Savoring the In-Between, Staying Present With Transitions.

In Chinese Medicine theory, there are five seasons, not four. The fifth season can be thought of as “late summer,” that heavy boggy damp August time as summer starts to turn towards fall. 

Alternately, this fifth season can be thought of as the period between each season when we aren’t quite in one particular season. 

We spend a lot of our lives in the in-between, thinking about the future or called back into the past. Waiting in line at the store or maybe sprawled on a yoga class waiting for class to begin. 

Sleep, where we spend about one-third of our lives is also a state of in-between.

Then there’s all the time we literally spend in transit–walking somewhere, biking or driving or traveling between places. 

This time of year–not quite summer but also not yet fully autumn–is a great time of year to reflect on the transitions within your own life. Maybe you’re moving or shifting a relationship or maybe there’s another obvious transition asking you to slow down and pay attention to this change.

Even when everything feels more status quo, there’s still the opportunity to lean in and think about the many ways we transition throughout the day–how do we emerge from sleep and greet the day? How can you remember to make your commute, or even a trip to the store, a bit more mindful or plugged-in? 

How can you stay present in the transitions and learn to honor that the moments within the transitions, the now, actually ARE our very lives? 

There will be achievements and accomplishments, but what matters most is the process and the unfolding. How we get there matters as much as where we arrive. 

And even after each arriving, there’s no way to freeze the moment  to stay. Each moment is itself a transition, each breath. 

Autumn calls on us to slow down and to be within every precious breath we’re able to receive. 

The energy in nature is starting to turn downward and inward. Nature is asking us to gather our breath just as the sap gathers towards the center of the tree.

May you also learn to be in the slowing, to take time to pause and to savor. May you exhale more completely so that you can more gratefully receive. 

PS: There’s still time to join me! My autumn restorative yoga workshop at Studio 34 will be held on Friday 10/3 at 7pm. We will frame the evening with a talk on seasonal energetics from the perspective of Chinese Medicine as we learn to welcome autumn by resting on the earth in comfy postures. More information can be seen here. (Scroll down to the date 10/3).