The rain is gently falling. The trees are joyfully receiving moist nourishment while their leaves are cascading down in a gentle dance. The season is starting the slow shift to Autumn. The trees teach us about the letting go of what no longer serves us so that we can prepare our body temples for the time of quiet, for the time of darkness. It is a time for shedding old beliefs, and old ways of being.
Being in touch with the Earth’s natural pattern of this season is an interesting conjunction with the reality of what September has been for the entirety of my life. Fall has been the rush to the new school year, the rush of setting up the classroom, the rush of welcoming new energy into a space, the joys of the happy children united with their friends, and the exuberant anticipation of a new year, a new social container, and a new way to blossom and grow. (Even that long sentence illustrates the ‘business’ of this reality).
How do we do both? How do we both be busy in the lives of children/family/work and also be present with having time for shedding and natural release? For parents who are working long hours, this can be out of balance within our culture. How do we take time to shed and release when our schedules are so full? What practices can we do to create that calm ease and shedding for our lives. What does shedding look like? Here are some ideas that work for me.
SINGING
Ok-no surprise here! Singing in community, singing for myself, singing my emotions. Singing creates vibration in the body. Sound vibrations allow the body to settle into calm, allow anxieties to float away, and invoke the natural serotonin in the body. Find moments to sing to yourself. Create unique silly sounds to express the emotions of your body in this moment. Move and flow with sound to allow freedom and agility in your being. Sing with a song that evokes joy, sadness, or tranquility. Let the harmonic vibrations flow.
WALKING
Be with nature. Be a part of Gaia’s journey as she settles and she sheds. By walking through her landscapes, we acclimate to this feeling of release and automatically let go of tension, fear, and anxiety. Our bodies can slowly calm to her easy rhythm and grace. Also, try sitting next to a tree and feel the gentle exhale of the body as it remembers to ground into the earth. Trees give us oxygen and they provide a gentle vibration that we feel anytime we spend moments in nature.
BATHING
Soaking in a warm bath filled with epsom salts and drops of lavender or rose essential oils. A bath emulates the sacred container of water holding the body just as the womb once held us. The epsom salts help to cleanse the body and release toxins from the skin. And while you are there, try staying in the tub while the water releases down the drain. This is a great way to ground our bodies into the present moment.
CONNECTING
Yes with friends, yes with community… And Connecting for me is deepening my relationship with my physical embodiment and my spiritual being. My main practice is the latihan (an exercise with the Subud community). In our own rhythm and personal bubble, we freely sing, move, and allow the presence of the beyond to clean and nourish our souls and physical bodies. By doing this exercise in community, we strengthen the energetic container and vibration of our experience.
OTHER SELF CARE
Allowing yourself to receive deep care via a massage, Reiki treatment, or other service. Sometimes the weight of our experience is too much to process on our own. We are here to hold each other up. Give yourself the opportunity for a practioner to give you a moment of release and natural surrender.
As I sit here in an Oak Tree pondering this first Fall of not being in the classroom, I allow my old ways of being to dissipate into the calm strength of this tree. We are here with four months left of 2026 and this fast paced, fire horse energy. Now is the time to listen within, to release to….
Surrender, surrender! This word is big and fast in my life right now. Surrender is my shedding… Just as I watch the leaves fall off the trees and feel the gentle rain drops on my head, I am taking off the shields that held me together, discovering the newness of a new shape of time in my world, and searching for the new seed of expression within my heart.
I send you in prayer and I send you blessings. May you be held in gentle shimmering golden rays of joy and bliss that shower softness on your being. Please reach out if you would like my support in deepening through an intuitive Reiki session, finding a deeper spiritual connection with your voice or to sing in community.
