Welcome to the first of seven newsletters in our fall series on the energy of fall/winter and the process of Transformation. Our series starts today at the Autumn Equinox and will continue every two weeks until the week before Winter Solstice. In keeping with the energy of fall and winter, we’ll be moving inward and journeying together through a process of growth and transformation.
As I mentioned last week, fall has been challenging for me for as long as I can remember. Even as a little kid, I would get headaches and tummy aches when school started every September. Throughout my life, fall would come along and I’d wonder what was “wrong” with me. I always felt “off”. My energy was lower. Things felt harder. I eventually chalked it up to “seasonal affective disorder” and continued pushing myself to keep going even though I was really struggling inside. Put on a happy face and keep going, right?!?
What I’ve been learning over the past few years is that there is nothing “wrong” with me. I’m a sensitive person, who is deeply in touch with the rhythms of the Earth, and what I was unconsciously tuning into was Mama Gaia in her process of slowing down and letting go as she turns inward and prepares for winter.
In our society, we live our lives as though they are linear. Day after day. Week after week. Month after month. Year after year. We act as though we are moving through time in a linear way. Always travelling from point A to point B, trying to get through the next obstacle or reach the next achievement, milepost or item on our “to do” list. It’s like we’re in perpetual energy of go-go-go all the time.
… but the truth is, we aren’t linear beings. We’re cyclic beings. As women, we are even more aware (consciously or unconsciously) of this disconnect between our linear society and our cyclic bodies. We have a monthly cycle that goes through the same phases as the seasons of the year, the cycles of the moon and the rhythms of each day. If we think of these cycles in terms of the seasons, it helps us to understand the energy of each of the four parts of the cycle:
Spring, morning, the first quarter of the waxing moon and the early follicular part of our menstrual cycle are about new beginnings. New possibilities. New ideas. A time of planting seeds and starting new projects. There is an energy of freshness, newness, possibility, emergence. This is a great time to start a new project, play with new ideas, explore new opportunities.
Summer, afternoon, the first quarter to full moon and late follicular phase until ovulation are about full expression. Aliveness. Growth. High energy. The full manifestation of the seeds we planted in spring. There is an energy of expansion, vitality, abundance and peak self expression. This is a good time to network, collaborate and really lean into the energy of aliveness to help bring creations to life.
Fall, evening, the waning moon and the luteal phase are about slowing down, releasing and letting go of that which no longer serves us. Our bodies are asking us to begin the journey inward. The journey home. To begin to exhale the big breath we’ve been taking in over the spring and summer so we can release and empty out. There’s an energy of turning inward, surrender and letting go. This is a good time for working on the quiet details of a project on our own, organizing our space and taking stock of what is working and what is not.
Winter, night, the dark/new moon and our period are meant to be a time stillness. Of quiet reflection. Of composting what we have released in the fall to become fertilizer for the next cycle of growth. It’s a time we are meant to be quiet. Introspective. It’s a good time to rest, to journal on what went well and what we’d like to do differently in the next cycle of growth.
I think the reason many of us have a hard time with the fall/winter and/or the time leading up to our period is that our society gives us the message that we need to be “on” all the time. That resting is “lazy”. That if we aren’t being “productive”, we’re useless. A slacker.
… and yet we can’t only ever breathe in! In order to take a nice big breath with our next inhale, we must first exhale! This season of fall is the exhale and winter is the empty still point before our next breath. If we don’t empty out, we have no room to take in more.
As women, our cyclic bodies move through these cycles, these rhythms. Every month of our reproductive years, our bodies invite us to move through all four of these cycles, including the release of our luteal phase (fall energy) and the rest/stillness at the time of our bleed (winter energy). Many of us, myself included, have been so conditioned to ignore these messages from our bodies and push through them… until we hit the peri/menopause transition which is basically the fall/luteal phase on steroids, and anything we haven’t dealt with yet gets really loud, demanding our attention!
My own rough menopause transition led me to see that peri/menopause is an important time of transition. A portal to our wisdom years. For many of us, it is REALLY hard… and there’s a reason for that. As ROUGH as it was to deal with the anxiety, spinning brain, sleepless nights, hot flashes and all my other symptoms, I’ve come to see them as a gift. Of Life shining a bright light on the parts of my life that weren’t working, so that I could make different, more aligned choices. As I’ve been doing so, I feel a greater sense of presence in my own life. More joy. More aliveness. It’s still not easy by any stretch of the imagination, but I do love that I feel more and more like ME. The real me. Not the version of me that society was telling me to be. The me that is following her soul path, even when it’s hard.
In case you’re interested in hearing more about this, I’ve included a link to a talk I’ve given on Menopause: A Portal to our Wisdom Years. For those of you in BC, you are also welcome to join me and some of the other amazing women of this community for Empowered Menopause this fall on Oct 22, 29 and Nov 5. More details and links to register below.
As I’ve been learning to align myself with the cycles of nature, I’ve come to see not only our days, months and years as following these cycles, but also the arc of our lives as well. Our child/teen/maiden years as the spring as we begin to blossom and learn about ourselves, our reproductive years as the summer as we move out into the world and step into our full expression, our peri/menopause transition as the fall as we harvest the wisdom we’ve gained and release what no longer serves us, and our post menopausal years as the winter, where we become the elders, the wise women, the matriarchs that our world so desperately needs!
I encourage you to reflect on this theme of fall release and what it means to you in your life. Are there changes you can make to honour your monthly cycles? The cycles of the moon? The cycles of the year? Can you reframe any challenges you are having with “seasonal affective disorder” or “premenstrual syndrome” or a rough peri/menopause transition as an invitation to exhale. To move inward. To release that which is no longer serving you?
As we, individually and collectively, begin to honour our cycles. To create time to exhale instead of spending our lives trying to inhale more and more and more, we will shift our culture. We’ll co-create a world that moves with the rhythms of Life, of Mama Gaia, of our bodies. Those of us who feel the disconnect between our linear world and our cyclic nature are needed. Now more than ever. To help guide our lost world to a more loving, coherent, balanced way of living.
We can do this. Together.
Sending you so much love sister.
See you again in two weeks,
Shana
* I understand that these newsletters and audio messages offered by Dr. Shana Johnston are designed to help me tap into my own inner wisdom and find my own answers. I understand the information presented by Dr. Johnston is based on a combination of her personal experience and current medical knowledge in a constantly evolving field where a variety of different opinions exist. I understand that the ideas and information presented should not act as a substitute for the individualized advice of my qualified and licensed healthcare practitioner. In reading/listening to the material presented, I agree to accept full responsibility for my interpretation of any content I consume, and thereby release Dr. Shana Johnston from any liability related to the information and ideas presented in any of her offerings.