In this episode, we explore the transition between spring and summer as a powerful metaphor for personal growth, energy shifts, and nervous system rhythms. Drawing from 5 Element Theory, I’ll guide you through how seasonal transitions impact the body, emotions, and your inner landscape and how you can move through them with more presence and self-trust. This is an episode you can return back to when you're experiencing any kind of transition.
You’ll learn:
🌱 The energetics of Wood Season (Spring) and Fire Season (Summer)—and what each represents in your body and life
🌱 Somatic signs you're resisting a transition—like fatigue, burnout, and overcommitting
🌱 A personal story of resistance and recovery—how throwing out my back reminded me to slow down and listen
🌱 A full ritual practice for navigating seasonal shifts:
- Breathwork (2:1 and halo active)
- Cacao ceremony (I like to use Ora Cacao)
- Meditation (Insight Timer App)
- Journaling prompts and affirmations to support your release and renewal
💭 Journal Prompts:
- What does this transition want to teach me?
- What feels complete?
- What am I ready to release to feel lighter this summer?
🌞 Affirmations to support you during the transition:
- I am safe to not know what’s next
- What I release creates space for what is in my higher alignment
- Every “no” brings me back to alignment
This episode is here to remind you: there’s no rush through the transition. Whether you're moving from one season to another or through a life shift, the tools shared here will help you anchor into your body and your truth.
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Disclaimer: Please remember that the information shared on this podcast is intended to inspire, educate, and support you on your personal journey. It does not substitute for professional mental health advice. I am not a psychologist or medical professional. If you are experiencing distress, mental health challenges, or medical conditions, please seek help from a qualified professional.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to Somatic Healing for Wellness-Focused
Women, a podcast for thesensitive, soulful,
high-achieving woman ready tocome home to herself.
I'm your host, rae.
I'm a somatic coach andbreathwork facilitator here to
guide you back to your body,your truth and your power.
Each week we'll explore nervoussystem healing, somatics,
(00:24):
breathwork, embodied living,creativity, self-expression and
soul-led personal growth.
If you are ready to soften thepressure, release perfectionism
and live with more presence,more pleasure and more purpose,
you're in the right place.
Let's take a deep breath andlet's dive in.
(00:44):
Welcome back to the podcast.
If you are new here, I'm Rae.
I'm a somatic coach andbreathwork facilitator.
And if you aren't new here,welcome back.
I'm so glad that you're tuningin for today's episode, that
(01:06):
you're tuning in for today'sepisode.
So for today's episode, I'mgoing to be sharing with you a
bit about how we can transitionfrom one season to the next with
a little bit of ease and graceand compassion, and this episode
is probably something that youcan definitely revisit and come
back to in the future when youare experiencing any sort of
transition.
Really.
(01:27):
So, building off of last week'sepisode around nature, that is
kind of what I'll be speaking toa bit more here, like those
transitions and how you can seethat in nature, but it does
apply in all areas of life.
So when we move throughtransitions, it's really an
opportunity for us to slow downand tend to our life, tend to
(01:52):
our needs, make some changes,some shifts, release, let go,
and life can definitely be aseries of transitions in all
different areas of life.
A series of transitions in alldifferent areas of life.
So I realize I'm just diving inright now, right into the
(02:14):
episode.
We just dove right in, but Iguess I have a lot to say in
this area.
So we're just gonna, we'regonna keep it going.
So I want to kick things offwith talking a bit about five
element theory, and this is apart of Chinese medicine.
It's something that I learnedabout and I took a course on for
about one year, and it'ssomething that I also like to
integrate into my work,integrate into my personal life
(02:36):
and my work with clients, and itis a perspective that each
season represents an energeticphase of life, of nature of our
bodies, and there are fivedifferent seasons.
So the first is water season.
This is in winter, aroundDecember to February roughly and
(02:59):
this is a time of rest, ofstillness, of deep reflection, a
time to kind of regenerate ourbodies, our nervous system.
Then we have wood season, whichis what we're in currently, and
that is a time of spring.
This is March through May, andit's a time of growth.
(03:22):
Things like to move, things alsolike to begin so kind of like
when the things start to bloom,they like to start to grow.
And this is right around wherewe are and we're transitioning
into fire season or summer, andthat's around June through
August.
And fire season is a time ofexpansion.
(03:43):
It's a time of expression, ofjoy, of connection.
We're outside, we're going tobarbecues, we're meeting up with
our friends, there's lots oflaughter during fire season, the
end of August and intoSeptember, and this is a time of
(04:04):
really grounding andintegrating, pausing, and it's
also a time where we kind oflike re-nourish and fill up our
cup after all of this outwardsenergy and fire season.
And then we move right intometal season, the fall, and this
is the end of September throughto November, and this is a time
(04:26):
of letting go.
This is a time of processinggrief, boundaries, even making
like little tweaks and refiningthings in our life can happen a
lot during metal season as well.
So some signs that you might bekind of struggling with, maybe a
(04:48):
transition or a transitionbetween seasons.
You might be experiencing somefatigue, you might be over
committing yourself, so nothonoring your yes or your no, so
having some boundary work thatneeds to happen.
You might be experiencingburnout, you might be feeling
(05:10):
angry and you might be feelingresentful, and so these are all
signs that we might experiencein the body, like the somatic
sensations of those emotions andseeing them come out in all
different ways, and that canlook like yeah, like maybe we're
resisting a transition that'scoming, so there's some tension
(05:31):
there and it's causing a lot ofsigns to come up from our body,
trying to communicate to us likewe're in a time of change,
we're in a time of a shift, likesomething's gotta shift,
something's gotta shift.
And I'll share a little bit formyself.
Historically, transitions havebeen really challenging for me.
I struggled with a lot ofanxiety in the past and
(05:55):
transitions were a big part ofthat anxiety.
And they look all.
Transitions can look alldifferent sorts of ways.
We have identity shifts, wehave breakups, platonic and
romantic endings.
We have all different kinds oftransitions and changes that can
(06:16):
happen in our personal life canhappen emotionally,
energetically, all differentthings that can happen.
So one example I can share isjust recently, a few weeks ago,
I was gardening and I went tomove something but my feet were
in an odd angle and I ended upthrowing out my back, which is
(06:40):
really painful.
If you've ever experienced thathopefully you haven't but what
it ended up doing was it reallystopped me in my tracks.
Like I really really valuebeing able to be active and
being able to move my body and Iwas, you know, on bed rest for
about four days.
I was in a lot of pain.
(07:00):
I had to rest.
I do have a personal trainer,who's awesome.
He was able to do some physicaltherapy with me and really help
me, which was great.
I was getting some movement in,but it was not fun.
I went to acupuncture, I wentto the massage therapist, I did
everything and I'm feeling a lot, a lot better.
(07:21):
But I share this with youbecause the transition from
spring to summer and that thosefew weeks it was definitely my
body, was definitelycommunicating to me like rest
ground, like your lower back asa source of your uh, yeah, your
(07:42):
grounding, your footing, likereally feel your feet on the
ground, really feel connected toyour sense of safety and
security.
And, um, regulating myself inthat way was really challenging
because, like I said, I was in alot of pain and I really value
being able to move, but it wasneeded and some of the I did a
(08:07):
few different like ritualsmyself to just be able to move
through this experience ofprocessing what that brought up
for me, because I was feelingreally angry, I was feeling
really sad, I had a lot ofdifferent emotions that I had to
work through in this, yeah, inthis one form of a transition.
It was a seasonal transition,but it was also a time where I,
(08:27):
yeah, I had to work through alot of my own material right.
So I want to share with you aritual that might be helpful for
you.
It's something that you can usefor any transition that you
might be experiencing, whetherit is a breakup, an ending, an
identity shift, an energetic uplevel.
It could be any kind oftransition that's coming up for
(08:49):
you and, again, this issomething that you can revisit
and come back to as well in thefuture.
So, when it comes to puttingtogether a ritual, I always like
to start with like what is myintention?
What am I hoping to receive andwhat do I think that I need?
So, invitation to start withthose kind of thoughts.
(09:09):
As you're creating your ownritual for transitions, I like
to start with a bit of breathwork.
So that could look like doingthe two one breath.
So it's inhaling twice throughyour nose and exhaling once
through your mouth.
It sounds like this so inhale,inhale, exhale, inhale, inhale,
(09:33):
exhale, and then I'll move intothe halo active, which is a long
deep inhale through the noseand a long deep exhale through
the mouth.
And so I'll do the two onebreath for a little bit.
I'll do the halo active for alittle bit.
I'll also make myself some cacao.
So Aura cacao is the brand thatI like to use, and they have
all different types of cacaos.
(09:54):
They also have a variety packthat you can buy.
So if you're not sure whichone's speaking to you, you can
buy a variety pack.
I think it comes with like 10different types of cacao with
all different intentions.
So, again, with that clarity,from the beginning of setting
your ritual, you'll have an ideaof which cacao might benefit
and support you and so,depending on what speaks to you,
(10:16):
you could also incorporate somecacao.
Then I'll do a meditation,sometimes for the cacao to kind
of like use it as a support, andother times just a meditation
based on what my intention is,and a resource that I like to
use for that is Insight Timer.
I love this resource.
(10:38):
I think it has such a hugevariety and huge library of
practices and so you can just goright into the search on
insight timer and you can typein exactly what you're looking
for.
So for me it was like sadness,anger, like those were the
things that were coming up forme.
Right into insight timer I went, I typed in like something for
(11:03):
anger and I I read a fewdescriptions and I found one
that resonated with me to helpand support me with processing
what was coming up for me, andthen I like to also do some
journaling.
So what does this transitionwant to teach me?
You can write on that.
What feels complete in thisseason of my life, like when I
(11:26):
was feeling super ungrounded?
What can I release and let goof to help me, like, get back to
that regulated and groundedstate and feel really connected
in my body?
Another one what am I ready torelease in order to feel lighter
in this next season?
So for me that's summer,because I was transitioning or
(11:47):
am transitioning from springinto summer.
So what am I ready to releasein order to feel lighter in this
next season?
So those are three questionsthat you could journal on, and I
also like to incorporate someaffirmations, so three that
might be helpful for transition.
Specifically, the first is I amsafe to not know what's next.
(12:10):
The second what I releasecreates space for what is in my
highest alignment.
And then the third every nobrings me back to alignment.
So I like that one, especiallyif you have, like, a history of
people pleasing or caretaking,sometimes it's hard to say no
(12:32):
and so affirming to yourselfevery no brings me back into my
alignment.
It's okay for you to say no,it's okay for you to have a
stronger boundary or take somespace or, yeah, really tend to
yourself and your needs.
So I hope that you enjoy thisritual practice.
If you do choose to do it, youknow, make it your own, really
(12:53):
tune into what would serve you,what would support you own,
really tune into what wouldserve you, what would support
you and the journaling if you dochoose to do it, remember that
there is, you know, no rushthrough a transition, take your
time, move at your pace andreally listen to your body.
And if any of this spoke to you, amazing, the Return to Soul
(13:13):
Retreat is happening duringmiddle season.
So that is in the fall.
The retreat is in October andmiddle season is all around
letting go.
It is all around refining inour lives, having those
boundaries, your yes, your no,processing grief, so really
being with yourself in thearising of what's coming up for
(13:36):
you in a way that feels, yeah,really compassionate and safe
and supported.
So check out the show notes ifyou want to know more about the
retreat.
And, yeah, I hope that youenjoyed today's episode.
As always, I love creatingthese episodes for you and I'm
so glad that you are tuning in.
So I hope you have anincredible rest of your day, an
incredible rest of your day, anincredible rest of your week,
(13:58):
and I will talk to you soon.
Thank you for being here andtuning in to Somatic Healing for
Wellness Focused Women podcast.
If you were moved or inspiredby today's episode, please take
a moment to leave a rating andreview on Apple Podcasts.
It truly helps the podcast growand helps more people find me
on their healing journey.
(14:19):
Make sure to check out the shownotes to sign up for the
monthly newsletter, links tomore resources, opportunities to
work with me and ways that wecan stay connected.
If we aren't already connectedon social media, head over to
Instagram to follow me atraythesomaticcoach.
Send me a DM.
I'd love to connect with youand I answer each note that
(14:41):
comes in.
I am so happy you're here and Icannot wait to talk with you on
our next episode of the podcast.
Welcome to Somatic Healing for Wellness-Focused
Women, a podcast for thesensitive, soulful,
high-achieving woman ready tocome home to herself.
I'm your host, rae.
I'm a somatic coach andbreathwork facilitator here to
guide you back to your body,your truth and your power.
Each week we'll explore nervoussystem healing, somatics,
(00:24):
breathwork, embodied living,creativity, self-expression and
soul-led personal growth.
If you are ready to soften thepressure, release perfectionism
and live with more presence,more pleasure and more purpose,
you're in the right place.
Let's take a deep breath andlet's dive in.
(00:44):
Welcome back to the podcast.
If you are new here, I'm Rae.
I'm a somatic coach andbreathwork facilitator.
And if you aren't new here,welcome back.
I'm so glad that you're tuningin for today's episode, that
(01:06):
you're tuning in for today'sepisode.
So for today's episode, I'mgoing to be sharing with you a
bit about how we can transitionfrom one season to the next with
a little bit of ease and graceand compassion, and this episode
is probably something that youcan definitely revisit and come
back to in the future when youare experiencing any sort of
transition.
Really.
(01:27):
So, building off of last week'sepisode around nature, that is
kind of what I'll be speaking toa bit more here, like those
transitions and how you can seethat in nature, but it does
apply in all areas of life.
So when we move throughtransitions, it's really an
opportunity for us to slow downand tend to our life, tend to
(01:52):
our needs, make some changes,some shifts, release, let go,
and life can definitely be aseries of transitions in all
different areas of life.
A series of transitions in alldifferent areas of life.
So I realize I'm just diving inright now, right into the
(02:14):
episode.
We just dove right in, but Iguess I have a lot to say in
this area.
So we're just gonna, we'regonna keep it going.
So I want to kick things offwith talking a bit about five
element theory, and this is apart of Chinese medicine.
It's something that I learnedabout and I took a course on for
about one year, and it'ssomething that I also like to
integrate into my work,integrate into my personal life
(02:36):
and my work with clients, and itis a perspective that each
season represents an energeticphase of life, of nature of our
bodies, and there are fivedifferent seasons.
So the first is water season.
This is in winter, aroundDecember to February roughly and
(02:59):
this is a time of rest, ofstillness, of deep reflection, a
time to kind of regenerate ourbodies, our nervous system.
Then we have wood season, whichis what we're in currently, and
that is a time of spring.
This is March through May, andit's a time of growth.
(03:22):
Things like to move, things alsolike to begin so kind of like
when the things start to bloom,they like to start to grow.
And this is right around wherewe are and we're transitioning
into fire season or summer, andthat's around June through
August.
And fire season is a time ofexpansion.
(03:43):
It's a time of expression, ofjoy, of connection.
We're outside, we're going tobarbecues, we're meeting up with
our friends, there's lots oflaughter during fire season, the
end of August and intoSeptember, and this is a time of
(04:04):
really grounding andintegrating, pausing, and it's
also a time where we kind oflike re-nourish and fill up our
cup after all of this outwardsenergy and fire season.
And then we move right intometal season, the fall, and this
is the end of September throughto November, and this is a time
(04:26):
of letting go.
This is a time of processinggrief, boundaries, even making
like little tweaks and refiningthings in our life can happen a
lot during metal season as well.
So some signs that you might bekind of struggling with, maybe a
(04:48):
transition or a transitionbetween seasons.
You might be experiencing somefatigue, you might be over
committing yourself, so nothonoring your yes or your no, so
having some boundary work thatneeds to happen.
You might be experiencingburnout, you might be feeling
(05:10):
angry and you might be feelingresentful, and so these are all
signs that we might experiencein the body, like the somatic
sensations of those emotions andseeing them come out in all
different ways, and that canlook like yeah, like maybe we're
resisting a transition that'scoming, so there's some tension
(05:31):
there and it's causing a lot ofsigns to come up from our body,
trying to communicate to us likewe're in a time of change,
we're in a time of a shift, likesomething's gotta shift,
something's gotta shift.
And I'll share a little bit formyself.
Historically, transitions havebeen really challenging for me.
I struggled with a lot ofanxiety in the past and
(05:55):
transitions were a big part ofthat anxiety.
And they look all.
Transitions can look alldifferent sorts of ways.
We have identity shifts, wehave breakups, platonic and
romantic endings.
We have all different kinds oftransitions and changes that can
(06:16):
happen in our personal life canhappen emotionally,
energetically, all differentthings that can happen.
So one example I can share isjust recently, a few weeks ago,
I was gardening and I went tomove something but my feet were
in an odd angle and I ended upthrowing out my back, which is
(06:40):
really painful.
If you've ever experienced thathopefully you haven't but what
it ended up doing was it reallystopped me in my tracks.
Like I really really valuebeing able to be active and
being able to move my body and Iwas, you know, on bed rest for
about four days.
I was in a lot of pain.
(07:00):
I had to rest.
I do have a personal trainer,who's awesome.
He was able to do some physicaltherapy with me and really help
me, which was great.
I was getting some movement in,but it was not fun.
I went to acupuncture, I wentto the massage therapist, I did
everything and I'm feeling a lot, a lot better.
(07:21):
But I share this with youbecause the transition from
spring to summer and that thosefew weeks it was definitely my
body, was definitelycommunicating to me like rest
ground, like your lower back asa source of your uh, yeah, your
(07:42):
grounding, your footing, likereally feel your feet on the
ground, really feel connected toyour sense of safety and
security.
And, um, regulating myself inthat way was really challenging
because, like I said, I was in alot of pain and I really value
being able to move, but it wasneeded and some of the I did a
(08:07):
few different like ritualsmyself to just be able to move
through this experience ofprocessing what that brought up
for me, because I was feelingreally angry, I was feeling
really sad, I had a lot ofdifferent emotions that I had to
work through in this, yeah, inthis one form of a transition.
It was a seasonal transition,but it was also a time where I,
(08:27):
yeah, I had to work through alot of my own material right.
So I want to share with you aritual that might be helpful for
you.
It's something that you can usefor any transition that you
might be experiencing, whetherit is a breakup, an ending, an
identity shift, an energetic uplevel.
It could be any kind oftransition that's coming up for
(08:49):
you and, again, this issomething that you can revisit
and come back to as well in thefuture.
So, when it comes to puttingtogether a ritual, I always like
to start with like what is myintention?
What am I hoping to receive andwhat do I think that I need?
So, invitation to start withthose kind of thoughts.
(09:09):
As you're creating your ownritual for transitions, I like
to start with a bit of breathwork.
So that could look like doingthe two one breath.
So it's inhaling twice throughyour nose and exhaling once
through your mouth.
It sounds like this so inhale,inhale, exhale, inhale, inhale,
(09:33):
exhale, and then I'll move intothe halo active, which is a long
deep inhale through the noseand a long deep exhale through
the mouth.
And so I'll do the two onebreath for a little bit.
I'll do the halo active for alittle bit.
I'll also make myself some cacao.
So Aura cacao is the brand thatI like to use, and they have
all different types of cacaos.
(09:54):
They also have a variety packthat you can buy.
So if you're not sure whichone's speaking to you, you can
buy a variety pack.
I think it comes with like 10different types of cacao with
all different intentions.
So, again, with that clarity,from the beginning of setting
your ritual, you'll have an ideaof which cacao might benefit
and support you and so,depending on what speaks to you,
(10:16):
you could also incorporate somecacao.
Then I'll do a meditation,sometimes for the cacao to kind
of like use it as a support, andother times just a meditation
based on what my intention is,and a resource that I like to
use for that is Insight Timer.
I love this resource.
(10:38):
I think it has such a hugevariety and huge library of
practices and so you can just goright into the search on
insight timer and you can typein exactly what you're looking
for.
So for me it was like sadness,anger, like those were the
things that were coming up forme.
Right into insight timer I went, I typed in like something for
(11:03):
anger and I I read a fewdescriptions and I found one
that resonated with me to helpand support me with processing
what was coming up for me, andthen I like to also do some
journaling.
So what does this transitionwant to teach me?
You can write on that.
What feels complete in thisseason of my life, like when I
(11:26):
was feeling super ungrounded?
What can I release and let goof to help me, like, get back to
that regulated and groundedstate and feel really connected
in my body?
Another one what am I ready torelease in order to feel lighter
in this next season?
So for me that's summer,because I was transitioning or
(11:47):
am transitioning from springinto summer.
So what am I ready to releasein order to feel lighter in this
next season?
So those are three questionsthat you could journal on, and I
also like to incorporate someaffirmations, so three that
might be helpful for transition.
Specifically, the first is I amsafe to not know what's next.
(12:10):
The second what I releasecreates space for what is in my
highest alignment.
And then the third every nobrings me back to alignment.
So I like that one, especiallyif you have, like, a history of
people pleasing or caretaking,sometimes it's hard to say no
(12:32):
and so affirming to yourselfevery no brings me back into my
alignment.
It's okay for you to say no,it's okay for you to have a
stronger boundary or take somespace or, yeah, really tend to
yourself and your needs.
So I hope that you enjoy thisritual practice.
If you do choose to do it, youknow, make it your own, really
(12:53):
tune into what would serve you,what would support you own,
really tune into what wouldserve you, what would support
you and the journaling if you dochoose to do it, remember that
there is, you know, no rushthrough a transition, take your
time, move at your pace andreally listen to your body.
And if any of this spoke to you, amazing, the Return to Soul
(13:13):
Retreat is happening duringmiddle season.
So that is in the fall.
The retreat is in October andmiddle season is all around
letting go.
It is all around refining inour lives, having those
boundaries, your yes, your no,processing grief, so really
being with yourself in thearising of what's coming up for
(13:36):
you in a way that feels, yeah,really compassionate and safe
and supported.
So check out the show notes ifyou want to know more about the
retreat.
And, yeah, I hope that youenjoyed today's episode.
As always, I love creatingthese episodes for you and I'm
so glad that you are tuning in.
So I hope you have anincredible rest of your day, an
incredible rest of your day, anincredible rest of your week,
(13:58):
and I will talk to you soon.
Thank you for being here andtuning in to Somatic Healing for
Wellness Focused Women podcast.
If you were moved or inspiredby today's episode, please take
a moment to leave a rating andreview on Apple Podcasts.
It truly helps the podcast growand helps more people find me
on their healing journey.
(14:19):
Make sure to check out the shownotes to sign up for the
monthly newsletter, links tomore resources, opportunities to
work with me and ways that wecan stay connected.
If we aren't already connectedon social media, head over to
Instagram to follow me atraythesomaticcoach.
Send me a DM.
I'd love to connect with youand I answer each note that
(14:41):
comes in.
I am so happy you're here and Icannot wait to talk with you on
our next episode of the podcast.
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