Body Featured Yoga

Guest Affair // Flow with the seasons Part 4

16. Oktober 2018
Reni Bickel Flow with the Season Yoga

Part 4 of the 5 part series: Fall

Fall is rolling in and thereby a time of reflection and recollection. Farmers now harvest their products, and you may collect the fruit of this year’s projects.

Outside, it gets more chilly and breezy. We naturally feel the urge to crawl back into our sheltered homes. To be protected and spending time alone creates the necessary space to reflect on the lived and evaluate the year.

 

Reni Bickel Flow with the Seasons yoga

But we are not yet completely turning in…

The air element or metal element that rules the fall season according to Chinese Medicine (think of the wind!) relates to our mental energy and the ability to communicate. This is a great time for writing and speaking.

The metal element that stands for all the minerals and ores in the air and governs the lungs and our large intestines. Both of these organs communicate between the inner and outer atmospheres. They take up what what is essential for us and let out the waste products.

Our breathing not just provides oxygen to our cells, but it also reflects our deepest attitudes towards living and dying. Each inhale represents “taking in life” and each exhale “a letting go”. The better our breath flows, and life can flow through us, the clearer will our mental state be.

We might get physically more sensitive to respiratory infections or colds this time of the year. Or get a little too nostalgic. Take good care of your key organ for existence, the lungs, they keep your body and mind vital and healthy!

So, the question is, are you doing your pranayama?

Reni Bickel Flow with the seasons fall yoga

Ideas for your daily routine during fall

YOGA: RECLINED BADAKONASANA: You’ll need 4 big blocks, one strap and 2 blankets. Start seated to wrap the strap around your pelvis and ankles, the soles of your feet touch. Support your knees with the blankets. Pull out your buttock bones to sit upright. Slowly lean back while keeping the back arched and recline your shoulder blades on two blocks on their highest levels. Your head will rest on the two other blocks that form reversed t-shape. This restorative pose opens the field of your lungs and supports easy breathing. It stretches your front and the inner organs in a gentle way. Stay for 5 up to 10 minutes, relax completely.

BREATHWORK:  INTEGRATE PRANAYAMA INTO YOUR DAILY PRACTICE. Start with a more dynamic breathing like Kapalabhati, breath of fire, or choose from different Kundalini kriyas. End with Nadi Shodhana, the alternate nostril breathing, to center your energy again. Be creative, if you manage to do 15 minutes a day, that is great!

DIET: FREEDOM OF BOWEL MOVEMENT. If you suffer from sinus infection or colds, make sure your intestines are working well. Choose fiber-rich food to stimulate regular bowel movement. Imagine, the large intestines being the roots of a tree, the branches being the lungs. So, they are closely related. Eat more warm and nourishing food as it gets colder.

PLANT MAGIC: GARLIC! Yes, best when freshly pressed. Fights bacteria!

SELF-CARE RITUAL: COLD SHOWERS. They close our skin pores and prevent heat loss and vulnerability to colds. Add a few seconds of cold water when finishing your morning shower! It’s tough self-care ritual, I know, but the after effects are great.

If you should get a cold: You just need a lot of rest, fluids and good sweats. 

CRYSTAL HEALER: AQUAMARINE. Good for throat health, supports self expression and helps to do closures on all levels. Shields the aura.

MANTRA: 

Breathing in, I know I’m breathing in.

Breathing out, I know I’m breathing out.

Breathing in, I’m aware of the tension in my body.

Breathing out, I release all the tension in my body.

Breathing in, I calm my body.

Breathing out, I smile.

Dwelling in the present moment,

I know this is a wonderful moment

(Thich Nhat Hanh)

 

Love & light

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