The Autumn Yoga Practice

Did you know that there are different yoga practices for the different seasons of the year?  The Fall season is cold, dry, light, windy, rough and empty.  It is nature’s way of making more space.  The leaves get dry, and fall off the trees leaving them empty.  The wind blows and removes the moisture from the air leaving it spacious instead of close.  As it happens in nature, it happens to us.  We get a little spacey.  Our skin gets dry.  As the body changes with the environment we can see the effects: back pain, dry skin, poor digestion and lack of concentration.

The yogis have remedies!  Well, the sister science to yoga – Ayurveda, has the answers.  It’s not just a good moisturizer.  While moisturizing the skin is good, moisturizing from the inside out is even better.  The first thing to pay attention to is what dries us out.  Coffee, black tea, alcohol and raw foods can be big in depleting moisture.  Avoid salads.  Instead have warm soups and stews and herbal teas with fennel.  Try switching to oatmeal.  Warm, cooked, easily digestible foods are best.  Oils are very necessary, inside and out.  Warm up some sesame oil and massage it all over before your bath or shower.  Before bed, try warm milk to help you sleep.

What about your asana practice?  Your yoga poses should also warm you up.  Do Sun salutations.  Ideally you could do as many as you are old, but let’s just try 12, daily.

Doing forward folds and hip openers, with long holds can help settle you.  Then make sure that you end with a lovely, long savasana.   The benefits of savasana are huge.  It is the last pose of practice, corpse pose.  Set the timer so you can truly relax for 10 minutes without worrying about time.  Don’t skip this part.  You need to calm the system before rushing off to your next event.  Keep it calm.  Move slow.

You will see the results.  Actually it is much easier to see the lack of results.  Because yoga and Ayurveda are about balance and harmony and those things do not get noticed as much as the imbalances.  When things are off – we know it.  We tend to not pay attention to the good health.

I am here to help you notice.  Have a peaceful, warm, cozy fall.

Namasté, René Quenell

Owner, Yoga Madre