Editor's Letter: September - Can You Learn to Love the Cold?

Hello friends,

We find ourselves a few days deep into September, and with its arrival, we make the first calendrical turn towards Autumn.

I'm a winter baby (December) but a summer's child at heart. I've always preferred the light, warmth, and freedom that summer brings, and the chill, grey dampness of last third of the year has been known to bring me to actual tears. But in recent years I've come to appreciate autumn, and even its less pretty and harder-to-love neighbour, winter.

After summer's high energy, packed full of long evenings, weddings, festivals, meandering walks, time in the park, holidays, summer get-togethers and all the other magic that summer brings, this first hint of autumn offers us a shift in perspective, towards the relative calm of the cooler months.

The more I tune into the cyclical nature of this life on beautiful planet earth, the more I come to value autumn and winter as essential components in the neverending dance through the various polarities of life. With autumn comes the opportunity to hunker down a little bit more, to stay In-In, get enough sleep, eat warm nourishing food, and generally just slow the pace a little bit.

Our ancestors would have worked hard throughout the summer to grow and store food, making the most of the long hours of daylight and pouring effort into the land while they still could. Importantly though, this would have culminated in a slowing down and an eventual complete pause once winter hit.

We lost this rhythm to life with the introduction of electric light, (now we are able to make the days and working hours as long as we choose), and with it, we tuned out nature's cue to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n.

In a society and culture that wants us to grow and grow and grow and produce (and buy) more and more and more, we fall easily into the trap of being constantly on the go. But it's unsustainable, our bodies and our minds need rest and quiet time.

So this autumn, as the air turns colder and the days get decidedly shorter, I'm trying to tap into gratitude for the opportunity to spend more time nesting at home and using the rainy days as a valid reason to curl up somewhere warm with a book without feeling guilty that I'm not doing anything productive or sociable.

When I am out and about - I've made two great discoveries around accepting the colder months (I'm not quite 'embracing' them yet!): Invest in some really good quality thermals, and learn to relax into the cold rather than bracing against it. (You can train your tolerance to the cold with Cold Water Therapy.)

Happy almost-autumn to you. Here's hoping for a beautiful one filled with colour and rest.

Jasmine
Balance Garden Editor
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Jasmine Pradhan is the editor and co-founder of Balance Garden, and is also a London based yoga teacher you can find her on instagram @stretchandthecity or on her website www.stretchandthecity.co.uk

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