You're listening to the human ng podcast with real conversations as we call bullshit. On everything capitalism, the patriarchy and white supremacy culture has duped us into believing about self care, mental health, fitness, wellness, and all things life. I am Steff Gallante. And I created this show to support badass people doing solidarity work in pursuit of disrupting these systems in their lives and communities. Together, we'll discuss how systems of oppression are keeping us unwell, and disconnected from ourselves in each other, and how to best support you in creating more aligned self care practices that will help you human more easily. It's the shit we need to talk about. Hello, friends, summer starts this week. Or maybe it's even bigger on depending on when it is that you're listening to this. So I'm curious, how are you feeling about it? Are you excited, maybe less than that somewhere in between. Overall, How was life planning for you these days, you might be finding yourself experiencing this time of year exactly as you always do, for better or for worse. Or maybe you're having a new experience that might be better than it usually is. Or it's possible that it's worse. And I get it because the world is not making life easy right now. And also summer can be a time for a lot of people. And so regardless of how it is that you're experiencing life these days, regardless of how summer typically is for you, this summer, my goal for you is to stay cool and at ease from the inside out and be minimally burned by the dumpster fire that is this world as you go about enjoying life and enjoy as much of the goodness of summer as it as you can. So how does that sound when no summer is largely characterized by heat, bright sun, sharp intensity and transformation. So this season, from an Ayurvedic standpoint, we strive to balance the Pitta energy, which is made up of nature's fire and water elements. And this Pitta energy becomes dominant at the end of June, and continues to fire us through July and August, and even the beginning of summer. And all this time, we also want to remain mindful of the subtle vata energy that comes from the elements of air and ether. Ether can also meet space or spirit to people. And that the characteristics of vata energy is expressed in summer as expansion and mobility. Now, these all sounds great, right? Yes. So our overall focus is to enjoy summer, and lean into these qualities without letting them over accumulate and cause an imbalance in your being imbalance and over accumulation might look like overheating, becoming frustrated, or in overdrive, or hitting the wall after you've done too much, move too fast for too long, and not taking enough breaks or gotten enough rest to create enough stability. Summer is so wonderful for so many of us, myself included, I love summer. But I know that some people don't enjoy summer at all, which is an entirely different conversation. And so if you've got questions about how you can manage yourself through summer, if summer tends to be just not enjoyable time, I really encourage you to hop out a release the pressure call with me, because we can flush all that stuff out. And hopefully get you to a place where you feel a little bit more supported. And having, you know, whatever it is that you need to make this a little bit more of a bearable time for you. And for those of us who enjoy summer, with all of summers, goodness, and all that we love about it, it really is very easy to get dysregulated in the summer, because Pitta and vata energies, they, you know, they push far and can get real dysregulated real fast and it's like big and explosive and like just spirally sometimes, and they really can get dysregulated in the same ways. So it really is an important time to pay close attention to how you're experiencing life. Now, if you're new to the show, and this small offering of Ayurvedic wisdom Um is peeking your interest, or if you throw it around the show for a while and even need a refresher because I mean, I'm going to be real with you I always and refreshing my knowledge, always reading the texts and education again. If you find yourself needing a refresher or wanting to learn more, I really encourage you to head to Episode 25 from last year, where I talk all about iron Veta, one on one, and the foundation of iron betta for summer, it is a robust episode for sure. So, when it comes to summer, here are the keys for harmony. One is to keep cool physically and emotionally, especially from the inside out. Next, enjoy being mellow, including mentally and relaxing. And then third, be grounded, stable and at ease, especially at a cellular level. And without this, I'm not just talking about being able to sit and read or watch TV for a little while and not feel guilty or having your mind on something else. I mean, being able to be at ease deep down to your deepest level. So before we get too far into our summer conversation about practices and stuff, I'd like you to consider this. What is your son culpa? Or your Why are your deep set need for the summer? And you can use these prompts to explore your why. What is your deep seated need for the upcoming summer months? Second, how do you want to feel mentally, emotionally, physically and energetically? Third, what is your vow to yourself that connects to this need and how you want to feel. And then fourth, what are a few small actions you can take that align with this vowel. Summer due to its Pitta energy is a really great time for setting and working towards goals, as well as aspirations. Because we can use the fire quality that is dominant in summer to fuel us. And this is especially timely if you are in the pit this stage of life, which is between the ages of 20 and 60. And it's important to remember that this period of time, the summer season is also about maintenance. So be you know enabling yourself to continue as well as sustaining, which is strengthening or supporting yourself over time and preserving which is preventing degradation, degradation. So, in your summer days, it's important to make mindful choices based on how you're feeling and what you need in the moment. And that align with the energy of the season and how it's affecting you. For you to be properly supported and nourished and resource to throughout the summer. And then remember, if nothing else during summer, slow and steady wins the race. I know it's very common in the summer, that this is a time when we really tend to ourselves. It's often a time when we make space, or have time to do things that we don't get to during the winter, spring or fall. Depending on where you live geographically, of course, is often a time when we can enjoy being outside differently than we can other months again, depending on where you live. And for some people, it's common to have a less rigorous schedule. And people might even take vacations or day trips or do staycations at home. With all that, sometimes we feel the need to grip summer very tightly and squeeze as much out of it as we can. Because we know that we're heading back to the grind in the fall. In Episode 25, I offered this mindset shift and I'm going to offer it again here with a few other thoughts. I'd like you to consider shifting the mindset of I'm going to enjoy summer with awareness and reverence for myself and this season's gifts. And also use this time to set a foundation that I can rely on to resource me for the rest of the year. And this mindset shift is away from you know the one that's along the lines of I'm going to squeeze every bit of goodness out of summer because I waited nine long ass months for this. And I'll need all the goodness I can get heading back into fall slash real life or the grind that whatever fall is for you end of the year is for you. Because I'll be honest with you that you know squeezing every bit of summer out of life or squeezing every bit of summer out. It actually plays into are
not overwhelmed in it doesn't actually combat it in the long run. If you've already started your journey with the mindset shift, you know from last year, or maybe somebody else offered it to you rate, your work this summer is going to be to notice when the old behavior and old thoughts show up. Because, friend, what we know about our behaviors that are steeped in white supremacy, culture, capitalism, they have a way of rearing their ugly heads, even after we've done a lot of work to undo them. Remember, it's not you it's a system. Right? That's what it's designed to do. In case all of this speaks to you, I'm going to offer you another consideration that is along the same lines, how can you continue to really tend to and trust both parts of your tough and tender spirit, tough as in strong, determined and persistent and tender as invulnerable and in need of careful, loving handling? As friend the reality is, we need to be strong, determined and present persistent. And we also need to be vulnerable and tended to with care and love. Both tend to like with care and love by herself, and from others. Sometimes we need all the same damn time. I've been thinking about this question, you know, in talking to my clients in my mentorship program, the holistic self care collected since the spring. But since strong, determined and persistent are all characteristics of Pinta energy, I thought summer would be a great time to talk about this here on the podcast, especially from the perspective of offering balance by also paying attention to the tender vulnerable and need for care and love aspect. So how can you trust both the tender and tough parts of you, depending on how you walk through life, the intersections of your identities and your experiences, it might be easy for you to trust, your strength, determination and persistence. But it may be very hard and uncomfortable to trust the tender aspects of your vulnerability, especially when it comes to being attended to with care and love. Or vice versa. Right? It doesn't always have to be one way. Or maybe it's situational, right? There might be situations where you can trust, your strength, your determination and persistence. But not all, your ability to be vulnerable or tended to with love and care. While in other situations, you can see curious how this question is standing for you. Not gonna lie, I'm still examining myself. After two months of inquiry, it really is a big one. And it's off probably complicated, and faceted. So don't worry if you're like, oh, I don't know about this. Right. That's okay. And I think a good place to start in considering all that I've already said today. And as you consider support for the summer, right in allowing yourself to consider how can I honor right my strength and my determination, my persistence, you know, that's going to align with, you know, creating goals and working toward them using that fire of the summer energy to fuel me. And I'm also going to tend to build the vulnerability of the the need for care and love, which is which are quite balanced Jupiter energy, as well as vata energy too. So, I think we should come back to the three keys for some more harmony, that will help you to kind of determine some actions that will feel aligned for you. So I'm going to kind of rattle off a bunch of practices, but feel free to, you know, try one and leave the rest. So when it comes to keeping cool physically and emotionally, especially from the inside out, emotionally, you'll want to be mindful of heated discussions, as well as people or situations that irritate you or get your blood boiling. Also, you'll want to have some practices at the ready that can pull you down like in the heated moment, like splashing water on your face, left nostril breathing, or inhaling through a roll to tongue, exhaling, then just regularly through your mouth. That's called shittily. Breathing, you can close your eyes and breathe slowly and deeply. Or maybe have a word or phrase at the ready that you could say to calm yourself down. As for keeping cool physically, there are so many options and all of these are going to support you and feeling cool, emotionally, especially in a heated moment. I'm gonna rattle these off pretty quickly. So keeping a pretty consistent daily rhythm, especially with the potential morning routine, and evening wind down and lots of self love peppered in throughout the day, releasing stress and restriction shins as best you can, eating seasonal foods that are well spiced. taking breaks throughout the day. Remember seven types of rest. I'm not just talking about napping, but napping is great and getting good sleep at night is great. Having a slower than breakneck speed pace, having some focus time, possibly a short afternoon nap around two o'clock. Exercising do during the cooler times of day between six and 10am or six and 10pm and exercising between 50 to 70% intensity, paying attention to your energy and adjusting accordingly. Also adjusting your yoga asana practice to include the moon salutation, twists, side bends, backbends and abdominal strengthening postures. Perhaps regularly practicing breathing slowly and deeply. Or meditating on nourishing, nurturing, growth, reaping, expanding, transforming type of topics or seeds or words, I encourage you to check out episodes 25 to 33 for so much more summer guidance. When it comes to the second aspect of keeping cool or should say the keys for summer is enjoy being mellow, including mentally, and relaxing. So so many of the practices that I just rattled off can fit to this category. Plus feeding all of your senses however many senses you have that feed them all, like different sites, different sounds, different tastes, different textures, right all of the five or however many senses you've got. Doing these you enjoy doing things that aren't strenuous, maybe even being playful, playing leisurely lighthearted. This is what we talked about in the collective all during the month of May. We've really focused on that. And then the third key to Harmony being grounded, stable at ease and at ease, especially at a cellular level. Friend who with this, like I said, I'm not just talking about sitting and reading and watching TV, and not feeling guilty or having your mind on something else, but very, very deep within your tissues. This comes from actively dealing with your ship, not bypassing gaslighting yourself, not being constantly caught up with an agitation worry being set. Whether you're conscious about it or not. And here's the thing, I want to be very clear. I am not saying don't be outraged about genocide or injustice. Yes, be outraged, do the work of showing up. And still open moments where you can step away from your activism and access being grounded, stable and serene. And also act in your activism from a grounded, stable and serene place in terms of not always in a reactionary burden shutdown mode. And just like I've said in every other list, so much of what I've already discussed in terms of practices will be held full here in terms of being ground stable in this at ease. And if you've got specific questions, if you want to dive into this more, definitely meet me to release the pressure call to do this in real time. Plus, we'll discuss mindset shifts, and ways to overcome challenges as they arise. Because friend, I mean, the release of pressure call is all about you using less brainpower, which is definitely a game changer and a win in my book. You also can head to the disruptors guide to self care, which is a free resource on my website that will walk you through steps to create a more sustainable way forward with your self care that honors how much available time and energy you've got. You can find the links to all of this in the show notes as well as on my website. My friend as always, until next time, be kind and gentle to yourself just like you would to an animal baby a plant or your favorite human. You are incredible, my dear. Go be your favorite self and be well. Human being is a production of Steff Gallante self care LLC. The show is produced by me, Steff Gallante. You can find blog posts of some of the episodes on the episode page at Steff gallante.com/podcast along with the transcript of today's episode and any other resources I shared today. If you're ready to create more aligned practices for yourself, head to Steff gallante.com To learn more about creating a personalized self care plan within the holistic self care collective and coaching with me, you are a badass and you are enough. See you next time be well
