Autumn has begun to settle in here in the northern hemisphere—the temperatures are dropping, the air is feeling more crisp, and the leaves on the trees are getting ready to change colors and start falling. As the external environment changes, so does our internal environment.
Seasonal changes are a big time of transformation in the environment and in our body, as the qualities surrounding us as well as inside of us shift. Our body and mind can have a hard time maintaining balance during the seasonal transitions, and our immune system can get bogged down—ever notice how there is often a surge of illness right around the seasonal transitions?
Ever since I started incorporating Ayurveda into my life a decade ago, I noticed a pattern that emerged every autumn. I was in a couple of car accidents a long time ago, and had a lot of sports-related injuries, and have overcome a huge amount of chronic tension and pain through my spinal release yoga practice and implementation of Ayurveda in my life. Most of the time these days, I am pain free, or only experience very mild symptoms. But every September/October as summer gives way to autumn, I suddenly get a resurgence of pain and lack of stability in the same old spots - in my SI joint where my sacrum and hip bones meet, and in my neck/shoulder area.
So, why is that? What does this shift into autumn look like?
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