September Practice

Sally Klempton write, "This month is a good time to look at how the intense energies around us are affecting your own inner state, and to ask yourself how your practice can help you work with these energies. Times of upheaval ask us to practice. On one level, we practice so that we can stay centered in the midst of intensity and change. But on an even deeper level, our practice is what allows us to work with the forces at play in the world, and channel them towards our own awakening, and the awakening of the others in our lives. Practicing intensely, and practicing with intensity, we can actually use the energies of this time for radical inner growth."

I feel a new energy rising, in and around me, as the Earth begins her slow turn away from our beloved sun. Into the darkness, I anticipate the cold. Something about this season makes it easier for me to settle down into things. Perhaps it is because I want to savor what is for me a time a profound potential and possibilities. I am comfortable; there is not too much heat, cold, light, or darkness. The air is fresh and cooler. The lake, still invites me, with open and soft arms but not for long. My child is busy again learning, focused, surrounded by friends and new teachers. I can let go of my worries, if just a bit, as she is occupied in good ways with her own life.

What would I do with this newly found transformative energy? If god asks me, I would tell her of the friends and acquaintances, known and unknown, I long to talk with, solitary walks up high mountains, dips into to my favorite waterfalls. I yearn for September swims, pranayama, yoga, and meditation to help draw into the core of my being. I want to feel the sap rising, thickening, consolidating inside in preparation for the resting time.

This year, I promise to savor the fragrance and tastes of this season, to remember past autumns when those I loved were still alive. I shall seek my stories again.

With my practices, I become lighter. The Autumn energies urge me to let go, even just a little bit, of my grip of things that no longer serve me. Worries like my favorite waterfalls, flow more easily over the rocks. Be stingy now, the slanted sun whispers to me, with the energies flowing through you. They wlll make you strong and capable until you return again to me.