Keep your cool this summer
As the seasons change, it’s a good practice to anticipate how your habits and lifestyle might need to shift in order to align with nature. When we live out of sync with nature, we can start to feel out of balance, stressed, impatient, maybe on edge, critical, judgmental, and a general sense of contraction in our lives.
I know when I’m honed in to my habits and giving myself permission to do what’s best for me, I experience WAY more ease in my life. I just did a free talk over the phone to help anticipate the heat of the summer and while the response to the call was high, I know many of you would benefit from 1) these simple solutions and 2) learning from my mistakes.
Summer to me is a season of play, Fun and ENJOYing time outside, with my family and friends. That goes south if I’m feeling overheated, bloated, exhausted and tired from overextending myself. I only know this, because it’s how many summers have gone for me in my past. A time that is anticipated all year (especially when you are married to a teacher) should be so much fun, just isn’t any more when I’m not feeling my best. In the past I’ve had the tendency to throw my practices out the window by responding to this very convincing internal voice saying, “oh, c’mon! It’s SUMMER! Live a little!”
I’ve realized now, that this is my voice of resistance. It’s my ego trying to keep me from really making the changes that I want in my life. Funny enough, when I’m in alignment with my habits, I AM LIVING. And when my resistance or my ego shows up to tell me “I’m no fun”, or “you’re such a party pooper”, sometimes I give in. The reality of that is, instead of living in alignment with what I know to be best for me and risking feeling like the party pooper, I wake up the next day feeling less than great, a.k.a. like the poop of the party I was afraid to feel (slow, heavy, lacking integrity and on and on).
Do I want to look like the party pooper or actually feel like the poop of the party? Hmmmm…I think you can guess the answer. The resistance language is really just a story I’ve told myself to keep myself from feeling GREAT. Do you see it? It’s called resistance to change. We work with this a lot in my EMBODY Ease course. It can easily be a slippery slope to suffering versus a trajectory towards ease. There is a sanskrit word, it’s called “prajnaparadha”, which is triggered when we are out of sync with what we know to be best for ourselves and the result is our imbalance strengthens. In the case of summer – heat accumulates and we might not feel it right away – it might not be until we get hives, a rash, a sunburn, get dehydrated, impatient with our loved ones or critical of others, like that.
Prajnaparadha: when we are out of sync what’s best
If you are at all resistant to change, this might seem hard. What I love about Ayurveda is that there’s room to play, change and evolve and our habits, routines, and dietary choices should ebb and flow with the season.
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Summer Tip Sheet
Use this Free Summer Tip Sheet I’ve created to help you stay cool and keep your cool this summer.
When we recognize what’s happening around us is also happening inside us, we can cultivate more balance throughout the year by making a conscious effort to live in sync with the cycles of nature. By adjusting and evolving our lifestyle and habits we can more easily accommodate the arrival of each season. While this idea may at first seem challenging because you like what you have for breakfast or when and how you workout, most people find that the seasonal adjustments feel right and that a few simple changes can dramatically increase their energy and overall vitality over time.
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Rachel Peters is a yoga teacher, yoga health coach, lifestyle and habits expert, easeful living advocate, and lover of wild places. She leads others towards Embodying Ease through a yearlong wellness & lifestyle journey to dissolve perfectionism, embody daily habits that promote mental clarity, overall ease, and deeper connection to life on this wild ride of modern living. Learn MORE today!