August 1, 2024 • 27 mins
Promises of autumn, with its softer light and cooler air, often get lost in the rush of our modern lives. In this soulful conversation, we strip down this season to its core essence, offering you the overlooked wisdom of autumn and the importance of redirecting our energy from outward to inward. Drawing parallels with the ancient wisdom of yin and yang, we reveal how autumn whispers to us to slow down, conserve energy, and risk regret if its call goes unheard.
As we meander further down the path of autumn, we shift our focus to the time-honored practices of reaping and storing resources, highlighting the sheer beauty of simplifying and decluttering in preparation for winter's stillness. We explore the intricate interconnections between our behaviors, health, and seasons, underscoring how failing to slow down can manifest as physical and emotional imbalances. As the episode concludes, we hold a space for you to reflect on simplifying your altar for the autumn equinox, creating an opportunity for you to contemplate what's truly essential and inviting resolution before winter's arrival. Join us on this mindful journey and rediscover the quiet beauty of autumn.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
This is Bronwyn Ila coming to you with the seasonal
podcast series.
These are talks designed tohelp us attune more to the
cycles of the seasons and what'shappening in our earthly
existence.
And this is often left out ofWestern thinking, where we're
(00:25):
kind of excited to go and do andbe working and producing just
as hard all year round.
And this is an opportunity forus to really be integrated into
nature, to be a part of natureand to be impacted and impacting
nature in that way.
The beginning of autumn beginshalfway between summer solstice
(00:48):
and autumn equinox.
So summer solstice is theheight of summer.
It's the longest day of theyear.
In the West you think of thatas the beginning of summer, but
it's actually the beginning ofthe end of summer, because after
that the days start to getshorter.
And autumn equinox is theheight of autumn, when the
balance between light and darkis equal.
(01:09):
So this is the halfway pointbetween summer solstice and
autumn equinox, making it thebeginning of autumn.
Many of these teachings comefrom my teacher, lu Ming, and he
would say that this time ofyear is the most important time
to pay attention and it's thehardest time to do so.
So it's the most important timeto pay attention because if we
(01:33):
don't, we keep going with thiskind of pernicious yang that's
doing going outward, up andbusyness, which is easy to do
once it gets going, becausethat's the nature of yang.
It's not a listening kind ofenergy, it's a doing, going,
running, directing kind ofenergy.
(01:56):
And so the yang that's comingin has this softer, quieter
listening.
It's like a shouting person.
It's difficult to get ashouting person to start to
listen.
It takes some intention toreally drop into allowing the
yang to envelope us.
So, yeah, yang's dominantenergy needs to be subsided,
(02:18):
needs to be directed towardssomething softer and quieter.
And because of this doing this,if we have a really busy summer
, it's easy to fail to noticethe changing of the light, the
increase in the wind and thegarden that's ready to harvest.
This is especially true forpeople living in more tropical
(02:40):
or in California, where it canactually get very hot this time
of year.
But the heat is not the same asthe chi.
So the weather report is notthe same as the chi report.
The chi is what's actuallyhappening rather than the
temperature.
It doesn't need to be a harshkind of renunciation of when the
(03:04):
autumn, it's simply a quietdirecting the chi from outward
to inward moment, and a lot ofthese teachings.
It's really vital that we keepthese teachings alive for the
next generation and it's a waywe can take care of each other
(03:24):
and take care of our planet.
Seasonal wisdom is all butforgotten with the onset of
machinery, artificial lights,industrial agriculture, so the
energy that's happening rightnow is that of gathering in,
repair, reviewing and conserving.
(03:45):
It's not as busy as summer,it's a slowing down and it's
what is preparing us for thisawesome stillness of winter
that's super quiet three monthssurrounding the winter solstice.
So the idea is to startthinking about the work has been
(04:06):
completed, and Looming wouldtalk about it.
As the mind begins to close andfloats in and downward.
As the envelope says, a storyLooming would tell us this time
of year is about these generals.
So generals meaning likeelderly young generals in their
(04:26):
conference room and they've beenat war all summer and they're
sitting together talking aboutthe next battle and what they're
going to do and their strategyand their going, and out of
nowhere, someone's granddaughterruns into the conference room
yelling grandpa, grandpa.
And all the generals turn tolook at her, so that
(04:47):
granddaughter is the little yinthat was birthed at summer
solstice.
She's five years old now andshe runs in.
And if the generals stop, ifshe manages to interrupt them,
if they take the time to stopand turn their focus towards
this five year old granddaughter, they remember.
(05:09):
Oh, the men we are fighting arefathers.
Oh, wouldn't it be nice tospend some time with family, to
have some time to be with mygranddaughters?
Wouldn't it be nice to slowdown?
And what is it that we've beenfighting for?
We've been fighting for a timeto actually stop and rest.
(05:30):
That's what all this doing andbusyness of the summer has been
about, so that we could actuallyenjoy our lives.
So even these, this old,eloquent young, can be unseated
by little girls.
It's like the balance of power,this turning from big warrior,
general, manly focus to, oh, thelittle five year old girl.
(05:59):
And generals pay attention andthis potentially pernicious
young like this, going and goingand going.
And now the generals actuallywant to become the emperor and
they want to, like, rule over,and that's like the liver wants
to become the heart.
Right, the heart's the emperor,not the.
If they actually surrender tothis oncoming small yin, there's
health in the body.
(06:20):
The emperor gets to reign, notthe general emperor is the heart
and the quietness starts toseep in.
However, you know, thegranddaughter runs in, grandpa,
grandpa, and the grandpaapologizes.
Oh, I'm so sorry for thisinterruption of my granddaughter
.
He treats her as anembarrassment.
(06:41):
He kind of pushes her out thedoor so they can get on to their
very important strategizing.
That is the malignant young.
That is what we see in theleadership of the country, of
the US and many other countries,where there is just simply a
pushing, a going, a doing.
Little girls are anembarrassment.
They're not important.
(07:02):
They're really important thingsor what's happening with the
men.
This is, you get the idea.
So we need to calm down theambition and the pernicious heat
and that intense, direct focuswith this blossoming yin wisdom
of the granddaughters, with thismindfulness that comes in with
(07:26):
the autumn.
There is the possibility ofregret embedded in this kind of
yin sensibility.
The generals can really wonder,like what have I been doing?
Killing all of these men?
What have I been doing?
Running around I've missed?
Wow, she had a birthday.
I forgot about this birthdaywhile I was off, warring, oh, I
(07:47):
didn't show up for familydinners or whatever the thing is
, and this is the same for us.
We have the opportunity now tonotice how we may have lost
innocence or a sweet openness,an undefended heart.
How have we armored ourselvesto keep going with this
(08:09):
ambitious summertime doingnessand how can we stop back and
find a more humble, open,undefended heart as the center
place of our lives?
The nijing, which was written tomaybe 200 BC, maybe older, says
(08:33):
the three months of autumn arecalled the period of maturation
and harvest.
The growth of the summer hascompleted all shapes, what has
ripened is gathered in.
People, like all phenomena,should follow the seasonal chi
to preserve vitality.
The wind pervades autumn andclears away all dullness.
(08:55):
One should retire early,avoiding the night winds, and
rise early in the morning toenjoy the crisp autumn air.
We should keep the shen or theheart calm, remind the breath
regular, just the lung, andpractice nidhan.
The energy should be turnedinward and one should avoid
(09:16):
anxiety and impulsiveness.
In this way, no harm comes tothe lungs, which is the metal
element, if our progress hasbeen really successful since the
spring, if we've been like oh,I did all these things and I got
the book, and it's easy toforget that there is a need to
stop and rest.
(09:37):
It's actually wonderful to havethis reminder in our midst of
our busy doingness, to rememberto slow down this river of
ambition and take some time toharvest the fruits of your
spring ideas and summer labourand actually enjoy the sweetness
of them.
This is a wonderful time toactually stop and enjoy and slow
(09:58):
down.
And the idea is, when we cutdown these fruits or harvest in
the cucumbers or the pumpkins,what we harvest is cut off from
the vine or the tree so it nolonger has availability of
nourishment.
It can't keep expanding andgrowing and doing, and now it's
(10:22):
time for it to be ingested andnourish our bodies, not keep
growing and expanding and doing.
This is the nourishment time.
It's the time to stop, nottotally stop.
We'll stop when we get toNovember 9th-ish, when it's
actually the beginning of winter.
But this is the time to harvestand complete all the projects,
(10:45):
not the time to plant new seedsor have new ideas or start new
things.
So any projects that youstarted in the spring, complete
them now.
Take the time now to finish allof the things and begin to
simplify your life inpreparation for the winter
months ahead.
So storing resources, harvestingand storing the resources, and
(11:10):
this is the traditionally whenwe do all the canning of the
vegetables, we start to dry theapricots, you find ways to take
this beautiful bounty of thesummer and the autumn and keep
it for us for the winter.
This is also a wonderful timeto take any abundant financial
resources and freeze them in anaccount, a retirement account,
(11:31):
for example, to save them forour winter months or our winter
years of our life, the lateryears of our life.
Store it, freeze it, save it soit can nourish us when it gets
to be a quieter time, whenthere's less abundance.
And beginning to edit down toessentials means okay.
(11:54):
So when we harvest a crop ofpeaches, for example, we don't
want to bring in the rottenpeaches and pickle them or jam
them in the same jar as theunwrought, as the ripe ones that
are beautiful and squishy andready to eat.
It's important to sort out therot from the gut.
We don't want to harvest in thebugs or the weeds or the sticks
(12:17):
or the leaves, only the fruit.
This is the time to go throughall of your possessions and get
rid of everything that is notessential.
It's go through all the kitchenthings, get rid of all the
random specialty items, all theherbs that have been sitting
there for seven years that aredried and no longer beneficial,
(12:39):
all of the extras that havesomehow made them into your
house, let those all go.
This is in preparation for adeep, quiet stillness for the
winter, a non-doingness in thewinter.
There's no opportunity likewintertime to nourish the yin.
It only comes once a year.
(12:59):
So now is the time to preparefor that stillness that it can
actually be that stillness.
There's actually a reallybeautiful relaxation in this
preparation, this slimming down,this trimming off, this deep
house cleaning, to reallyreflect on what is actually
(13:25):
important to us in our lives.
This could also be in terms ofrelationships or anything weird
that has come off.
To go ahead and resolve thatconflict, resolve all the
strangeness.
It's very beneficial for familyrelations to be really clearly
in harmony right now.
(13:47):
In ancient China, this is thetime when executions took place,
where they would go into thejails and be like okay, all
these prisoners, it's just timeto go, and they would kill
everybody Similarly, if theyhaven't been pardoned.
Like, either pardon or kill issort of the idea and our lives
like obviously I'm definitelynot for capital punishment on
(14:10):
any level, but that idea of whatdo you want to forgive and just
be okay with and make peacewith.
And what do you want to severties with Autumn?
Is the lung element and thelung element or the metal
element, which includes thelungs and large intestines?
This is our boundaries.
(14:30):
So, if we think about our lungs, if the air comes in, okay, is
this air me or is it the outside?
Same with bowel movements rightas we, as we have a bowel
movement, it's like, okay, wait,this is part of me.
No, it's not part of me.
Like, who am I?
Was this me or is that me?
Is this not me?
And this is the same decisionmaking precision that we need to
get rid of the things thataren't valuable to us.
(14:52):
It's this discernment, thismetal element, healthy
discernment, mature, wise, yes,no, ness that comes at this time
of the year.
It's different than a young atthe early time of the year where
it's just going and doing andmore.
This is mature, deciding time.
(15:25):
And you know, like, if we don'tdo, how autumn progresses for us
depends on how we behaved overthe last six months.
It can be difficult to slowdown, it's like trying to slow
down a speeding train, butfailure to do this is how the
illnesses arise, the perniciousyoung that can come from.
(15:46):
A failure for us to start tocomplete and slow down can
manifest as a worsening,conflicts with family members
and overusing of their resources.
It can look physically in thebody like a lung ailment in late
autumn.
It can look like febrilediseases in the winter.
If we remain in this aggressiveyoung state for a long time, it
(16:08):
becomes increasingly harder tostop each year.
It's not that this is some kindof punishment from a distant
guide about our misconduct.
This is simply a resultant.
How we behave directly impactsour health, which is completely
left out of allopathic medicine.
It's like they don't ask youwhat you're eating when you go
to sleep.
No, just take this pill.
(16:28):
It's always just.
You know, a lot of people aregetting that now.
It's like nothing to do withour behavior.
So this is this is a directresult.
Our conduct is a direct resultof our health.
Of course, there's exceptionsto that and not meaning it in
any kind of anything other thanwe have the agency to impact our
(16:52):
lives by following the seasonal.
Chi Looming would say there'stwo major causes of death.
The first is birth and thesecond is not aligning ourselves
with nature and what'shappening in their environment,
with our practices.
If that's qigong, yoga, danceor kung fu.
The chi is best at about threeo'clock in the afternoon for the
(17:13):
next two weeks, and then fiveo'clock and then seven o'clock.
It's okay to stop and startyour practices throughout the
day.
Come and go with them, it'sfine.
Face Southwest for the mostoptimal energy and don't
overexert yourself or sweat.
It's wise to use the chi thatwe have available to us right
now to move the blood andtransform nutrients and digest
(17:36):
all of this food that we'rebringing in, rather than
overexertion and exercise.
Dress lightly but make sure tobe well covered from the sun and
it's said in the naging tostroll about in the morning to
avoid the damp.
For food wise, it's best to eatwhat's seasonally happening, as
always.
Eat two meals a day and makesure to chew the food properly.
(18:01):
It's important to rest afterlunch.
Snacks of fruit, especiallypears, which guides the lungs,
are helpful on hot days and youcan drink green tea or
Prasentamon tea.
Vegetarian light savory soup iswonderful for evening meals.
It's important to sleep and goto bed not long after dark.
(18:25):
It's a great time right now torest and relax.
There's so much support forthat, actually, when we drop in
and tune in to the chi of theenvironment.
There's actually a lot ofsupport for rest, and failure to
have adequate rest, as wetalked about, in the autumn and
winter, can have long-termeffects.
So what I see in my practice ispeople who are going all year
(18:48):
round.
They often come in in theautumn and they're like oh, I'm
tired and something's wrong withme, and they want me to boost
their energy.
We don't boost chi this time ofyear.
We want to actually allow theyin to envelope.
So when we boost chi this timeof year by drinking too much
coffee, by taking herbs thatjust help us keep going, what it
(19:10):
does is every year we have alittle bit more insomnia, or
every year a little moreneurotic, or just a little
harder to calm down a littlemore low-level anxiety, and it
becomes a little more severeevery year and slightly more
difficult to treat every yearthat we don't cultivate the yin.
Nourishment, rest and deepreflection are what we need.
(19:34):
There's an unparalleledopportunity right now to harvest
a yin from our environment, toallow this yin to actually take
the shape in ourselves, andtaking this time to reflect is
part of being a human being, ifwe only like the outward going
party and not the quiet middleof the night, contemplative,
(19:58):
wondering what we're doing withour lives, moments we're out of
balance.
It's not human being is notsimply to go and do.
It's ghostly behavior actuallyto just be out, not listening to
the inner self.
So in order to actually be inthe fullness of human like
behavior, of being a mensch, ofbeing a human being, we need
(20:21):
some withdrawal and somequietness and some
self-reflection and some sittingin the unknown.
This is what actually causesyin to finally secede.
It's simply the deep listeningof yin.
So if you could think ofthere's a shouting going maniac
right At some point they'regoing to just lose steam and
(20:43):
then they'll notice that there'sa whole bunch of five-year-old
girls sitting quietly watchingthem.
It's a kind of embarrassmentactually to be this outward
going, doing, when you noticethat there's a quiet, calmer,
softness that's available to us,that's indicated in the chi,
(21:04):
everywhere, this quiet,observant energy.
The investigation of yin inTaoist alchemy is profound.
It's unparalleled in India orTibet, or it's like there's a
particular kind of quality ofnoticing the yin.
It's a.
(21:27):
We need very little yang tobalance yin.
Yin yang is very potent andconcentrated.
It's not a.
We don't need equal yin andyang Equal.
Yin and yang is basically yang.
Derangement.
It's like having if you havewhite paint and you add a little
bit of black.
You only need a little bit ofblack Although usually black
(21:49):
isn't sort of yin but in thiscontext you only need just
enough warmth so that thingsdon't become overly cold and
stagnate, just enough yang tokeep moving through our days.
You don't need a ton of yang.
It looks like mania, it'scraziness, it's liver-yang
rising.
We start running aroundshouting at people.
Just a tiny bit to keep theblood moving, just a little bit
(22:11):
to keep the energy of our livesmoving forward.
So, even though the yin is onlybeginning at this time of year,
there's a way where we candeeply rest into sensing and
feeling their approach of winter.
It's like, oh, it's like thefinish line, okay, the end is
near, like we can start to movetowards pacing ourselves,
(22:35):
towards completing, finishing,allowing and doing the final
touches on all of the thingsthat we began.
And it's this amazing thing nomatter how much the planet has
misconducted itself the entireyear, or, in our case, quite a
(22:56):
few thousand years, the yinstill comes.
She still starts rocking upwith her quiet wave of stillness
.
It's like it's still gonnahappen, whether we pay attention
to it or not and fry ournervous system or actually
allowing that that nourishmentshe's still coming in.
So there's something very, verycomforting to me about thinking
(23:21):
about it in those ways of howwe end just kind of quietly
envelops.
Thank you for listening, thankyou for taking the time in your
life to slow down and tune intoopportunities to really
harmonize with the nature andthe environment and just to keep
(23:45):
these teachings alive.
It's important as far as aritual for the autumn I like to
do this every six weeks, butespecially in the autumn go
through your altar, like all thethings that have sort of
started to accumulate, therandom things that someone
dropped off or left behind orsomehow are still there, and the
(24:07):
rock that you know like, clearoff the altar completely and,
one by one, look at all of youraltar items and just decide what
is actually no longer needingto be a part of your altar.
What medicine upgrades can youdo to just allow in a simplicity
in your practice, simplicity inyour altar, a quietness, a
(24:30):
spaciousness, a tuning in themore spaciousness, less
cluttered.
There's a way to go with ourlives and also let that be
reflected in your altar space aswell.
You can start to pass on thingsthat are no longer part of your
altar to people who it wouldmean a lot to to receive these
items.
Keep it clear, keep it simple.
(24:53):
Thank you for listening andI'll be back in tuning to the
autumn equinox.
Okay, be well.
Blessings on your quiet journeyin Word and all your time
completing your projects.
This is Bronwyn Ila coming to you with the seasonal
podcast series.
These are talks designed tohelp us attune more to the
cycles of the seasons and what'shappening in our earthly
existence.
And this is often left out ofWestern thinking, where we're
(00:25):
kind of excited to go and do andbe working and producing just
as hard all year round.
And this is an opportunity forus to really be integrated into
nature, to be a part of natureand to be impacted and impacting
nature in that way.
The beginning of autumn beginshalfway between summer solstice
(00:48):
and autumn equinox.
So summer solstice is theheight of summer.
It's the longest day of theyear.
In the West you think of thatas the beginning of summer, but
it's actually the beginning ofthe end of summer, because after
that the days start to getshorter.
And autumn equinox is theheight of autumn, when the
balance between light and darkis equal.
(01:09):
So this is the halfway pointbetween summer solstice and
autumn equinox, making it thebeginning of autumn.
Many of these teachings comefrom my teacher, lu Ming, and he
would say that this time ofyear is the most important time
to pay attention and it's thehardest time to do so.
So it's the most important timeto pay attention because if we
(01:33):
don't, we keep going with thiskind of pernicious yang that's
doing going outward, up andbusyness, which is easy to do
once it gets going, becausethat's the nature of yang.
It's not a listening kind ofenergy, it's a doing, going,
running, directing kind ofenergy.
(01:56):
And so the yang that's comingin has this softer, quieter
listening.
It's like a shouting person.
It's difficult to get ashouting person to start to
listen.
It takes some intention toreally drop into allowing the
yang to envelope us.
So, yeah, yang's dominantenergy needs to be subsided,
(02:18):
needs to be directed towardssomething softer and quieter.
And because of this doing this,if we have a really busy summer
, it's easy to fail to noticethe changing of the light, the
increase in the wind and thegarden that's ready to harvest.
This is especially true forpeople living in more tropical
(02:40):
or in California, where it canactually get very hot this time
of year.
But the heat is not the same asthe chi.
So the weather report is notthe same as the chi report.
The chi is what's actuallyhappening rather than the
temperature.
It doesn't need to be a harshkind of renunciation of when the
(03:04):
autumn, it's simply a quietdirecting the chi from outward
to inward moment, and a lot ofthese teachings.
It's really vital that we keepthese teachings alive for the
next generation and it's a waywe can take care of each other
(03:24):
and take care of our planet.
Seasonal wisdom is all butforgotten with the onset of
machinery, artificial lights,industrial agriculture, so the
energy that's happening rightnow is that of gathering in,
repair, reviewing and conserving.
(03:45):
It's not as busy as summer,it's a slowing down and it's
what is preparing us for thisawesome stillness of winter
that's super quiet three monthssurrounding the winter solstice.
So the idea is to startthinking about the work has been
(04:06):
completed, and Looming wouldtalk about it.
As the mind begins to close andfloats in and downward.
As the envelope says, a storyLooming would tell us this time
of year is about these generals.
So generals meaning likeelderly young generals in their
(04:26):
conference room and they've beenat war all summer and they're
sitting together talking aboutthe next battle and what they're
going to do and their strategyand their going, and out of
nowhere, someone's granddaughterruns into the conference room
yelling grandpa, grandpa.
And all the generals turn tolook at her, so that
(04:47):
granddaughter is the little yinthat was birthed at summer
solstice.
She's five years old now andshe runs in.
And if the generals stop, ifshe manages to interrupt them,
if they take the time to stopand turn their focus towards
this five year old granddaughter, they remember.
(05:09):
Oh, the men we are fighting arefathers.
Oh, wouldn't it be nice tospend some time with family, to
have some time to be with mygranddaughters?
Wouldn't it be nice to slowdown?
And what is it that we've beenfighting for?
We've been fighting for a timeto actually stop and rest.
(05:30):
That's what all this doing andbusyness of the summer has been
about, so that we could actuallyenjoy our lives.
So even these, this old,eloquent young, can be unseated
by little girls.
It's like the balance of power,this turning from big warrior,
general, manly focus to, oh, thelittle five year old girl.
(05:59):
And generals pay attention andthis potentially pernicious
young like this, going and goingand going.
And now the generals actuallywant to become the emperor and
they want to, like, rule over,and that's like the liver wants
to become the heart.
Right, the heart's the emperor,not the.
If they actually surrender tothis oncoming small yin, there's
health in the body.
(06:20):
The emperor gets to reign, notthe general emperor is the heart
and the quietness starts toseep in.
However, you know, thegranddaughter runs in, grandpa,
grandpa, and the grandpaapologizes.
Oh, I'm so sorry for thisinterruption of my granddaughter
.
He treats her as anembarrassment.
(06:41):
He kind of pushes her out thedoor so they can get on to their
very important strategizing.
That is the malignant young.
That is what we see in theleadership of the country, of
the US and many other countries,where there is just simply a
pushing, a going, a doing.
Little girls are anembarrassment.
They're not important.
(07:02):
They're really important thingsor what's happening with the
men.
This is, you get the idea.
So we need to calm down theambition and the pernicious heat
and that intense, direct focuswith this blossoming yin wisdom
of the granddaughters, with thismindfulness that comes in with
(07:26):
the autumn.
There is the possibility ofregret embedded in this kind of
yin sensibility.
The generals can really wonder,like what have I been doing?
Killing all of these men?
What have I been doing?
Running around I've missed?
Wow, she had a birthday.
I forgot about this birthdaywhile I was off, warring, oh, I
(07:47):
didn't show up for familydinners or whatever the thing is
, and this is the same for us.
We have the opportunity now tonotice how we may have lost
innocence or a sweet openness,an undefended heart.
How have we armored ourselvesto keep going with this
(08:09):
ambitious summertime doingnessand how can we stop back and
find a more humble, open,undefended heart as the center
place of our lives?
The nijing, which was written tomaybe 200 BC, maybe older, says
(08:33):
the three months of autumn arecalled the period of maturation
and harvest.
The growth of the summer hascompleted all shapes, what has
ripened is gathered in.
People, like all phenomena,should follow the seasonal chi
to preserve vitality.
The wind pervades autumn andclears away all dullness.
(08:55):
One should retire early,avoiding the night winds, and
rise early in the morning toenjoy the crisp autumn air.
We should keep the shen or theheart calm, remind the breath
regular, just the lung, andpractice nidhan.
The energy should be turnedinward and one should avoid
(09:16):
anxiety and impulsiveness.
In this way, no harm comes tothe lungs, which is the metal
element, if our progress hasbeen really successful since the
spring, if we've been like oh,I did all these things and I got
the book, and it's easy toforget that there is a need to
stop and rest.
(09:37):
It's actually wonderful to havethis reminder in our midst of
our busy doingness, to rememberto slow down this river of
ambition and take some time toharvest the fruits of your
spring ideas and summer labourand actually enjoy the sweetness
of them.
This is a wonderful time toactually stop and enjoy and slow
(09:58):
down.
And the idea is, when we cutdown these fruits or harvest in
the cucumbers or the pumpkins,what we harvest is cut off from
the vine or the tree so it nolonger has availability of
nourishment.
It can't keep expanding andgrowing and doing, and now it's
(10:22):
time for it to be ingested andnourish our bodies, not keep
growing and expanding and doing.
This is the nourishment time.
It's the time to stop, nottotally stop.
We'll stop when we get toNovember 9th-ish, when it's
actually the beginning of winter.
But this is the time to harvestand complete all the projects,
(10:45):
not the time to plant new seedsor have new ideas or start new
things.
So any projects that youstarted in the spring, complete
them now.
Take the time now to finish allof the things and begin to
simplify your life inpreparation for the winter
months ahead.
So storing resources, harvestingand storing the resources, and
(11:10):
this is the traditionally whenwe do all the canning of the
vegetables, we start to dry theapricots, you find ways to take
this beautiful bounty of thesummer and the autumn and keep
it for us for the winter.
This is also a wonderful timeto take any abundant financial
resources and freeze them in anaccount, a retirement account,
(11:31):
for example, to save them forour winter months or our winter
years of our life, the lateryears of our life.
Store it, freeze it, save it soit can nourish us when it gets
to be a quieter time, whenthere's less abundance.
And beginning to edit down toessentials means okay.
(11:54):
So when we harvest a crop ofpeaches, for example, we don't
want to bring in the rottenpeaches and pickle them or jam
them in the same jar as theunwrought, as the ripe ones that
are beautiful and squishy andready to eat.
It's important to sort out therot from the gut.
We don't want to harvest in thebugs or the weeds or the sticks
(12:17):
or the leaves, only the fruit.
This is the time to go throughall of your possessions and get
rid of everything that is notessential.
It's go through all the kitchenthings, get rid of all the
random specialty items, all theherbs that have been sitting
there for seven years that aredried and no longer beneficial,
(12:39):
all of the extras that havesomehow made them into your
house, let those all go.
This is in preparation for adeep, quiet stillness for the
winter, a non-doingness in thewinter.
There's no opportunity likewintertime to nourish the yin.
It only comes once a year.
(12:59):
So now is the time to preparefor that stillness that it can
actually be that stillness.
There's actually a reallybeautiful relaxation in this
preparation, this slimming down,this trimming off, this deep
house cleaning, to reallyreflect on what is actually
(13:25):
important to us in our lives.
This could also be in terms ofrelationships or anything weird
that has come off.
To go ahead and resolve thatconflict, resolve all the
strangeness.
It's very beneficial for familyrelations to be really clearly
in harmony right now.
(13:47):
In ancient China, this is thetime when executions took place,
where they would go into thejails and be like okay, all
these prisoners, it's just timeto go, and they would kill
everybody Similarly, if theyhaven't been pardoned.
Like, either pardon or kill issort of the idea and our lives
like obviously I'm definitelynot for capital punishment on
(14:10):
any level, but that idea of whatdo you want to forgive and just
be okay with and make peacewith.
And what do you want to severties with Autumn?
Is the lung element and thelung element or the metal
element, which includes thelungs and large intestines?
This is our boundaries.
(14:30):
So, if we think about our lungs, if the air comes in, okay, is
this air me or is it the outside?
Same with bowel movements rightas we, as we have a bowel
movement, it's like, okay, wait,this is part of me.
No, it's not part of me.
Like, who am I?
Was this me or is that me?
Is this not me?
And this is the same decisionmaking precision that we need to
get rid of the things thataren't valuable to us.
(14:52):
It's this discernment, thismetal element, healthy
discernment, mature, wise, yes,no, ness that comes at this time
of the year.
It's different than a young atthe early time of the year where
it's just going and doing andmore.
This is mature, deciding time.
(15:25):
And you know, like, if we don'tdo, how autumn progresses for us
depends on how we behaved overthe last six months.
It can be difficult to slowdown, it's like trying to slow
down a speeding train, butfailure to do this is how the
illnesses arise, the perniciousyoung that can come from.
(15:46):
A failure for us to start tocomplete and slow down can
manifest as a worsening,conflicts with family members
and overusing of their resources.
It can look physically in thebody like a lung ailment in late
autumn.
It can look like febrilediseases in the winter.
If we remain in this aggressiveyoung state for a long time, it
(16:08):
becomes increasingly harder tostop each year.
It's not that this is some kindof punishment from a distant
guide about our misconduct.
This is simply a resultant.
How we behave directly impactsour health, which is completely
left out of allopathic medicine.
It's like they don't ask youwhat you're eating when you go
to sleep.
No, just take this pill.
(16:28):
It's always just.
You know, a lot of people aregetting that now.
It's like nothing to do withour behavior.
So this is this is a directresult.
Our conduct is a direct resultof our health.
Of course, there's exceptionsto that and not meaning it in
any kind of anything other thanwe have the agency to impact our
(16:52):
lives by following the seasonal.
Chi Looming would say there'stwo major causes of death.
The first is birth and thesecond is not aligning ourselves
with nature and what'shappening in their environment,
with our practices.
If that's qigong, yoga, danceor kung fu.
The chi is best at about threeo'clock in the afternoon for the
(17:13):
next two weeks, and then fiveo'clock and then seven o'clock.
It's okay to stop and startyour practices throughout the
day.
Come and go with them, it'sfine.
Face Southwest for the mostoptimal energy and don't
overexert yourself or sweat.
It's wise to use the chi thatwe have available to us right
now to move the blood andtransform nutrients and digest
(17:36):
all of this food that we'rebringing in, rather than
overexertion and exercise.
Dress lightly but make sure tobe well covered from the sun and
it's said in the naging tostroll about in the morning to
avoid the damp.
For food wise, it's best to eatwhat's seasonally happening, as
always.
Eat two meals a day and makesure to chew the food properly.
(18:01):
It's important to rest afterlunch.
Snacks of fruit, especiallypears, which guides the lungs,
are helpful on hot days and youcan drink green tea or
Prasentamon tea.
Vegetarian light savory soup iswonderful for evening meals.
It's important to sleep and goto bed not long after dark.
(18:25):
It's a great time right now torest and relax.
There's so much support forthat, actually, when we drop in
and tune in to the chi of theenvironment.
There's actually a lot ofsupport for rest, and failure to
have adequate rest, as wetalked about, in the autumn and
winter, can have long-termeffects.
So what I see in my practice ispeople who are going all year
(18:48):
round.
They often come in in theautumn and they're like oh, I'm
tired and something's wrong withme, and they want me to boost
their energy.
We don't boost chi this time ofyear.
We want to actually allow theyin to envelope.
So when we boost chi this timeof year by drinking too much
coffee, by taking herbs thatjust help us keep going, what it
(19:10):
does is every year we have alittle bit more insomnia, or
every year a little moreneurotic, or just a little
harder to calm down a littlemore low-level anxiety, and it
becomes a little more severeevery year and slightly more
difficult to treat every yearthat we don't cultivate the yin.
Nourishment, rest and deepreflection are what we need.
(19:34):
There's an unparalleledopportunity right now to harvest
a yin from our environment, toallow this yin to actually take
the shape in ourselves, andtaking this time to reflect is
part of being a human being, ifwe only like the outward going
party and not the quiet middleof the night, contemplative,
(19:58):
wondering what we're doing withour lives, moments we're out of
balance.
It's not human being is notsimply to go and do.
It's ghostly behavior actuallyto just be out, not listening to
the inner self.
So in order to actually be inthe fullness of human like
behavior, of being a mensch, ofbeing a human being, we need
(20:21):
some withdrawal and somequietness and some
self-reflection and some sittingin the unknown.
This is what actually causesyin to finally secede.
It's simply the deep listeningof yin.
So if you could think ofthere's a shouting going maniac
right At some point they'regoing to just lose steam and
(20:43):
then they'll notice that there'sa whole bunch of five-year-old
girls sitting quietly watchingthem.
It's a kind of embarrassmentactually to be this outward
going, doing, when you noticethat there's a quiet, calmer,
softness that's available to us,that's indicated in the chi,
(21:04):
everywhere, this quiet,observant energy.
The investigation of yin inTaoist alchemy is profound.
It's unparalleled in India orTibet, or it's like there's a
particular kind of quality ofnoticing the yin.
It's a.
(21:27):
We need very little yang tobalance yin.
Yin yang is very potent andconcentrated.
It's not a.
We don't need equal yin andyang Equal.
Yin and yang is basically yang.
Derangement.
It's like having if you havewhite paint and you add a little
bit of black.
You only need a little bit ofblack Although usually black
(21:49):
isn't sort of yin but in thiscontext you only need just
enough warmth so that thingsdon't become overly cold and
stagnate, just enough yang tokeep moving through our days.
You don't need a ton of yang.
It looks like mania, it'scraziness, it's liver-yang
rising.
We start running aroundshouting at people.
Just a tiny bit to keep theblood moving, just a little bit
(22:11):
to keep the energy of our livesmoving forward.
So, even though the yin is onlybeginning at this time of year,
there's a way where we candeeply rest into sensing and
feeling their approach of winter.
It's like, oh, it's like thefinish line, okay, the end is
near, like we can start to movetowards pacing ourselves,
(22:35):
towards completing, finishing,allowing and doing the final
touches on all of the thingsthat we began.
And it's this amazing thing nomatter how much the planet has
misconducted itself the entireyear, or, in our case, quite a
(22:56):
few thousand years, the yinstill comes.
She still starts rocking upwith her quiet wave of stillness
.
It's like it's still gonnahappen, whether we pay attention
to it or not and fry ournervous system or actually
allowing that that nourishmentshe's still coming in.
So there's something very, verycomforting to me about thinking
(23:21):
about it in those ways of howwe end just kind of quietly
envelops.
Thank you for listening, thankyou for taking the time in your
life to slow down and tune intoopportunities to really
harmonize with the nature andthe environment and just to keep
(23:45):
these teachings alive.
It's important as far as aritual for the autumn I like to
do this every six weeks, butespecially in the autumn go
through your altar, like all thethings that have sort of
started to accumulate, therandom things that someone
dropped off or left behind orsomehow are still there, and the
(24:07):
rock that you know like, clearoff the altar completely and,
one by one, look at all of youraltar items and just decide what
is actually no longer needingto be a part of your altar.
What medicine upgrades can youdo to just allow in a simplicity
in your practice, simplicity inyour altar, a quietness, a
(24:30):
spaciousness, a tuning in themore spaciousness, less
cluttered.
There's a way to go with ourlives and also let that be
reflected in your altar space aswell.
You can start to pass on thingsthat are no longer part of your
altar to people who it wouldmean a lot to to receive these
items.
Keep it clear, keep it simple.
(24:53):
Thank you for listening andI'll be back in tuning to the
autumn equinox.
Okay, be well.
Blessings on your quiet journeyin Word and all your time
completing your projects.
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