I’m not one to bathe naked in the light of the full moon or get together with the local coven for the Summer solstice (and if you are that’s great) but I do find that noting nature’s cycles in my life and practice does help me to feel more connected to nature and more at ease with my own waxing and waning energies.
Being a part of nature, it makes sense to me that humans will be just as affected by the changing seasons due to the lunar and solar cycles, as other living beings are. Some examples of how nature's cycles affect us can be seen when; First responders and emergency department personnel know that on nights there is a full moon their shifts will be busy; During the darker, colder months we have the instinctual need to slow down; As the daylight hours incrementally become longer we start feeling the need to clean out clutter and dust everything off, literally or metaphorically speaking.
(pic credit - petapixel.com)
To become more in tune with the link between the changing seasons and my body’s natural rhythms I started considering the seasons. The Summer solstice is the longest day of the year, in Australia this usually falls on December 21st. In Autumn and Spring we have the Equinoxes, which mark the date that we experience equal daylight and night hours, 12 hours of each. The Winter solstice, mostly on June 21st, marks the shortest day of the year - or longest night depending on your perspective. Year after year follows this pattern and I like to take a moment on each of these days and check in to my body and my mind, think about what I’ve done and what I would like to do and how that coming season will help with that or if there are going to be any seasonal obstacles affecting my goals.
(pic credit - bom)
A shorter cycle, a month-long one, is the moon cycle. Like the yearly solar cycle, the lunar cycle can be divided into four simple sections; We have the new moon at the beginning of the cycle, the waxing moon as it grows, the full moon and then the waning moon as it slowly disappears becoming the new moon again. Next time you can’t explain why you’re feeling a certain way you might like to check the lunar cycle and make a note in your calendar, maybe, over time, a pattern will become apparent.
My plant collection also helps me stay in tune with nature's cycles. I have a maple tree in a big pot on my small apartment balcony. I enjoy its bare branches in Winter, its flowers and new shoots in Spring, full greenery in Summer and orange and red leaves of Autumn. Ultimately, noticing the natural cycles is a great way to become mindful of the world that we live in. Not only will that help us with our everyday self-care, but it can only help nature too. The more in tune we are with our own natural cycles the better we connect and identify with all forms of life.
Some of our Plus Yoga practices inspired by nature's cycles…
If you enjoyed this blog please feel free to comment or share and let me know how you observe nature's cycles 🙏