The trees shed their leaves when the autumn comes,
While we're rushing round the place, never resting from the chase.

Being part of nature, humans are affected by and subjected to many cycles - those rises and falls of energy which happen throughout life, be they short cycles or ones which happen over years. They affect energy levels, mood/emotions and physiology, sometimes at our inconvenience. Here are a few 'tangible' examples...

Outer cycles - night and day, the seasons of the Earth, the phases of the moon...
Inner cycles - the cycle of our breath - inhale/exhale, our heart-beat, digestive rhythms, and the menstrual cycle for Women. 

The cycle we simply cannot ignore is that of the day and night - when it's dark we sleep and when the Sun rises, so do we. And when we run out of breath after a deep exhale, we almost immediately need to drink in our next life-giving inhale!

Living with the Seasons
Winter is the time to surrender to stillness. Relax ... don't try and grow that lettuce in the middle of winter...it'll be a struggle! It's a time for rest, non-action. In the void we are invited to look within, be reflective, meditative, and in this state, we can regenerate, restore our strength, and dream & vision our desires - the seeds of our future growth. 

Spring comes. As the heat and light of the Sun increases, energy rises and expands and we feel more alive ... it's time to plant that lettuce!! There is stirring, movement, potential, excitement, creativity, growth, anticipation, experimentation, playfulness, risk-taking - these life-giving qualities. It's like we're warming up in preparation for the Big event...

Expanding energies heighten and Boom!! It's summer. Because we've rested, reflected, restored our energy and dreamed our visions in Winter, and grown, nurtured and developed them in spring, we can now ride the biggest wave at the peak of the cycle. Achievement, action, productivity, fertility, energy, blooming, putting yourself out there, being seen and heard. (This is the constant season of our society - Go, go, go. But a flower can't bloom forever.)

It's autumn. The days shorten, begin to draw back again. The trees shed their leaves,  energy begins to turn inward. Like the autumn leaf we can let go of the things we don't wish to carry forward into the next cycle. Create space, de-clutter, edit, refine, sort the rubbish out from the recycling. 

And then we're prepared to hunker down once again into the darkness of winter, from where New Beginnings will emerge as surely as the Sun will rise again in the new dawn.

Ideas for further exploration for anyone to do

• Track either your menstrual cycle if you have one, or the phases of the Moon. Begin with day 1 at the beginning of the cycle and write a few words daily about how you feel - your mood, energy levels, dreams or anything else peculiar or not. Over the coming months you may notice a pattern - ebbs and flows - your cyclical rhythms showing you how they affect you. Feelings you thought arose randomly may not be so random after all... eg anxiety, depression, exuberance, love, anger, wanting to withdraw from life...
• Do activities which are in alignment with your inner seasons - you may want to take it easy in the winter phase whilst in contrast say 'Yes' to everything in the summer. If you're really tuned in you can even plan your diary according to your phase of the cycles. Bringing your awareness to this may teach you a lot about yourself and enable you to make decisions for yourself in a conscious and nurturing way. 
• Observe how your mood, energy, feelings etc change through the seasons of the year. Look to nature as a mirror and guide to how you can more fully embrace these aspects of yourself.

This is nature's way of being. It's self-care. It involves checking in to your inner needs. So you can use it as an invitation to explore, tune in to yourself more deeply and honour your inner nature. Nobody else will do this on your behalf.

Can you feel the rhythm of the Earth's heart-drum?
She is beating at a pace.... Life flowing by with Grace.

Beating at a pace...
​Flowing by with Grace.

In yogic terms, the will is governed by the energy centre called ‘Manipura Chakra'. The element of this energy centre is Fire. It’s location is at the navel in the belly – hence the power behind our digestive processes is referred to as our ‘digestive fire’.  If this energy centre is weak, then we may struggle to digest our food well.
 
And if we don’t have much fire in our belly, we may lack a sense of personal power, identity, depth, and integrity – the ability to walk forward into life, taking actions and speaking words which are in alignment with our beliefs and values. We may favour instant gratification over working towards more substantial longer-term endeavours.