Hey there, welcome back. And if you're new to the show, welcome. Either way, I'm so glad you're here and that we are connecting somehow in the ether. And I'll ask you, as I always do, how is life landing for you today
I'm wondering if you might be able to identify one small thing you might need in this moment to, if you're at ease, continue that. And if you're feeling a little less than at ease, if you can identify one small thing that you need, or that you can do for yourself to put you a little bit more at ease as we get started. So feel free to press pause, if needed to go and do that thing for yourself. You don't need my permission, but you know how it is society. So sometimes we need somebody to offer us that invitation and create the space. So go ahead and press pause and come on back when you're ready, or take me with you. Not going anywhere, either way. Right? So you could take me with you or you can come back to me. I'll be here as of last Saturday, and my apologies that this episode is dropping a couple days later than I expected. But you know, life was laughing over here. But as of last Saturday, September 9, if you happen to be listening to it, the week that this this episode, the week that this drops, we are officially in glitch territory. And that's the two week period between the end of one season and then and then start the next so the end of summer and the beginning of fall. And in case you're unfamiliar with this concept, I'll tell you a little bit more about it because I don't assume that you come into this knowing you know any specific thing right? I or Veta Science uses the term glitch for the transitional time in between the end of one period and the start of another. So as an example, we have our teenage years between childhood and adulthood. And the glitch can occur in many different situations including age season, and you know, just kind of chapters in life to during these transitional times during this period. It is possible for things to feel a little off or turbulent or overwhelming, basically glitchy. And so when it comes to the glitch between seasons, there are usually characteristics from the upcoming season present in the last days of the current season. Now, considering climate change, what we experience in this glitch period between seasons is not as straightforward and clear cut as it used to be. Last week here in New Jersey, we were experiencing at a 90 degree weather this week is a little bit more foolish. And also I should say that even when we were experiencing that at a 90 degree weather, we still had cooler mornings and cooler evenings and cooler overnights. But the sun was still intense and the heat was high, the temperature was high. Now this week, we are in cooler temperatures mid 70s low 80s Still unseasonably high for you know, consistently usually in New Jersey at this time of year, you may get one day that's hot. And then you know, like that's high heat and then we're typically in like the low to mid 70s You know, over across the board so we're seeing a little bit of like a heightened temperature here and and a more consistent basis but we are having those cooler mornings cooler evenings cooler overnights. And I have to say yesterday I was out walking around two o'clock at pm not am and the sun was hot. So or was that two days ago I can't remember anyway but like so there are still pieces of that Pitta energy that intensity, that heat that is still here, what you're going to start to see getting even more pronounced is that vata energy, that energy that is mobile that is changeable. That is flexible, that you know, maybe you're starting to feel more creative. Also though it is the energy that fuels us feeling unsettled. It is the energy that in excess can cause you feeling deep anxiety. anxiousness is a normal feeling, right? It is what kind of has us thinking about things in terms of like, Is this something I want to do? Is this something I need to worry about? Do I need to protect myself? Right? Little bit of worry is okay. But when we when we continue to have those feelings and it deepens and it kind of impacts life in a way that's not so great for us. That's kind of when, you know, we start to really deal with, you know, an anxiety situation going on. And so I just want to be Be very clear that when we talk about feeling anxious, that is a normal, very, you know, regular feeling. There's nothing wrong with that. And there's nothing wrong with also having anxiety having an anxiety disorder, I want to be very clear about this. But I want to kind of separate the two, because we live in a society where people really like to glorify things and put labels on things. And so there's nothing bad about having an anxiety disorder, there's nothing bad about taking anxiety medication, there's nothing bad about going to therapy, for anxiety, none of these things, there's nothing bad about it, we need to make sure that we are getting the help that we need. And the reason I'm bringing this up is because when you start to feel anxious, it is important to have tools in place that you can meet yourself there. And if you are a person who is vata dominant, or you are feeling excess vata energy these days, or like high end vata energy these days, maybe it's not, you know, deep in excess, it is going to be really important for you to start paying attention to when this energy is really dominant, because that's the dominant energy of the season in the summertime, vata energy was more subtle, that's what allowed us to kind of move from thing to thing situation to situation to have more freedom to choose what it is that we wanted to do be a little bit more creative with our time. Right. And that's, that's that vata energy that, you know, kind of is in the background, for some of us in the summertime, but it is front and center the dominant energy of fall. So we've got to be really, really conscious of this. So, you know, I say all of this, you know, so that way you are making sure to meet yourself, as you are, you know, working out and allowing the energy of summer to kind of work through you and or you're releasing that, and the accumulation of that heat, you know, releasing that. And being very conscious of how the vata energy as it shifts to being dominant is landing within you. And remember that as, as you notice, this, then the then the adjustment to self care practices begins. And this could be in what you do, when you do it, or how long you do it, there are so many options for adjusting, it's not just about doing something, you know, else like more things, adding more things to your plate, oftentimes, it's just doing things that you already do just a little bit differently. So it could be in what you choose to eat, how you choose to work out there breathing exercises that you do, when you spend your time outside, you know, anything, it could be so many things. And if you're new to my work new to IR Veta, this all might sound very, very foreign to you. And also some of this may sound very new, very. It may sound Oh my gosh, words. You may have heard this from me before, if he's been around the show for a while, if you've been around my work for a while, because we talked about this in the last glitch between spring and summer. Right? If you, you know, are very familiar or grew up here in the United States and dominant culture here, you know, white supremacy, culture, all the systems that a holds prides itself on discipline and consistency, which basically equals honestly, rigidity, including with our self care practices. And what that translates to is some of us do and eat and drink the same exact things every single day, in the name of discipline, it is true that some of us have certain conditions, and we need to do that. That is a different story. Right? But when we are doing it, because we are doing it so that we can quote unquote, be consistent or disciplined. Even if we're like, damn, I don't want to be eating this today. Again, if it's not because of a health condition or health concern, right? We need to honor our wants and our needs. And we need to honor if we're not feeling this, whatever it is, whether it's eating, drinking, whatever it is, it honestly has anything that we do for ourselves, we need to be a little bit more flexible and honor what is in you know, what the our internal messaging is telling us. So the important thing, especially if you're new to my work is to understand that just as the seasons characteristics and vegetation changes from season to season, so should our self care practices and you know, I don't often say should but this is one one place where I am going to say it, that if in the places where you have the ability to create shifts, again, you know, setting aside anything that you need to do for your health, for health concerns, right, but any other place that you have flexibility in. I encourage you to begin to explore that. Because think about it like do you see a difference in yourself from the summer to the fall to the wind To the spring, for many of us, not all of us, but many of us, there is a shift in our behavior in our mental status in our emotional status, in the way that we approach life, and our overall energy or the type of energy that is, is present for us. And so it's important to meet yourself there.
It is really important, especially to reduce burnout, right, because if we're always pushing forward past, you know, ignoring our internal messaging, and just doing whatever it is, for the sake of just doing it, that is going to continue to keep burnout alive and well. And reduce the amount of ease we feel, you know, this is a lot like a big part of the work that I do, you know, with my one on one clients within the holistic self care collective, and as I'm working with people in creating, you know, shifts to the practices that they're doing. So that way it kind of honors, what their life needs are and what their energetic needs are. And so it may sound really complicated to you, but it's really, really not actually, you know, it's just truly tuning in to how you're feeling how you want to feel, you know, what, what your responsibilities are, and the reality of your bandwidth, you know, so like the, you know, your your time that you have, the energy that you have all of the things bandwidth, capacity, all of that. And it's really living life in a more intune way, rather than just like the autopilot gogogo because that's what society tells us, we need to do. Now, with all of this, in today's episode, I'm hoping that we're going to be you're going to feel supported, because I'm going to be offering you a ton of reflections, one of the most important things that you could do for yourself in a transitional period is pause, then tune in, and then reflect. Because you've got to know notice what's going on, you've got to be able to stop or slow down long enough to be able to tune in, and you've got to kind of think back to like, okay, so like what just happened and where am I going and what do I want for this new period. Right? And my friends, if you are already feeling unsettled, employ those grounding practices from now. Alright, so let's go ahead and start with the pause right here right now, if you are doing something while you're listening, there's no shade on that multitasking. I get it. Do me a favor, pause what it is that you're doing. If you are in movement, maybe come to stillness or slow down. If your eyes are open, maybe close them. Maybe take a deep breath in and a deep breath out if that's accessible to you. If you're in stillness, or at the computer, maybe stretch bring yourself into movement. If you're inside Can you move to another room to change the scenery or step outside or access a window and you could do this for any stretch of time you can pause me and just be in that slow down pause and then you can tune in when you're ready. And consider how are you feeling mentally? How are you feeling emotionally? How are you feeling physically? How are you feeling energetically? And how is all of this impacting you? Your life as an individual that might be in your self esteem your self love or your self care in your relationships in your work life overall. If you're feeling like you need a little support, what can you do for yourself right now to meet yourself where you are. Remember small things very small could seem inconsequential. And then step three for reflection. You might want to get your journal handy if you use one maybe a piece of scratch paper or a random envelope your notes app a Google doc whatever floats your boat you could also just not use anything because I'm not usually a big journal or I like to think and feel the words in my head feel the words in my heart but I do sometimes journal if I if the you know urge comes to me but you know, I know that sometimes people can feel a certain way about you know, being the person that doesn't journal. So don't worry about it. If you don't Winternals find. Also, you don't have to entertain every single question that I offer here. But these are the questions that I offer my one on one clients, as we move from one season to another, and you can hear them, answer them in in real time with me, you can also pause as I go along, you can listen and come back later if you want to. And, you know, go through it again. So, you know, whatever it is you want to do, however, it is that you want to be in this. Let's go ahead and get started with some end of summer inquiries. How did you want to feel this summer? And why? What was your sankalpa? Your heart's deepest desire this this summer? And what were your committed actions? Or what was your committed action plan? And remember, you're coming into all of this without any judgment, right? Leave the judgment at the door. What worked this summer, in terms of how you wanted to feel what your desire was, and your committed action plan? What didn't work? What surprised you?
Looking back, what did you need more of? And what did you need less of?
What truths Did you subscribe to in the summer? That weren't actually true. And that might have been from dominant culture that might have been in your your own culture, maybe from your family? It could be from relationships that you have, or old truths? And how did this relate to how you experienced life, your self esteem, your self worth? Your self love? Your self commitment, your self consent?
And thinking about your action plan? What adjustments did you make to make things more sustainable? Or could you make moving forward? Or maybe next summer if they don't apply to life right now, in order to make the steps more sustainable and or more potent?
What are your highlights from the summer? What are you celebrating? Especially the small stuff?
What energy characteristics qualities and vibes from the summer Do you want to maintain in the fall? This is a big one. And this next one is also a big one, what needs to shift or go all together go away be done with all together? So I'll say these two big questions again. And not that your highlights one some are not important they are. So that's probably the third important question I have to ask you. But what energy characteristics qualities vibes from the summer Do you want to maintain in the fall? And what needs to shift or completely go all together? For me, I need to build into my week, lighter day, when it's like lighter work, maybe less work, I need to make sure that I'm building in blank space every single day. And that may look different every day, some days, it is literally five minutes here and there other days, I have a longer stretch of time. Also, for me, I'm adjusting. You know, because I work for myself, I can do this, I'm adjusting my work. So some Saturdays and Sundays, I will work because then that lightens the load for me during the week, and I can be more present when, you know, we are here, there and everywhere with the kids between school and you know, practices and homework and all of the things, right. And so, you know, society has us in this mindset of nine to five and maybe you do work a nine to five or 10 to six or maybe you're working 10 and 12 hour days, whatever it is. Right? And so maybe you do have that kind of strict schedule. But I'm asking you if there's a way that you could be a little less rigid with the rest of your time that doesn't have to be so strictly scheduled, right. Like I started to look at, you know, my schedule for laundry differently and cooking differently, like, how can I because that's leaning into the vata energy that's coming right it wants us to to be creative and flexible, if you can, and I know that sometimes, you know, does not feel good to people, so you don't have to do it if you don't want to write or maybe you ease into it. So just considering, right? Is there a freedom from the summertime that you want to maintain? Is there, you know, are there certain things that you did in the summertime that you want to try to do in the fall? And it could just simply be a vibe. I have friends who are like, I really just want to maintain more of an easeful vibe and friends. That's big time. There's nothing small about that. Now, since we're coming to the unofficial closing time of the year, because you know, like, the calendar time, constructs, right? I want you to, though, to think back to the beginning of 2023, if your resource to do this, and consider you know, are you know, I'm asking you, did you create a sankalpa? Your, you know, your heart's deepest desire that your guide for this year? If so, what was it? What were your actionable steps to live out your commitment, and do any shifts needs to be made for the remaining four months of the year? If you are like busy beyond busy right now. They might need to shift what you were doing previously may not work. Now. That doesn't mean that you're not committed, it just means it needs to shift. Right? Because life life's. Remember, remembering that rigidity is what causes the burnout when we push through, because we're like, No, I should be doing it this way needs to this, there's one thing like if you've got to do something a certain way for your work or for your family, right, like certain things need to be done. But we often don't offer ourselves flexibility in other things that really don't need to be done a certain way. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to do that. And so I'm curious, you know, like, where can you start to create shifts, because, you know, like, we are creating so much rigidity that we don't need to, again, that said, with a lot of privilege and advantage on my part, right? But I'm just asking you to consider where in your life might you benefit from not being so rigid. And that's what I love about sankalpa. So much, because it lives and breathes with us, it can adjust and change the steps we take to uphold it can change, it doesn't mean we're any less committed at all, it means we're honoring our commitment to ourselves, because we are changing, we are evolving, and life is life in real time. Right. Continue to come back to that. And if you didn't create a sudden COPPA for yourself, no worries, there's no timeline on this, you can create one right now, you can decide this is how I want to feel for the rest of the year, this is what my heart is saying I need. And this is what I'm committed to moving toward. Right. And it may take time, you may not by the end of the year, completely, quote unquote, achieve it. That's okay. But you're moving in the direction of it. Right in honoring it, that's the most important thing. So my friends, here we go, when it comes to fall, and this is the last bit of reflection I have for you, when it comes to the fall. How do you typically experience the season? You might consider? You know, is there a pattern? Maybe last year, and listen, I know, obviously, you know, life in the last three, four years has been wildly different than ever before. Right? So also honor that. But when it comes to the fall, how do you want to experience it mentally, emotionally, physically? And energetically? How do you typically experience it? And those four ways? And how do you want to? And I know that this may feel like a loaded question because, you know, you may feel like you've got challenges ahead that feel mountainous, and that you cannot realistically climb right now, or with the resources that you have. But it's important to not get sidetracked by that. I want you to focus on how you want to feel. And then start with very teeny tiny steps that you can take in small moments to get this started. So that you can start to feel a little bit more resourced. If you're not feeling resourced, and if you are feeling resourced, what are the teeny tiny steps that you need to take to maintain this to keep this sustainable? If you're feeling unsettled or frantic because you've got a lot of on your plate, what's one way you can release the presser pressure just a bit? If you need to, if you're feeling like you need to push forward, but you're not properly resourced. Where can you ask for support? Or is there some way you can open space for yourself to get what you need? If you're feeling overwhelmed and buried by stuff going on, what's one way that you can lighten your load a little bit?
Right, so speaking to the different energies that you might be feeling, how it is that you might be, you know, experiencing life these days. Now remember, my friend support is always here. We can hop on a call and talk things through. And if you're feeling like well, I don't know if I need one on one right now. I don't know if I have the, you know, the reinforcement for that. If you want a less hands on approach or just, you know, kind of like feeling Ma, I don't know, I gotta kind of figure. Yeah, I just need a little bit more support and like a less, you know, in your face kind of way, no worries, I've got another offering of support coming to you that might be more aligned. And that's the fall back to yourself series and it starts next Thursday, September 21. In this series, my friend you can expect for Fall balancing gatherings. Each of these sessions will account for the energy of fall, and offer you options to explore based on how you are experiencing life. All of the sessions will be on zoom with live captioning and will be recorded in case you aren't unable to attend. The recordings will be available throughout the entire fall season. And if you do come live, your camera can be on or off. Now the first thing we're going to start with is an Ayurveda self care masterclass. In this time, you're going to learn shifts for your well being practices to allow false and false energy to work for you. So we'll talk about what's present in the fall, what the best practices are and how to adjust them based on what it is that you need. You'll also spend time creating a plan of action for one practice of your choice based on your bandwidth, your capacity, the type of energy that is present, and you'll have access to coaching with me within that group setting so that way you can have your answer your questions answered in real time. The next session will be an unaligned yoga asana practice. This is the weekly practice that I teach. During this time, you'll explore your asana practice using your agency, your autonomy, and the energy you're feeling to govern the variation and options you choose in the practice. I'll be guiding you to adjust the speed of your practice how deeply you go into poses how long you hold the pose for your arm plate placement, your breath based on your mental, emotional and energetic needs, standing and seated options will be offered throughout the class. The third offering is a community circle. Here we will connect to one another in our community through an optional shared practice where we can share what's going on celebration stuff we want to just put down, we will breathe together and you'll be offered different options based on what will be soothing to you. And then we'll explore a fall meditation that will be very much guided by your needs and wants for the season. This is a space for you to celebrate and for you to come to an inquiry and for you to put down anything that is too heavy to carry alone. And the final practice of this series is our gentle mobility, stability and restorative practice. This session is going to occur in two parts. First, we'll bring focus movement through the joints to create some mobility or stability depending on what you need. We're going to hopefully decrease month muscle tension. And then you'll come to a completely supported and still sequence of poses if that's something that feels okay to you. Using props and pillows, blocks, blankets, chairs, because the idea of of restorative is to be fully supported and allow your joints your muscles to rest. Of course during this time you will ground into your body. You'll be encouraged to use your agency, your autonomy, and of course, how you're experiencing life to govern the variations and options you choose in that practice as well. My friend registration for the fallback to yourself series is available right now according to a three tiered justice pricing structure. And if you need assistance, be on the community supported rate please reach out to me. There was always support here. My friends remember one of the most supportive things you can do for yourself this fall is to learn to balance and work with the energy of this season to promote ease and harmony in your life. Because remember, burnout and constant overwhelm is not the only way. This doing this honoring what you need learning how to really work with the seasons energy it will support you and your jam packed schedule and help resource you through the end of the year. You can get all the information about the fall back to yourself series at Steff gallante.com/fall I can't wait to see you there and I hope if your resource Could you please share this with your nearest and dearest specific people maybe that you think would really benefit with that this would really vibe with, as always between before we leave each other, my friends, I'll offer you up some wrap up considerations. How can you use these teachings or what comes up for you to human more easily? And to support and uplift those in your community? Especially those who are different from or hold identities more marginalized than your own? How can you use these teachings to connect more authentically and deeply to your community and to begin to move toward mass mutual reliance in a way from Western cultures individualistic society. Until next time, my friend please be kind and gentle to yourself just as you would to those who are most precious to you. Whether that's a human animal, baby or a plant. I'd love to hear your thoughts about the support and guidance that I provided in this episode. So please please please reach out to me and share I love to hear from you. If you've been loving the show please share it with your nearest and dearest and also please consider leaving a review and or rating. My friend you are a badass and you are enough. Now go be your favorite self and be well
