Movement in Nature is our Greatest Healer and Teacher

After a gorgeously uplifting but intensely packed travel, work and socially extroverted Summer, I am prioritising my movement again. And it feels like a homecoming. Running. Yoga. Hiking. Group fitness classes. Beach walks. Gentle evening stretching in my new apartment. It all creates shifts. Space. Connection to my intuition. Gratitude. Release. Confidence. I am re-learning how movement at home or in an aesthetically beautiful and welcoming studio isn’t just a nice addition to my day, it is an essential element of enhancing my energetic brightness, my emotional processing, my appreciation for the present moment, alongside a physical and mental strength.

On my run, one fallen Autumnal maple leaf really caught my eye, and my legs took me back to its resting place to collect it and bring it home with me. A memento of this season in nature and in my life. It is dried and placed on my kitchen window-sill now.

As I ran home with the leaf pressed within the pocket of my leggings, I contemplated on the meaning of what the Autumnal palette can illuminate for me. So many metaphors and analogies flooded my mind. The visual aid of my surroundings and the beat of my running shoes against the muddy path suddenly sparked a gorgeous mental flow. I thought about allowing myself to glow brightly coloured even against the colder, harsher winds of life; of allowing my ideas and ambitions to evolve naturally and gently over time; of creating a container that honoured both movement and rest as Autumn shifts to Winter in the weeks that lie ahead.

Then I landed on four key words. Release - Absorb - Rest - Integration. Like the trees release their leaves, one by one, from the firm origin of its branches to the softness of the soil below. Like the leafless branches reclaim and absorb its vital nutrients for the Winter months ahead, and the soil absorbs the nutrients of the dissolving leaves down into its roots. Like the branches rest in their productivity, stand proudly in their bare form, and embrace a season of energy conservation. Like the roots and inner bark subtly and powerfully integrate and store energy over the Winter months, to produce new life at the turn of Spring. We are part of the cycle of nature. We too, can and must, go through these stages over the coming weeks and months.