Hello, friend. Welcome back. And if this is your first episode with me welcome. How is life landing for you these days, this month in August for many of us is one of great transition, especially here in the United States. And I'm willing to bet for those of you who live here in the US, you or someone in your close network is heading back to work or to school or to more responsibilities on likely a more rigid schedule within the next three to four weeks. And there tends to be a lot of feelings, perhaps some excitement for some new stuff coming. And also very commonly, tough emotions like anxiety, worry, dread and deep sadness, even around what's ending, and maybe even feeling unprepared for what's next. Because you might be feeling like you didn't quite get enough of all of summer's goodness. And for some of you, you know that the end of the year, burnout is looming. So I have to ask you, because what a way to start an episode, right? How does this land for you is anything resonating? If you're having some big or hard feelings for and I, I get it, and I'm here for you, you know what, I'm right here in the muck with you, right. And I'm really hoping that this conversation will be of some support. In this episode, the shit that we needed to talk about is savoring summer sweetness and mindfully preparing for fall. And so when it comes to savoring summer sweetness, back in June, if you were around, if you've been around for a little while on the podcast, it specifically in Episode 26, I offered you a mindset shift for the summer, and no worries if this is your first time or if you missed that episode. Don't worry about it. Because it's not too late. Right. But what we were talking about since June, right is away from the mindset of, I'm going to squeeze every bit of goodness out of summer, because I waited nine long ass months for this. And you know, taking this a step further, I'll need all the goodness, I can get heading back into the fall into real life into the grind, whatever your word is for what happens in the fall. And instead shifting towards, I'm going to enjoy at this point the rest of summer with awareness and reverence for myself and for the seasons gifts. And also use this time to set a foundation that I can rely on and will resource me for the rest of the year. Now if it's okay with you, I'd really like to unpack this. Now first of all, especially if you're newer to my work, friends, something that I have been talking about since December or November of last year is burnout, and the cycle of burnout. Because in America, we find ourselves many of us, not all of us. But many of us, we find ourselves on this cycle of burnout where or even just the cycle of life, right? Based on capitalism, white supremacy culture, where January 1, we hit the ground running with our resolution and all the things that we're going to do differently to be better versions of ourselves, right. And dominant culture wants us to believe we need fixing and were broken and all these things. And then we try to keep that same exact pace for 51 weeks out of the year, until we get to the last week of December where it is culturally here in the United States acceptable for us to slow down to enjoy ourselves, some of us, right, some others are not afforded that privilege. And also, if you're lucky, really fortunate, maybe you have vacation time or some sort of personal days that you can take off from work and still get paid, by the way, right for that day that you're not there. Maybe you've got sick days that you can use if you are privileged enough, right. So we're talking about a lot of privilege that allows you to step away from or pause that cycle. But if you don't, and still also, the grind is there. Right? And we are expected to be on it grinding away. But it doesn't work. Right because that one week at the end of the year that if you are so lucky to slow down is not enough to then begin at all again, we can't maintain that type of speed and that kind of intensity for 51 weeks. We can't and also if we take nature as our kind of guide nature goes through cycles every single season, there's a quarterly change. The vibe is different, the feel is different. The characteristics are different. What we see hear smell is different and the vegetation is different. The harvest is different. And so friends, what I have been working toward in my own life and what I have been sharing with you and encouraging you toward is aligning more with nature and nature cycle and beginning to kind of live life that way, and starting to shed and break this system and dominant culture that is not working for us, right? Because it's easy to say, well, staff like this is what happens in the United States, you know, and like, it's not going to end you're absolutely right. It's not going to end anytime soon, until more of us start to disrupt it. Right? And if we know this system is broken, and the system is not working, why the hell are we going to continue to uphold it? It doesn't make sense. So I have been talking since last November, about this end of the year burnout, and how we can better resource ourselves day in and day out, and also adjust our practices with the seasons, to help us to remain resourced understanding, you know, how we are experiencing life and learning how to meet ourselves there, right? We've been talking about all of these things. And even throughout this summer, we were talking about them. And so I want to reiterate my friends that like if you've got a lot of feelings about the fall beginning, it's not just you. It is not just you, and it is completely normal. And there's nothing wrong with you either. Okay, so back in June, in Episode 25, I offered you a prompt to consider and it was how can you create a life that you don't always need to take a break from. And in that episode, we talked about how summer naturally offers us a time to release stress and restrictions. And remembering that here in America, we summer heart, right. And really we're we're forced to because capitalism, white supremacy culture, go go, go, go go. And we need this little like break before we can head back into fall, and do the busy all over again. But
because of the disconnect between capitalism, and then like this little break period, and how we really need to like live life, and what we really want, we end up kind of experiencing summer in one of two ways. And this is this is, you know, very stereotypical, it does not represent all of us, there might be like kind of two ways that I typically see people experiencing summer one is feeling like you got to take advantage of it, do all the things that you don't get to do the rest of the year, and make up for lost time, but then typically end up overextending yourself. And then the second one is saying like this summer, I'm going to do XY and Z like big ass grandiose plans, but then you don't make it happen because the bar was set too high. Right? There wasn't enough bandwidth, enough capacity, and also life lives. And then what happens you end up feeling guilty about it. And then what happens with all of this is that it becomes one big never ending cycle, or roller coaster that you just cannot seem to put the brakes on or stop for a better, more supportive and nourishing journey for yourself. And it keeps going think about it, it has probably been happening year after year. And the reality is right, you might be finding yourself experiencing difficulty striking a balance between your summer schedule and the rest of the year, especially if your summer kind of changes. If you have summer hours, or maybe some of you don't work during the summertime or maybe your home life changes. Like there's so many scenarios here that I could never name them. All right. But then what happens is if you do experience something different in the summer compared to the rest of the nine months out of the year, what happens is when this starts to come to an end at this time, are some of you even are returning to work or that new schedule this week, when this airs on what is August 15. Maybe, right? It leaves us with lots of really big and maybe even hard feelings, we might feel dysregulated we might feel overwhelmed, right. And what happens is when we kind of end the summer feeling either like I did too much or I didn't do enough, I wasn't resourcing myself through the way. And then you head into this busyness, right? The fall is wildly busy. What happens is by the time we get to November, we're barely hanging on. And then December Forget it. It's like running on fumes if that. And then we enter winter feeling dysregulated and winter is already hard for a lot of people. It is a vicious cycle. So we always come back to the question of well, what do we do about it? And the question I asked you is how can you create a life as I asked you this in June, that you don't have to solely rely on summer to give you the relief and joy you need to sustain you for the rest of the nine months until next summer. Because there's a lot of pressure to put on the on summer on this season itself but also on yourself and also like all of this, you know, different things going on in your life. It's a lot of pressure. And it doesn't need to be this way because the good news is, it's possible for you to enjoy more ease all year round. And friends. Remember, I'm not the type of person that's pie in the sky, or like bypassing the fuckery of white supremacy, cultural capitalism. Absolutely not. Right. And in this this entire summer, we've had what, like eight episodes already for the summer season. We explored foundational support that you could try on for size. And begin making this shift towards a more easeful way that included friends, at least 27 options for your self care practices, I offered you a ton of actual practices prompts. And I never said you had to do all of them, right? So if you're like, 27, what the like, out of your mind stuff. It's not about doing all of them. Right? It's these are all options, each one of you, right, every person who listens, you're in a different place in your journey. Right now, in further ahead, your journey looks different, everybody is just at a different place on your own particular journey. And so, you know, I'm offering all these options, because there are a ton of things that you could be doing and not again, not to get caught up on the fact that there's a ton that you should be doing. No, it's that you've got a ton to choose from. And so you get to choose what feels right right now. Right, what feels like it's going to be the most supportive. And so friends, just for shits and giggles, I want to just quickly name all 27 of the things that I offered. And there's more because this is just the stuff from the bulleted lists, right. So here is the recap of all the ways that you could, you know, help yourself to enjoy this summer remaining resourced, so she can be kind of grounded and stable and feeling okay for when the fall begins. One is understanding your energy. You know, not just high low energy but the type of energy that is present for you. Beginning to meet your does number two is beginning to meet your most basic needs and real time Third, we talked about creating a daily rhythm fourth, balancing summer's energy within you fifth pausing and slowing down you can see all of the stuff is still relevant right now because by Woodway summer it doesn't end till September 21 or something like that. So we still got a month and a week. Honoring number six honoring your journey are no honoring your energy, bandwidth and capacity. Here I'm reading from a list I can't even read how to interrupt number seven your cycle of burnout this summer by knowing yourself and meeting yourself where you are, while number one keeping cool number two grounded and number three, energize without overdoing it still important. Number eight using the Yama number five is vara prana Donna surrendering to a higher power and your highest self to help lean into summers balancing by maintenance sustain preserve and slow and steady wins the race. Number nine we talked about reflections to prepare for how you want to experience some are through committed action number 10 The concept of Agni our entire internal fire and how to maintain it 11 Considering armor, the sticky stuff left behind this undigested 12 Explore learning practices to sustain and maintain your digestive fire 13 Being mellow and the first step here might be lessening your intensity. 14 taking it easy 15 Getting abundant and restful sleep sleep 16 We talked about a summer check in. Right we talked about how a summer landing. What do you need? Where's the disconnect? How can you get more support? We talked about your daily rhythm a little bit more your morning routine. We did a mid year check in right reflecting back on your sankalpa for the year if you had one, what's working what's not why what adjustments need to be made that as you move forward to the last six months out of the year? We talked about number 18 thoughts feelings concerned looking ahead to fall and being resourced for the next six months. We talked about exercise the summer and overall our outlook on exercise especially from a mental and emotional health standpoint. Number 20. we deconstructed and reimagined your relationship with yoga asana, keeping cool through your summer asana, pranayama, and meditation practice. And then last week, this is number 21. There were 27 I must have deleted some off of this document I'm reading to you. But still there were a lot of things. Last week we talked about healing our relationship with food and eating since America is obsessed with demonizing food and glorifying restrictive eating, and I offered some general guidance for the summer. Now my friends remember all of these actions allow us to be really present in the moment with ourselves exactly as we are experiencing life. Now no worries right if this is your first episode with me and you're feeling damn like I'm behind. I didn't do any of this. Or maybe you've been with me all summer and feeling like you didn't do enough. I Got a giant nope, to say to all of that, because friend, remember, there's no behind or not enough in yourself care in this space in this community shoulds are out the window. And that doesn't mean keep this in mind, it doesn't mean that you're not owning, if you didn't show up in a way that you wish you would have, yes, own that. But without the guilt and shame. Instead, it might be like, Damn, I missed, or didn't take advantage of that opportunity to show up in that way. And then the most important next sentence needs to be, I'm going to make a shift and do this now, or, or whenever you're gonna do it, right. It is never friend too late to show up differently. But the shoulds have got to stop. And another thing I have to be sure to point out, is that we are going to revisit all of those prompts all of those practices that I just named all 20 Something of them, we're going to revisit these again for the fall. If you're not, it's not over. So right now you have the opportunity to consider any shifts that you want to start to make now. Anything that you want to do a little differently. And then we're going to talk about it again, in the coming weeks and fall. So you've still got a lot of time. And the reality is I'm going to be offering you practices that you can do today, too. So support is here, and support is gonna continue to come, you're not behind. Now, my friend, I'm gonna say it again, I am on a mission for us to be more at ease and less burnt out. I need to completely disrupt this damn cycle that dominant culture has us on because we need to break it. And I know it's gonna be a long road, but I'm here for it. So my friend, here in this episode, airing on the 15th of August, we are right smack dab in the middle of the month, right.
It's the start of the third full week of the month. And some like I said earlier, some some people are beginning work or school again. I have to say, right, I would assume that maybe for those of you who are, you know, starting work or going back to school this week, next week that it may feel as though summer is ending or coming to an end. But again, technically, we still have summer till September 21. Right. And like here in New Jersey, and here within my family and public schools, we all go back to school after Labor Day. So Rutgers begins after Labor Day, my kids and my husband all go back after Labor Day as well. And so I feel as though maybe there needs to be a mindset shift for all of us, right? We're oh my gosh, summer is ending? Well, it's because we're so conditioned to a different lifestyle in summer based on dominant culture. But what if we didn't? I mean, obviously, there are going to be certain things that changed there, you know, certain parts of our schedule, we don't have as much freedom and time all that Yes. But the vibe, summers vibe from nature is still there. So what if we tapped into that a little bit more? What if we kept that at the forefront of our mind and didn't get just so caught up with all the things that are changing? Right? I'm just curious, like, what if I know for me, because for August, you know, we still have get quote unquote, summer vibes, you know, we all we still get to, you know, it's still summer mode for us. I know, though, in the last few years, since my kids were born, and I find myself even there this summer, where I'm like, Oh my gosh, you know, I got to hold on to it tightly. There's, you know, only a few weeks left don't let go of summer. Even this morning. I was on my morning walk and I was like, Damn, I'm gonna miss this morning walk on a miss, you know, the bright skies. It seems to get dark here in New Jersey pretty quickly, even though it doesn't. It just I think because I enjoy the morning so much my morning walk that, you know, come November when it's pretty dark in the morning. It's really hard. And, you know, when I find myself in those moments saying, Oh, we there's not enough time left or there's only two more weeks left. You know what ended up happening? What ends up happening is that I focus so hard on the fact that I don't want to lose summer, that that's exactly what happens. Right? It passes so quickly, because I was so focused on not losing it, rather than actively just enjoying all the moments as they're happening. So this month, I've been trying to remain an awareness of myself present in the moment to notice when these like anxious time is fleeting, you need to do more feelings come up, and I've been reminding myself of what I Love about summer here in the United United States. And, again, I acknowledge as I have been throughout this episode, acknowledge that this is coming from a place of privilege and advantage. You know, that feeling of leisure that feeling of being able to slow down a bit, space time, in some ways seems so long, we get to explore, we enjoy different foods connection community, the beach swimming fireworks, which also yes, very complicated, you know, and overall, just an ability to enjoy myself in a way that, you know, is different from the rest of the month or the rest of the seasons of the year. And so, you know, reminding myself of this stuff has been one way to ground my thoughts, which has been really helpful. So my offering to you today, in savoring summer sweetness, whether your schedule is changing this week, or sometime in the coming weeks, is to consider what summer means to you. What do you enjoy a need from it? How can you focus on deeply enjoying yourself in the time that's left? Rather than focusing on time fleeting, fleeting? And what sweetness of summer can you savor this month, especially if your schedule is changing sooner rather than later. And what sweetness of summer can you use as part of your resources for the rest of the year, because you don't have to leave the vibe here. You can tap into summers by anytime you right, it's in your heart. Taking this all a step further, maybe get grounded, right, and that's present in your body connected with the Earth with the surface beneath you, like literally grounded like a tree trunk is rooted in the ground. And consider this, what helps you to feel present in your body, what helps you to feel connected with the Earth or the surface beneath you? How could getting grounded be of support for you, especially as you experience August and prepare for fall? What helps you feel at ease and present in your body I can share with you for me, it could be placing a hand on my heart space, it could be closing my eyes, it could be pressing my feet firmly into the ground beneath me whether I'm seated or whether I'm standing, I really enjoy being barefoot. So it's being barefoot in my home, but especially in the grass outside, it might be turning my face up to the sun. So many of those things helped me to feel grounded with the earth and grounded in my body. So I encourage you to consider what what helps you to feel that way because when we are going through transition when things are changing, when we are having big feelings of being grounded, as in not just grounding our thoughts like I was talking about earlier as in like, you know, trying to settle that that anxiousness or that unsettled this that is also grounding. But this grounding like getting grounded is literally being present in your body, and also feeling connected to something else that is of support to you. So consider that. And then I'm going to take us quickly to our second or last item to discuss this month or this episode I should say which is preparing for fall with mindful resource meant fall my friends as you know is an incredibly variable season as in the energy in the air. And that's great for you know, kapha Kapha stable energy right but if you are vata or Pitta dominant or if you're currently experiencing high energy from either of those doshas, vata energy is governed by air and ether elements so that's that, you know, mobile active energy, very creative, flexible, but you know, easily exhausting and can air towards or or move towards anxiousness if it is in excess. And pitted dominance is what we're seeing right now in summertime, which is hot and fiery and bright and intense, highly motivated and passionate and even competitive, right? Either, you know, Vata, Pitta. dosha can be, you know, easily aggravated in the fall. And it's important, my friends, is important not to wait until you feel unstable to reach for steadiness, but instead having your grounded and grounding practices and your regular Self Care Foundation set and continuing to nurture that belief, you know, so that it's going on the regular before a big need occurs. Because the reality is you could always benefit from practices that are regularly nurturing and nourishing you and allowing you to be more at ease and more in harmony with yourself. So that way, the dysregulation happens less frequently, and is less intense. And so when we say when I say mindfully resource yourself, I want you to think of through all of your senses and in a variety of ways right decolonizing deconstructing Western culture variety, right and think of all of IObit as current guiding principles. And also as I named these seven principles, all of these seven principles we covered in the 20 Something list 20 something long list that I named earlier. So all of those practices that I named earlier, fall into the seven categories. The first is live in tune with your nature, right? What it is that the type of energy that is most dominant within you how you are experiencing currently life, if you're in harmony, you're in an imbalance, I imbalance strengthening your digestive power with special considerations to waking up in morning rituals, the pace of your day, building and self awareness in the moment being able to slow things down, adding in purposeful pauses and blank space. Also your evening routine and wind down. The next is flavorful and seasonal nourishment. The fourth one is exercise fifth, taking it easy, six, abundant and restful sleep 123456 Yep. And special consideration to evening wind down in bed bedtime rituals here as well. Your yoga practices remembering not just Asana, right, but also pranayama meditation, but also the other five limbs as well, right yama, niyama has all of these things brought dar Pratyahara, which is withdrawal from you know, outside of material world, and then rest, and not just laying in stillness, but seven types of risks physical, mental, emotional, spiritual, all of these different types of risks that I've highlighted in many, many episodes, is going to be important for you. So allowing one area of your being to either come to stillness, or quiet or move away from constantly being tuned in, right.
Also, my friends, you can rewind back to, you know, that list I named earlier in this episode, or you can head back to episodes 25 to 32, for deep guidance in any of these areas. So my friends, before we go, big question for you this month, what subtle or big shifts shifts are happening? What ongoing practices are going to be nourishing for you? What practices do you need to keep in mind to reach for during hard moments? And now if you're resourced? I want to ask you a few bigger, broader questions about you know, the rest of August and into fall. What are you? And if you're not resourced? Pause, right. We're going to revisit these in following episodes to what are you preparing for in September in the fall season? What do you how do you want to experience fall? How do you typically experience fall? And what's your normal method of operation? And what shifts? Can you identify that you need to make from old behavior that you know needs to change in preparation for how you want to feel this fall? What type of energy do you want to take advantage of? And where do you need to make shifts for a better balance? And where do you need support and from who take your time with all of these problems? Right? Maybe wait till next episode to consider them. Give yourself a lot of space. Because if you don't have the space today, or in the coming days, then you know it's not gonna go well. So wait until you've got some spaciousness. And remember, especially if there are feelings of fear and possibility or anything that hard that comes up, just notice it. And let it be, and don't push it. Right, come back to this another time. But remember that no matter what you are not alone in figuring out your way forward, right. I think I might have shared with recently and if I haven't, you know, there's always support here. And also, there's something I've been exploring recently, in terms of how I could, you know, offer deeper support offer support a little bit differently. And something that has come to my mind is the realization as I was kind of planning for Fall planning for all the podcast episodes coming up, is that capitalism has such a tight grip around American culture, that some of us don't even realize that burnout isn't the only option. Capitalism has such a tight grip around American culture, that some of us don't realize burnout isn't the only option. I just said a second time for you just in case you needed to hear it again. Also, that frequent district dysregulation isn't the only option. That bypassing yourself in the name of success isn't the only option. That gaslighting yourself because you're struggling to keep up with self care and all your responsibilities is not the only option. This is not the only way even though dominant culture wants you to believe it is. There's a different way and it's one that brings you to feeling more resourced ground It's spacious, in control, capable, uplifted, stable, and most likely anything else that is that you desperately need. All without you feeling shitty about yourself in the process. And this is a process that I've basically developed because, you know, I've been there completely burned out completely overwhelmed. And this is the way I found my way forward and the way that I offer to my clients as well. And so it goes with number one, slow your roll. Because breakneck speed isn't helping any of us insert number two, insert short, short pauses and blank space into your day. Number three, routinely come to grounding practices throughout your day. Number four, tune into what your body and Bing are asking for. Number five, do one small thing to answer the call of what is being asked for within your body and being number six, create a practice of sustainable self care based on the type of energy that's saturated for you, as well as your bandwidth and your capacity. And number seven, adjust your practices as the seasons change. Now, friend, I wish that I could tell you that you can do this one magical practice to help you feel more at ease and slow down burnout. But it doesn't exist and telling you otherwise would be a lie. And I also realized that if you're deep in unease or burnout or if you're heading into just a particularly wild time, you know of work or life, me offering you a different way that includes seven steps from the jump off for creating a shift might feel completely accessible. The good thing is friend, you don't have to worry about the seven steps at all. It's just about getting started. Because once you do, the process unfolds naturally and one steps roll one step rolls into the other. And then remember suborders here, I'm really excited to share with you a new offering coming up at the end of September called the fall back to yourself series. And in this series, I'll lead you through those seven steps of creating ease of slowing down burnout or lessening burnout, which will be really important for your fall well being but just in life in general, because let's be real, especially when it comes to the fall. The incredibly busy fall season has us white knuckling our grip on life and burned out by the end of the year. And I'm just not here for all that Been there done that it sucks. We deserve better. Right. And you probably know by now if you've been around my work for a bit, I stand strong in a holistic approach that guides clients towards creating a lifestyle of Mindful self care focused on intentional and sustainable well being practices that are aligned to their specific needs and support their mental, emotional, physical and energetic health without times ties to the harmful systems that govern mainstream Western culture. So I created the fall back to yourself series from this exact perspective for yoga teachers, yoga practitioners, and anybody wanting to begin a practice with all of this in mind, and my friends to be completely transparent. This is not a series about adding more to your already to full plate. It is about learning simple shifts to what you're already doing that will help you honor false energy and how it affects you. It is about creating flexibility in your self care with options based on your energy bandwidth and capacity. It is about adjusting your yoga practices to align with characteristics of the fall and the energy you're feeling to move toward harmony and ease. And it is about understanding how to meet yourself when you have an excess of unsettled, angry, hot, unmotivated, or lethargic energy through your self care practices. My friend, you can get all the information and save your spot at WWW dot Steff gallante.com/fall registration is open and the first session is on Thursday, September 21. I know your schedule is already filling up. So be sure to enroll early and block off the time on your calendar. And please share this with your friends. As always, before we leave one another I'll offer you some time to you know consider some wrap up considerations. How can you use the teachings or what comes up for you in this episode to human more easily and to support and uplift those in your community especially those who are different from or hold identities, more marginalized in your own? How can you use it to connect more authentically and deeply to your community and also to begin to move toward mass mutual reliance and away from Western cultures individualistic society who Until next time my friend 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 I provided in this episode so my friend please please please reach out and share and if you've been loving the show, please share it with your nearest and dearest and leave a review or a rating a goes so far for me and for the podcast world. My friend remember you are a badass and you are enough now go be your favorite self and be well
