As we find ways to reconnect with the Earth and her wisdom, we are called to pay more attention to the cycles of nature and their relationship to our mind and body cycles.
For millennia, indigenous cultures observed, breathed and lived close to the earth, and came to understand that there are four main points in her yearly movement: Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, and Autumn Equinox. They then mapped those to our inner yearly journeys, as we are simply a part of nature herself.
Observing, moving with and embodying nature’s cycles, our awareness of our own cycles deepens.
Just as in nature, we also go through cycles of growth, harvest, death and rebirth.
The Fall Equinox, for those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, represents the time of harvest, where we reap from our growth and expansion of the year.
This is the time to honor all that you have in your life, shifting your consciousness from that of lack to that of gratitude and prosperity. The fast-paced, emotion-driven, addictive world most of us live in requires that we constantly practice grounding, gratitude and a sense of true inner satisfaction.
This Equinox, which occurs on September 22nd for those in the Americas and on the 23rd for those of us in Europe, take some time to slow down and to ground yourself in all your abundance.
A powerful way to do that is to practice Gratitude. You can create a Gratitude Ritual, or you can take some time to cultivate your Gratitude during your day. I offer a suggestion for a ritual below, as well as a 10 minute guided Gratitude Meditation.
Gratitude Ritual
Rituals are the way our mind is able to go through changes and shifts without getting in the way through rational thinking, analyzing, and doubting.
Find a place in your home or outside where you will not be disturbed for a while. You can make this as short as 5 minutes or as long as you want.
You will create a small altar and place in it objects or pieces of the nature around you, they can be rocks, special objects or even leaves you find. Make some space on the ground or in a space in your home. Light a candle and take a few breaths, allowing the flame to calm and ground you. Then, take each object and blow into it the thing you are grateful for. It can be a quality you have, your health, the people in your life… take your time and include anything that comes to mind, big or small. Then place the object in/on your altar, and continue to the next one. As your altar fills up, fill your hear overflowing from all this abundance of love and beauty that you already have in your life.
Once you fell you are ready, take one last object and blow into it this moment.
Bring your awareness to your abundance, your expansion, your evolution, your perspective shifts, the affluence and flow and empathy and love and light, and your ability to see growth, and potential in every moment.
Now just breathe and feel more grace, and ease.
And now experience the warmth, love and compassion that gratitude brings into your heart. Stay in this for a long as you feel.
Gratitude Meditation
Below I have recoded a10-minute guided Gratitude Meditation. This Gratitude Meditation is from Guiding Light, an online blog that focuses on meditation training and awareness. Starting from expressing gratitude to our breaths, heartbeat, the five senses, and finally, to the people we love, this meditation awakens our consciousness in the gentlest way possible, leaving us refreshed and emotionally satisfied from inside.
