Beginning a Journey

I’m beginning a four-month journey and I am inviting you to go along with me. Over the past three months I’ve written about the summer season, and I ended the summer series with guidance for transitioning into the fall. To keep the momentum going I’ve signed up for a four-month fall journey incorporating both Ayurveda and Yoga. The timing is right for me: It’s been a challenging few years with my husband’s illness and death. Although I am far from being healed, I am feeling better and stronger. I believe this program will help me take care of myself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually with the support of an online community.

Each week I will share with you what I am working on with some suggestions for how you might explore the same issues and questions with me. It should be interesting and fun.

This week I am preparing for cleansing. Ayurveda teaches that it is essential to make an appropriate transition between the seasons, in this case, leaving the summer behind and easing into the fall. The two seasons are very different from each other, but we are now in the in-between time when they melt together.  

Here are some things to do to prepare for cleansing:

-Take time to reflect on the summer, especially what worked out and what did not, and hold onto special memories you’d like to carry with you

-Pay attention to the signals that fall is on the way—shorter days, the way the light touches the earth at a different angle, the waning of the garden plants, the arrival of new fall-friendly plantings, and the change of appetite

Next week I will be eating a monodiet for several days. I will share some cleansing foods you might like to try. Think of it as a clearing of the palate to prepare the digestive system for the change of seasons. You might like to join me in cleaning up your diet in preparation for next week’s cleanse:

-Wean off of caffeine, sugar, alcohol and meat. Or at least eat less of them.

-Look at the website Seasonal Food Guide, search for the seasonal foods that grow where you live and make the effort to eat several items from that list this week.

“When summer gathers up her robes of glory, and like a dream of beauty glides away.”
– Sarah Helen Whitman