welcoming change: an autumn equinox ritual to reflect and recommit to our intentions
Autumn is a time of transformation in the environment.
And nature outside always affects the nature within us. As the trees go back into their roots, we are also afforded the opportunity to draw in, retreat, reflect, and reconnect.
In fact, many spiritual traditions use this season to reflect on behavior and choices made over the year. Practices and observances offer time to review any regrets, mistakes, or challenges made over the past year. This contemplation is meant to be a learning opportunity, so these habits, actions, or responses are not repeated and instead replaced with more artful, graceful, or just actions in the future.
The Autumn Equinox is a perfect time to create your own ritual for reflection, and recommit to more conscious, constructive, and compassionate intentions for the year to come.
Try this simple ritual on your own:
Take some time upon waking on the Equinox—this Saturday, September 25—to relax and pause. Have an index card and a pen with you.
You can either do a few moments of conscious breathing or a full yoga and meditation practice. (If you join my new Autumn practice series or free meditations on Fridays, you can return to Equinox replay.)
After centering yourself, contemplate the question: What do you have gratitude for this year? What are the obvious and not-so-obvious blessings this year? Then write your answer on one side of the index card.
Pause again and take a few breaths and consider one or two of these questions, and write your thoughts on the other side of the Index Card:
What gifts have you received from a challenge this year? What did it help you learn? How did it expand or change you?
Is there a mistake you made or regret you have? What did you learn from it? How will your respond differently in a similar situation like that in the future?
How can you support yourself in cultivating a new habit? Is there an old habit that is no longer serving your best interest?
How can you create more balance in your life?
Then, burn the card: Fire is a symbol of purification and of the energy needed to create transformation.
At night (sunset is ideal, when night and day stand in the balance), go outside and burn your index card as an offering and an intention to remain open to change and transformation. Every year, I burn mine in the same copper urn. But you can burn it in any kind of a heatproof container or a terracotta saucer, like the one you would put under a potted plant. Put a layer of sand or dirt in the bottom to help absorb some of the heat.
Pause when it is done burning and enjoy the stillness of the night and the time you took to connect with yourself and your aspirations.
autumn practice series:
return, reset, recenter
The transition from summer’s expansion into autumn offers us the opportunity to return to our center—to balance strength and openness and power and grace. With a centered, stable core, we can grow stronger and more at ease in our bodies, clear and calm in our minds, and open and present in our hearts.
This series is designed to help you optimize your time on the mat. Each 45-minute practice will weave together breathing practices, mindful meditation awareness, and movement to help you balance, strengthen, and open your entire core.