Have you had a good summer? Did you get some real, no-holds-barred moments of absolute luxurious relaxation permeating every facet of your bodily comfort, mental serenity and emotional satisfaction?
OK, maybe your summer wasn’t quite THAT great, but did you at least have times where you slowed down, slept well and enjoyed yourself thoroughly?
Traditionally summer is a time when we feel freer in ourselves and in our lives. Our bodies, minds and emotions loosen up, we feel lighter in our responsibilities, more able to play.
But but but… here comes Labor Day, right around the corner. Do you notice an automatic anticipatory reaction to this annual date? The girding of the loins, the tension in the shoulders, the forces to be mustered, the responsibilities to be carried, the environment to be ordered? Do you resign yourself to a different reality than the pleasures of summertime easy?
If the end of summer brings a feeling of dread, your thoughts start taking on a hard edge, anxiety settles over the house or you notice tension or pain in your body, heed the signs. No matter how great the summer, how you feel the rest of the year may be costing you. What if you could include more of summer’s satisfactions through all seasons of your life?
Here are three ways you can supplement your life with more summer, regardless of the calendar:
- Explore the physical sensations of summer and ground them more thoroughly into your awareness and nervous system’s control. While not a formal meditation, when we close our eyes and tune into the sensations within our body while imagining a particularly relaxing moment or holiday experience, we can begin building a new cellular foundation to bring into any season. See below for an exercise in bringing your body and mind into the relaxing sensations of summer, anytime.
- Create a post-Labor Day scenario that feels like fun. If you are a planner, write out a structure/schedule designed to be manageable and enjoyable. If you prefer to imagine, picture yourself in a light and playful atmosphere as you move into the next season. Insert specific, relaxing activities or periods of non-activity into your days. If you set an alarm to wake up, consider setting it 10 minutes earlier, so instead of bolting out of bed, you have the luxury of lounging for a few delicious minutes. Create moments in each day that represent you having fun in whatever way you choose. And then consciously savor your enjoyment!
- Make a commitment to your growth and development in a lasting way. Take advantage of my “Summer’s Almost Over” special homeopathic appointment package. Clients who schedule an appointment between now and September 13th can secure 2 additional appointments before the end of the year at a special rate of $80 per session. Use this opportunity to address a physical issue you may have or to finally sort through on-going emotional or situational difficulties. Or simply include this supportive structure as part of your plan to enjoy more in your life!
While there are many techniques to help us grow and heal, homeopathy is a particularly profound system in that it works directly on our energy system (which underlies all aspects of our experience) to naturally resolve long-standing conflicts, patterns and even inherited tendencies. An appropriate remedy can act like a door opening within our entire being – suddenly the light can penetrate into dusty corners, clearing out the old and allowing us to bring in more of what we truly want, in body, mind and experience.
How do you experience summer, versus the rest of the year? Wrestling ourselves into rigid schedules and over-burdened responsibilities cuts off our spontaneity and dims our enjoyment of life. While we all have commitments and jobs to do on many levels, incorporating lightness and pleasure will enhance rather than diminish our effectiveness.
Keep summer’s energy of fun and relaxation alive within you all year long!
BTW, my own fall includes lots of fun, adventure and travel, so please – book your appointments now!
The Feeling of Summer
How to Be on Holiday Any Time
As we pick up speed moving toward the end of summer, here is a technique to ground and carry forward some relaxed spontaneity into the routine of busy schedules and commitments. Try to spend 5-10 minutes doing this at least once/day over the next month and notice how it influences your ability to remain in that holiday feeling.
What does it feel like when you are on holiday? Like really away – perhaps even off the grid. No phones, computers, no technology of any sort. No appointments, commitments or external demands. No wake up calls and likewise no set bedtime or need to be anywhere at any time. Just free to follow your own desires, your own timetable, your own leadings.
Take a moment and be on this holiday. Perhaps you can close your eyes as you begin to focus on what being on holiday feels like, on what summer’s most beloved moments are like for you.
What does it feel like to have all the time in the world? To have complete freedom to experience yourself, your surroundings and those you are with. To look at some aspect of where you are and really see it. To gaze at a loved one – your partner or child – through your own relaxed appreciation of their true essence, without the shadows of expectations or history.
How does it feel to really be on holiday? Not running to the airport or sightseeing in a new place but instead to have the day stretched out before you, without hooks or edges, without sharp corners or interference. Perhaps feeling the sun on your body, the air soft against your skin. Touching something; noticing what is beneath you. Where you are sitting or perhaps lying down or standing.
What are the sounds you hear? Water lapping against the shore or the breeze moving through the leaves of trees. Distant laughter and happy voices – or simply quiet and still.
Take your time. Perhaps you are remembering a specific moment of pure relaxation, pure enjoyment. Or perhaps you have a vision of something that although not yet experienced, represents such bliss. Allow yourself to be there. Take it all in. Relax it all out.
Just feel what this is like. Breathe it in and softly out. Notice what you are experiencing within your body. What are the physical sensations of being on this wonderful holiday, in this beautiful place? What does it feel like in your chest? What are the sensations in your shoulders? Your belly?
Take your time and focus on the sensations within your body. Don’t try to change anything, just allow whatever is there to be experienced and felt. If you notice areas of tension, just let them be. Keep your attention on this holiday experience and allow the sensations to respond in whatever way they do.
What happens when you are surrounded by light? By warmth? By the sounds of the sea or the softness of the breeze? When you have no demands being made on you but are free to simply enjoy yourself in this space, in this moment?
What happens when all responsibilities are loosened? When there is no one to call, nothing to fix, no one to judge and no one judging you? When you can decide to do whatever you choose in the moment. Take a nap. Read a book. Explore. Have an adventure. Stretch your body.
Focus on whatever you are feeling within your body. Experience yourself immersed in summer’s warmth. Timelessness. Relaxation. Freedom. Experience all of yourself in this space.
When you are completely immersed, notice if there is any kind of symbol or picture that encompasses this experience for you.
Perhaps you get an image in your mind that embodies this energy…
or simply focus on the sensations you feel in your body. Lightness. Warmth. Expansion.
Feel your cells opening and drawing this energy in, bringing the light and expansion into every part of your being. Feel your cells relaxing, rejuvenating, responding. Feel hidden parts of yourself opening up, expanding, releasing.
Appreciate and acknowledge that this energy remains within you, always in reach, always available within every single cell of your body, embodied within you.
When you are ready or it’s time to attend to something else, silently count down from 20. When you reach 0, open your eyes and softly gaze about, still enjoying the experience, knowing you can bring this energy forward into other aspects of your life.
You. Relaxed. At ease. Free.