Back to Earth

Summer is ending. How does that statement make you feel? Does your heart sink at the thought of the dark nights to come or do you feel relief from the knowledge that the hot nights are going and at least you will be able to sleep?

As the year changes, the challenges and rewards of the season change. So do we! It's obvious really. On a simple level we feel different in the middle of winter to how we feel in the middle of summer. This wisdom was certainly not missed by our ancestors - no matter which part of the planet you come from.

It can be missed by modern people though. We wake up in our centrally heated houses. Walk over concrete and tarmac to our air conditioned cars and then sit staring into a computer or working in a place where we cannot even see out of the window all day. Then we come home - perhaps go to an the gym or watch TV and go to bed. The natural world does not get the chance to interact with our bodies.

This has a big effect! Our bodies react to the seasonal changes in many ways. Our body chemistry is altered by such things as light levels, what we eat, what we do and just about anything really!

Cutting ourselves off from the natural world can make us feel "ungrounded" or stressed. This can lead to all sorts of physical, mental and spiritual complaints.

Harvest time was said to be the time of "Earth Energy". This makes it an ideal time to ground ourselves and come back to the world that we live in. It is a time when we prepare for the cold winter ahead by bringing in the crops that have grown in the year. This is both a metaphor and a fact.

The farmers will have just about finished their harvests by now - what seeds have you sown and what are you reaping? Such awareness enhances our feeling of connectedness with the planet and the rest of our lives.

There are some things that you can do to help your "Earth Energy", here are a few suggestions:-

• Get outside and feel the air around you, smell the autumn, enjoy the sights of autumn, put your favourite jumper on if it's cold, listen to the change in birdsong as the summer migrants leave and the winter migrants come in. Make friends with nature!
• Eat with the season. Food that has been grown locally has the local energy and is connected with the local environment.
• Get some local food and think about this as you are preparing and eating it.
• Cut out refined foods and sugars as they ruin your Earth Energy.
• Take a Shiatsu treatment to help your body adjust
• Find something to share. Don't expect a swap - just share for the joy of doing it.
• Use your muscles - get a feeling of your body. Tai Chi and Qigong are excellent for this as is gardening!
• Consider what YOU need to nourish your body and soul.