Fall Season is here. 🍁
It is my favourite time of the year: An all-encompassing spectacle of colours and light catches the eye and revives the senses as a more gentle sun casts a golden glow over the woodland and the surrounding fields.
There is something magical about autumn.
Mother Earth has an innate intelligence that is observable in every physical shift and change in Nature.
Fall season encourages us to return to a natural state of flow that reinforces a deeper inner connection.
Observing and experiencing oneness with the change in the seasons, helps reset the internal rhythm, with proven benefits to our overall wellbeing.
Dancing of the autumn leaves on a surface of a lake is a dream we see when we are awake.
~Mehmet Murat Idles
Autumn is a time to release the unwanted and unnecessary while nurturing a sense of wonder for what is unfolding before us.
It opens up a new opportunity to plan time to disconnect, to replenish the mind with new energy, to set new intentions for the remaining part of the year.
Rituals are powerful levers towards boosting and sustaining wellbeing. They reinforce positive thinking, nourish positive emotions, and are therefore catalysts for positive action. They increase self-awareness as we become more attuned to our body responses to external and internal stimuli. They enhance the feeling of being grounded in the present moment, supporting focus when times ask more of it.
How to supercharge yours and your Team’s wellbeing during the Fall Season.
Here, some practical routines to help you in the endeavour:
🍁 Become a patient observer of the “Here” and “Now” to ground yourself in the moment, and to replenish your energy through an immersive experience that taps into breathwork and all five senses.
- Engage in mindful awareness, by directing your attention to one moment at a time. Be captivated by the power-combo of all of five senses. You can encourage this, for instance, through mindful eating, or walking in Nature, or simply taking notice of your surroundings. It will increase the ability to become an attentive observer of the present as it happens whilst calming the fleeting mind.
- Regular mindfulness meditation (MM) aids relaxation, helps release tension, and reduces stress levels: It brings long-lasting wellbeing benefits as the mind’s ability to return to the here and now is strengthened.
You can add a MM’s ritual to your daily wellbeing routine and, as it becomes a way of living or a new habit, share its many benefits with your team: You can start off a meeting with as little as 15 minutes of mindfulness meditation, to invite everyone back into centredness, setting a clear intention for the meeting to strengthen connection, engagement, and productivity. You will prime the meeting for success!
Here, a simple step-by-step guidance to get you started with Mindfulness Meditation practice:
- Set at least 15 minutes aside from your busy schedule every day.
- Turn your mobile in silent mode.
- Find a comfortable spot away from distractions.
- Either sitting cross-legged or in a chair with your feet touching the floor, lengthen the spine to aid a state of wakeful awareness. You can alternatively lay down, covering your body with a blanket to keep you warm whilst the body moves gradually into a state of relaxation.
- Close your eyes.
- Consciously direct your breath: Inhale deeply through your nose as you gently swell the belly then push the air through your lungs as they expand. Exhale out pushing all air out down your lungs then the belly as it deflates. Deep breathing is proven to help the body release tension, as it comes back to a natural state of balance through the activation of the parasympathetic nervous system.
- To support the practice, you can place a hand on your belly and the other on your heart, in the middle of your chest. This will enhance the connection with the act of breathing, enabling you to feel the sensations that arise, tuning and sensing into the body.
🍁Breathwork
Conscious breathing is a powerful anchor that you can tap into when experiencing tension, anxiety or states of elevated stress: Stopping and paying attention through mindful breathing, will help you soften the emotional response and relax the body.
Among the many breathing techniques available, one of the most efficient and easier to start with, is “Box Breathing”, also known as square breathing.
It is a simple but powerful relaxation technique that can help your breathing pattern return to a relaxed rhythm.
🍁Four Steps to Master Box Breathing
Step 1: Inhale slowly at the count of four;
Step 2: Hold your breath for another count of four;
Step 3: Exhale slowly counting four times;
Step4: Hold your breath for four counts, then repeat the sequence again for a good 30 seconds.
As you mentally count the number of breaths in and out whilst holding your breath in between, the mind’s focus will naturally move to the act of counting itself, which strengthens the practice and facilitates the state of relaxation, making you feel more centred or grounded in the moment.
Adjust the count according to your physical needs. If four is too much, count three times instead. Listen always to your body and its wisdom.
As you train the mind to come back to the Now again and again, you’ll eventually experience a positive shift in bodily sensations, a pervading calm that follows the quietening of the mind.
You may want to close the meditation with a much longer exhalation, by letting all air out with a sounding sight, feeling the relief in letting go of all that no longer serves you.
You can use box breathing before stepping into a meeting, ahead of a 121 conversation or in any situation in which you tune into the energy of the moment, intuitively knowing that it is time to stop doing, to take a pause to consciously breathe. That is where your attention grows, and the ability to listen at a deeper level also heightens.
🍁Follow the wisdom of Nature, and its inherent capacity for change that can be seen in the alternating of the seasons: Change can be good. It broadens perspective & brings the element of conscious choice at the fore for positive action to occur. It sustains a natural shift towards growth.
🍁Appreciate the good and positives the year has offered so far whilst embracing the “not-knowing” with its potential. We live in uncertain, unpredictable and complex times. Adding more worry only amplifies a negative emotional response. Letting go of control, and rooting into the moment for what it is, will ignite curiosity and openness with a sense of anticipation for a brighter future. Cultivate optimism instead.
Thanks to impermanence, everything is possible.
~Nhat Hanh
🍁Create the space for just “Being” instead of going for the relentless and frantic motion of doing all the times. Give yourself permission to sit in a space of silence for a little while, renewing or choosing new powerful affirmations that will serve your purpose and needs moving forward.
❓️What will you shed?
❓️Do you want to kick off a Wellness Team Reset this Fall Season ?
Make sure to create an environment conducive to an engaging and regenerative experience.
🍁Take the opportunity to consciously slow down to replenish your energy levels ahead of the event.
🍁Make time to nurture meaningful connection beyond your work circle, with friends, peers, and loved ones.
🍁Assess the value of your wellness interventions by measuring their impact: Create space for ‘on-theme’ sessions. Take the pulse of the state of wellness in the organisation and establish an action plan to follow through.
🍁Direct intentional effort: Celebrate. Collaborate. Get buy-in and turn actionable insights into future planning.
❓️ How will you harness the full potential of Fall Season ?
🍂 Enjoy the season and the magic that brings within.
No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace as I have seen in one autumnal face.
~John Donne
