Autumn Energy Descends
The Metal Element rules the Autumn months.
Autumn can be heavy.
I have a space in my house that is literally full to the brim with tangled wires, smelly tents, and miscellaneous crafting projects - unfinished and unravelling. I’ll process it all later, when I have more time, some rainy day in the somewhere future.
But time doesn’t seem to stretch itself out nicely for me to sit around and sort it; it floods on and the cupboard fills to the point of overwhelm. Soon it’ll explode.
Autumn can be heavy. The clutter, the unprocessed, the ignored, all start pulling on the shoulders, pressing deep into the chest. If the weight can’t be shed, it stagnates, it rots.
Movement is key.
5 Element theory offers us metaphors, taken from the environment, to use as a guide to align our bodies to the rhythm of the times. The word “Elements’ suggests something static, but they are better understood as Movements or Phases.
Think of a piece of classical music: the building energy of a crescendo mimics the Fire Phase of the summer months - with its intense activity, warmth, and vibrancy - a time of expansion and fullness. After the crescendo, music is often marked by a decrescendo (gradual softening) or a shift to a calmer, reflective passage, there is a sense of release or subsiding energy. Similarly, autumn brings a quieter, introspective atmosphere as nature winds down and prepares for the stillness of winter.
Autumn isn't just a time of fading—it’s a time of resolution, introspection, and quiet beauty, much like the reflective moments in music that follow a peak in intensity.
Autumn Descends
The movement of autumn, or Metal Phase in Traditional Chinese Medicine, is like the falling of an apple from its branch: full, heavy, ready, the apple lets go of its keeper and begins its descent to the ground. If the fruit stays in place it will rot on its branch, but if it releases its burden, it will fall to the earth and transform, providing nourishment for the soil during the winter months.
To let go is to grieve: a process of acknowledgment and transformation. When grief is blocked it is held in sorrow, and is forced to return in ever more elaborate guises: irrational actions, intense mental fluctuations, dis-ease.
Our culture encourages accumulation and us humans tend to cling on for dear life to whatever we have gathered, whether it serves us or not. Our memories, treasures, relationships, and duties become our identity, wrapping us tight in a shell of purpose. To shed ourself of this identity would leave us naked and vulnerable, and so we burden its load.
How to move with the times
The practice for this time is to see what is of value, and to know what no longer is. Start small: process the clutter in your house (I’ll sort mine out too!) Allow yourself time for reflection and stillness. Notice what is weighing heavily, and what can be shed.
In our yoga we can practice with intention. Each time you come to practice acknowledge what you are transforming: a mind-state, relationship, job or habit. Commit yourself to acknowledge your burden and the seed for change - the opening to let it go - will be sewn.
For some seasonal Yoga videos check my membership page here, it’s free until December 1st.
