03:45] So our practice can become the pumpkin spice latte. It's seasonal, it's warm, and sometimes it just hits the spot. So you can change the quality of your practice, doing things like choosing steadiness over speed. So maybe you're taking more hatha or hatha flow classes rather than vinyasa, or maybe you're mixing it up with both. If your mind already feels scattered, an extremely fast practice may simply add more movement. So. So you might try slower transitions, longer holds, repetition, familiar sequences, grounding, standing postures. Think mountain pose, warrior poses, Goddess Malasana, longer floor work. This is a wonderful place to connect back to the foundations of your practice. This repetition can be incredibly grounding, and the nervous system can really appreciate the. The nourishment of knowing what's coming next.
[00:04:43] In our practice, we can bring our attention more downward, so we can maybe think of or tune into our feet during the practice. Or if we're teachers, we can cue to the feet into the legs and to the pelvis into anything that's connecting with the floor. So even when we are reaching upward, we are consciously feeling what supports us underneath, or noticing the weight of our body where we meet the earth, and at times, letting ourselves be heavy and grounded.
[00:05:14] Also, in our practices, we might slow the breath. So rather than complicated pranayama, we might find a comfortable, unforced breath, maybe a gentle, rhythmic Ujjayi breath, maybe a slightly longer exhale. If that feels supportive, we let this breath become rhythm, and it's something predictable that we can return to over and over again. We can also make room for stillness on our mats. So maybe we're leaning more toward yin yoga or restorative yoga, Yoga nidra. Maybe we're taking extra care with our Shavasana and putting on an extra blanket and an eye pillow and the scent that we want to have around us. We can balance our movement with rest. So in this, it doesn't mean that you have to stop your workouts or strength training or Vinyasa yoga entirely. It's really just asking for more stillness, more groundedness, along with what is already in your routine, we can also practice this principle of Ayurveda off the mat. So as temperatures cool, we can experiment with warmer foods and drinks, probably things you're already naturally reaching toward right now, like soups and stews and tea, cooked grains, root vegetables, warming spices.
[00:06:35] We might also need more of a sense of rhythm in our lives, so we might need very consistent sleep and wake times and consistent meal times, predictable time for your practice, whether that's yoga, asanas or something else.
[00:06:52] And predictable moments of quiet time every day. We can also really nourish our senses here. So we can do that through warm showers or baths, through oil massage or abhyanga, through wearing cozy clothes, lowering our lights in the evening, finding cozy blankets. Maybe we light a bonfire, maybe we have less stimulation. And these things are not there to become this wellness checklist for you, but instead they're just ways to tend to yourself. And what might make me feel a bit more grounded and nourished.
[00:07:28] We can see autumn as this invitation. Inward, we can watch the trees release their leaves. They don't cling to everything they've grown. This new season naturally moves toward less. Less light, less outward growth, more stillness, more conservation, more inward attention. And maybe our practice can reflect some of that. So you might ask yourself, what am I ready to release and what do I want to carry forward in this season?
[00:07:58] It's okay to leave things behind. If you'd like to dig more into this and you're local to Kansas City, I would love you to come practice with me next week, October 18th, for my next Faragio workshop. And we'll be exploring autumn release and return. So we're doing that through myofascial Release, Yin, Yoga, Breath Work, Reflection and Yoga Nidra. We'll spend about 90 minutes doing exactly what we've been talking about today, which is slowing down, down, creating space and giving ourselves permission to turn inward.
[00:08:34] You can go to true loveyogakc.com events and sign up 300 hour students. You are free and members get $5 off. I'd love to see you there. So, no, you don't have to completely overhaul your life every time the seasons change, but we can maybe pay a little bit closer attention to what's happening around me, what's happening within me, what could create a little more balance. We don't have to make huge shifts or do anything extraordinary, but we can become a little warmer, a little slower, a little more grounded, and a little more willing to listen. Thank you so much for joining me today. I hope you can join me in studio next week for Viragia and that you can join us through this fall season and we'll help you feel grounded and warm and supported and nourished. Thank you so much for joining me. Shanti on Peace.
