Chapter Five
End of July to mid-September in the Northern Hemisphere
End of January to mid-March in the Southern Hemisphere
This is the time of first harvest; apples are ripening on the tree and the corn is being brought in from the field. During the season of harvest, we take time to enjoy the cornucopian feast that nature has laid out before us. Whether we live in the city or the country, we can mindfully use our five senses to appreciate the bountifulness and abundance of the season.
We Celebrate Summer’s Abundance
Although it is high summer, autumn is visible on the horizon. The sun is gradually waning and losing its power: the days are getting shorter, and each morning the sun gets up a little later and goes to bed a little earlier. The energy of the earth is moving from fire to water, yang to yin, outer to inner, sun to moon, and if we can flow with this change of energy and gradually shift from outward pursuits to a more inward focus of contemplation, then it can be a wonderful way of keeping our life in balance.
Whether we are gardeners or not, we all have a harvest, and now is a good time to consider what you are harvesting. Look back over the past year and consider where you have been putting your energy and whether this has been fruitful or not. Your harvest may be the fruition of a project that is dear to your heart. Or perhaps it is the blossoming of a relationship that you have been nurturing. It might be the peacefulness that you have felt since you have established a regular yoga practice. Or perhaps it is literally vegetables and fruit that you’ve grown in your garden. Now is the time to honor your effort and celebrate what you have achieved.
The reaping of the harvest is associated with the theme of sacrifice. The grain harvest, in its passage from sheaf of corn to loaf of bread, is threshed, sifted, grounded, kneaded, and then assigned to the “sacred fire.” In many traditions there are variations on the story of the God of Fire and Light being sacrificed to Mother Harvest. This is a good time to consider what needs to be sacrificed to ensure the success of your harvest. Sometimes to say yes to your passion, you must say no to something else that is less important to you.
Although the days are still warm and summery, the nights are gradually drawing in. We too draw our outward achievements inside, sorting the wheat from the chaff. The Sanskrit word for seed is bija. Contained within the harvest are the seeds of next year’s crop. When you hold a grain of wheat or an apple pip in the palm of your hand, you are holding a miracle that is full of the potential for future growth.
What do you wish to preserve from your harvest? What are the seeds that you wish to store over the autumn and winter, ready for planting out next spring? The autumn and winter aren’t the best time for action, but they are the perfect time to dream and make plans about what you wish to make manifest during next year’s growing season. At harvest we draw our awareness back inside to the magical core at the heart of our being. We take our outer achievements inside to this wise, knowing, loving center at our core, to process them.
Loving the Harvest and Harvesting Love
What will you give away with love this harvest season? Paradoxically, it is when we are sharing our wealth and giving it away that we feel most enriched. One way to celebrate abundance is to mindfully prepare a meal to share with your loved ones. As you prepare the food notice the colors of the ingredients, the smells, textures, and tastes. Remember not to forget the magic ingredient: love! Or you could make a harvest loaf plaited into a sheaf of wheat and share it with friends. Baking bread is a wonderful way of getting in touch with the harvest. Kneading the dough by hand is therapeutic and a great stress reliever too.
During the period of first harvest, we remember to say thank you to Mother Earth, as without her there is no harvest. One way of thanking the earth is to treat her with kindness and respect by embodying the yogic principle of non-harm or non-violence (ahimsa). We do this by considering what impact our actions are having upon the environment and aiming to act in a way that does the least harm. Some yogis choose to be vegetarian, others vegan, and some just cut down on meat and eat more vegetarian meals. If we all make some small changes to the way we live, then environmentally it will add up to a big difference. For example, at harvest you can reduce the air miles of food by buying delicious, fresh local produce. Or you can reduce air pollution, and improve fitness, by one day a week leaving the car at home. Your mantra: Change begins with me.
Another way to thank the earth is to simply notice the bounty and beauty that she spreads before us at harvest. We can get so caught up in the minutiae and busyness of our lives that we forget to look around us and appreciate the beauty of the season. To counteract this tendency, when you encounter something beautiful, stop and take time to enjoy it. Instead of habitually getting your phone out to capture the image digitally, occasionally just allow yourself the space to look and absorb the image into your mind’s eye. Then when you are on your yoga mat, you can recall that beautiful flower, mountain view, dappled light in a forest, wheat field dancing in the breeze, or apples ripening on a tree, and let the image uplift you as you do your yoga. It will also help you strengthen your connection to the world around you. Yoga is union.
Traditionally, this is a time for festivals and community gatherings. Seek out others who share your love of yoga, and look for ways that you can share yoga’s gifts with each other. Arrange a walking meditation in the park or a Sunday morning yoga session, followed by a shared picnic lunch. Be a force for good in your community. Look out for those small ways that you can improve the lives of your family, friends, colleagues, and wider community. Widen your circle of love. Karma yogis believe that what goes around comes around, so when you warm up your relationships, everyone benefits—including you!
Do you define an advanced yogi as someone who can tie themselves into pretzel-like shapes? Or is an advanced yogi someone who is kind to themselves and others? Perhaps you like the idea of doing a headstand or amazing your friends by doing a gravity-defying yoga balancing pose, whereas being kind to yourself and others sounds … well, a bit wimpy! However, steering yourself continually in the direction of kindness to yourself and others is anything but a soft option and is in fact spiritual warrior work. The Dalai Lama, when asked to sum up his spiritual practice, answered with two words: “Be kind.”
Love is the harvest of your spiritual practice: we give out and gather in love. In the end your yoga practice will not be judged by how good you look in Lycra or by how long you can stay in a headstand or how many rounds of Salute to the Sun you can do. No, your spiritual practice will be judged by how much love you generated on and off the mat. And it is all those small acts of everyday kindness that add up to a life well lived. Love is the sweetest fruit of all.
Harvesting Happiness, Gratitude, and Contentment
The Summer to Autumn Yoga Practice that follows this section focuses on cultivating contentment, gratitude, and happiness. Yoga Sutra 2.42 states, “Perfect happiness is attained through contentment.” 17 When we cultivate gratitude as a spiritual practice, contentment (samtosa) naturally follows, and from contentment happiness blooms. Whereas happiness can be elusive, the path of gratitude and contentment is always available to us.
The season of first harvest is the perfect time to establish a gratitude practice. It is well documented that cultivating an attitude of gratitude has many health benefits, and research shows that gratitude improves our relationships: people who practice gratitude are more committed and responsive to their partners and are better listeners.18
One way that we can cultivate gratitude is by acknowledging all those people who have helped us “grow” our harvest. Saying thank you to someone who has helped you realize your harvest can be rewarding and fun. Take time to consider who has helped you and get creative, finding imaginative, fun ways of thanking them. Spread the love!
Part of our spiritual practice is to look deeply and to recognize that we are all part of an intricate web of interdependency. The self-made person is a myth. None of us can make it alone. Taking time to acknowledge with gratitude all the ways that we are supported by others is a spiritual act. It is important to recognize and show appreciation not just to our loved ones, but also to all those neutral people in our daily life. How do you treat that army of “invisible” people who provide you with services that enable your life to run smoothly? Do you see and acknowledge the person who serves you in a restaurant and clears away after you? Do you remember to say thank you? Showing appreciation to all the supposedly “insignificant” people around us makes for a more civilized, humane society, and enriches our lives too. To strengthen your gratitude “muscle,” try the Showing Appreciation Meditation, featured later in this chapter.
In our everyday life, by combining mindfulness with gratitude practice we are more able to relax into a contented state. Our mindfulness practice helps us pay attention to our experience as it unfolds, and our gratitude practice helps us savor, enjoy, and be thankful for all the little (and big) joys in our life as they arise from moment to moment.
Practicing gratitude before you go off to sleep helps you get a better night’s sleep. Try counting off on your fingers ten things that you feel grateful for today. If you run out of things to be thankful for after the count of three, don’t give up—keep going! It’s important to get to ten so that you notice all those small blessings that you would normally take for granted, such as a mug of warm tea, a hot shower, the succulent taste of a juicy peach, a child’s smile, or the sun on your face.
The contentment we find in our yoga practice energizes us to take the actions that will help us find happiness in our lives. Yoga postures, breathing, and relaxation induce states of calm and serenity; this in turn prepares the ground for meditation. With mind and body calm and at ease, during meditation we slip into a state of deep contentment. In this contented state we are neither pushed nor pulled by whatever arises; we neither grasp for happiness nor push away unhappiness; we allow things to be as they are. This meditative, contented state is truly a healthy, wholesome, healing place to be.
At harvest our yoga practice helps us draw inward and uncover within ourselves the beauty and potential that lies at our center. As the Earth spins its way around the wheel of the year, we stay connected to that kind, compassionate heart within. In this way we weather happiness and heartache, the gains and loss, and the ups and downs that the turning of the year brings us. Though the seasons may bring wind, rain, sunshine, or showers, we remain connected to ourselves, to each other, and to the earth.
Summer to Autumn Yoga Practice
This yoga practice is inspired by the abundance of the first harvest, and it cultivates a sense of gratitude for the earth’s abundance. Yoga Sutra 2.42 states, “Perfect happiness is attained through contentment.” 19 We integrate Patanjali’s words on contentment into the practice as a way of opening ourselves up to happiness.
As summer transitions to autumn, we move from outward activity to focusing on inner contemplation. This change is reflected in this yoga practice by combining opening yoga poses with closing ones (e.g., as in Warrior with open arms into Intense Side Stretch Pose in step 3 below).
The practice has been designed to be used from late summer through early autumn, although it’s fine to use at any time of year. It’s both energizing and calming and has a balancing (samana) effect. It uplifts and encourages a positive attitude.
Allow 15 to 30 minutes.
1. Cultivating Gratitude Exercise, standing
Stand tall, feet hip width apart. Name three things that you feel grateful for today.
Cultivating Gratitude Exercise, standing
2. Albatross Sequence 1
Stand tall, feet hip width apart. Inhale and raise arms above head. Exhale and bend forward, about 45 degrees, back slightly arched, spreading arms out to the sides like a bird’s wings (this is Albatross Pose). Stay for one breath in the pose. Inhale and come back up to standing, sweeping arms above head. Exhale and lower arms back to sides. Repeat the sequence 4 to 6 times.
Albatross Sequence 1
3. Warrior Pose (Virabhadrasana) variation into
Intense Side Stretch Pose (Parsvottanasana) variation
Stand tall, feet hip width apart, both hands resting on the belly. Step one foot forward. Inhale and take the arms out to the side and bend the front knee. Exhale and bend forward over the front leg, sweeping both arms behind the back. Inhale and come back up, sweeping the arms out to the side. Exhale and straighten the front leg and return the hands to the belly. Repeat 3 times and then repeat on the other side. As you inhale, silently say, Perfect happiness. As you exhale, Contentment.
Warrior Pose variation into Intense Side Stretch Pose variation
4. Bow to the Earth (Bhumi Pranam)
Stand tall, feet hip width apart, hands in Prayer Pose (Namaste). Stay here for a few breaths focusing on the heart chakra (anahata). Keeping hands together, raise arms above the head; stay here a few breaths, focusing on the space above the crown of the head, the crown chakra (sahasrara). Lower the prayer hands to the third eye chakra (ajna) and then the throat chakra (vishuddha). Bend the knees deeply (thighs parallel to the floor) and bring the prayer hands to touch the floor. Stay here for a few breaths, silently repeating, “I thank the earth for supporting me.” Inhale and come back up to standing, taking prayer hands above the head. Exhale and lower prayer hands back to heart. Repeat 3 times.
If you are short of time, finish your practice finish here.
Bow to the Earth
5. Lunge Pose (Anjaneyasana) with arm movements
Come to tall kneeling. Take your right foot forward; bend the knee, bringing the knee over the ankle. Rest your fingertips lightly on your ears, elbows out to the side. Exhale and round the back forward, looking down. Inhale and open up the chest, pull the elbows back, and look up slightly. Repeat 4 times and then stay in the open chest position for a few breaths. Repeat on the other side.
Lunge Pose with arm movements
6. Downward-Facing Dog Pose (Adho Mukha Svanasana)
Come onto all fours; turn the toes under and push up into Downward-Facing Dog Pose. Stay here for a few breaths.
Downward-Facing Dog Pose
7. Half-Locust Pose (Ardha Salabhasana)
Lie on your front, head facing down and arms by your sides. Inhale to prepare. Exhale and raise the upper body in to a backbend, sweeping the arms out to the side like a bird’s wings, and at the same time lift one straight leg from the floor. (Keep both frontal pelvic bones on the floor; do not twist the pelvis as you come into the backbend.) Inhale and lift the chest a little higher. Exhale and lower to the starting position. Repeat on the other side. Repeat 4 times each side, alternating sides.
Half-Locust Pose
8. Locust Pose (Salabhasana)
Lie on your front, head facing down and arms by your sides. Inhale to prepare. Exhale and come up into a backbend, and at the same time raise both straight legs from the floor (keep both frontal pelvic bones on the floor; do not twist the pelvis as you come into the backbend); arms stay by your sides. Inhale and lift the chest a little higher. Exhale and lower back down to the starting position. Repeat 4 times and on the final time stay for a few breaths in the pose.
Locust Pose
9. Cat Pose (Marjaryasana) into Child’s Pose (Balasana)
Come onto all fours. Exhale and lower the bottom to the heels and the head to the floor to Child’s Pose (Balasana). Inhale and come back up to all fours. Repeat 6 times. As you inhale, silently say, Perfect happiness. As you exhale, Contentment.
Cat Pose into Child’s Pose
10a. Supine Twist (Jathara Parivrtti)
Lie on your back, knees bent, feet together, arms out to the sides at shoulder height, palms facing down. Bring both knees onto your chest. Exhale and lower both knees down toward the floor on the left. Inhale and return to center. Repeat 6 times each side, alternating sides.
Supine Twist
10b. Supine Twist (Jathara Parivrtti) variation
Then drop your knees to the left; place your left hand on the top of your right thigh, gently persuading your legs down toward the floor. Turn your right palm up and, keeping your arm in contact with the floor, raise your arm up toward your right ear. Stay here for a few breaths. And then repeat on the other side.
Supine Twist variation
11. Knees-to-Chest Pose (Apanasana) into Leg Raises
Bring both knees onto your chest. Inhale and straighten your legs to the vertical, heels toward the ceiling; taking your arms out to the side, just below shoulder height, palms facing up. Exhale and bring knees back to chest (Apanasana). Repeat 6 times.
Knees-to-Chest Pose into Leg Raises
12. The Showing Appreciation Meditation
See page 88.
The Showing Appreciation Meditation
Summer to Autumn Yoga Practice Overview
1. Cultivating Gratitude Exercise, standing. Name three things you are grateful for today.
2. Albatross Sequence 1. Repeat × 4–6.
3. Warrior variation into Intense Side Stretch Pose variation. Inhale: Perfect happiness. Exhale: Contentment. Repeat × 3 and then repeat on other side.
4. Bow to the Earth. Say, I thank the earth for supporting me. Repeat × 3.
5. Lunge Pose with arm movements. Repeat × 4 and then stay in open chest position for a few breaths. Repeat on other side.
6. Downward-Facing Dog Pose. Stay for a few breaths.
7. Half-Locust Pose. Repeat × 4 on each side, alternating sides.
8. Locust Pose. Repeat × 4 and on final time stay for a few breaths.
9. Cat Pose into Child’s Pose. Inhale: Perfect happiness. Exhale: Contentment. Repeat × 6.
10a. Supine Twist. Repeat × 6, alternating sides.
10b. Stay here for a few breaths. Repeat on other side.
11. Knees-to-Chest Pose into Leg Raises. Repeat × 6.
12. The Showing Appreciation Meditation.
The Showing Appreciation Meditation
This meditation can be done any time of year, although it is particularly appropriate during the harvest season, as a way of cultivating gratitude toward all those people (including ourselves!) who have helped us realize our harvest and made life run more smoothly. It helps strengthen our gratitude “muscle” and stops us from taking people for granted. It engenders positive feelings toward ourselves and others.
Allow 10 to 20 minutes.
Find yourself a comfortable but erect sitting position, either on the floor or in an upright chair. Or, if you prefer, this meditation can be done lying down.
Relax the parts of your body that are in contact with the floor, or your support, down into the earth.
Let go of any unnecessary tension, relax your shoulders down away from your ears, and soften your face by adopting a half smile.
Now become aware of the natural flow of your breath and maintain a background awareness of the breath throughout the meditation.
We begin by cultivating a sense of gratitude and loving kindness toward ourselves. Recall three things that make you feel grateful toward yourself. If you are finding it hard to think of anything, see if you can find just one small thing you like about yourself and feel grateful for. If you find yourself lapsing into self-criticism, congratulate yourself for noticing this and send yourself some love and compassion.
Now silently repeat several times the loving kindness phrases for yourself:
May I be safe.
May I be happy.
May I be healthy.
May I live with ease.
Now bring to mind someone whom you are close to and who helps your life to run more smoothly. Consider all the things that this person does for you, big or small, and all the ways that they improve your quality of life. Send your gratitude and thanks to this person; thank them for the many ways they contribute to your happiness.
If you are finding it hard today to think of anyone, you could remember someone who has helped you and supported you in the past. Or, if it is easier, send good wishes to a pet who brings joy into your life.
Now silently repeat the loving kindness phrases a few times for this person (if you wish, you can insert their name into the phrase):
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you live with ease.
Now bring to mind a neutral person, someone who helps you in some way but who you don’t know very well. Choose someone who you don’t have strong feelings toward either way, but who makes your life run more smoothly. Perhaps they are someone who delivers your mail or serves you in a shop, a cleaner at your place of work, or a bus driver. Send your gratitude and thanks to this person; thank them for the help that they give to you. Silently repeat the loving kindness phrases a few times for this person:
May you be safe.
May you be happy.
May you be healthy.
May you live with ease.
Now picture yourself, your friend, and the neutral person all together. Picture all three of you looking safe, happy, healthy, and at ease. Just like you, the friend and the neutral person want to be happy and free from suffering. Just like you, their lives have ups and downs. And just like you, they rely on others to help and support them and to make their life run smoothly.
Repeat the loving kindness phrases for the three of you:
May we all be safe.
May we all be happy.
May we all be healthy.
May we all live with ease.
After repeating the phrases a number of times, let them go and finish by once more sending yourself good wishes, loving kindness, and compassion.
Now bring your awareness back to the sensations associated with where your body is in contact with the floor or your support. Become aware of the natural rhythm of your breath again. Notice how you are feeling and be aware of any insights that you’ve gained from doing this meditation. Become aware of your surroundings. Have a good stretch and do any movements you need to do to wake the body up.
Resolve to take these feelings of love, kindness, and gratitude for yourself and others back into your everyday life.
Tree Wisdom: Summer to Autumn
Spending time around trees is the perfect way to connect to the abundance of the season of first fruits and harvest. When you’re out walking, look out for the signs of the fruitfulness of trees: acorns forming on oak trees, conkers on horse chestnut trees, berries on the hawthorn tree, and, of course, fruit on fruit trees. Mindfully observe a tree that you feel drawn to with an open mind and curiosity. Use your five senses to enjoy and appreciate its fruitfulness.
Exercise
Trees and Creativity
during Summer to Autumn
You can use the time that you have spent mindfully around trees as a springboard for your creativity. If you are stuck for ideas, here are a few to get you going:
• Take photos of the fruit and seeds that you observe on trees. Make a collage of them and post it on your favorite social media site. Or use the collage as a screen saver.
• Find a fruit from a tree, such as a conker, acorn, berry, or other fruit, and use it to inspire you to mindfully write a poem, compose a song, paint a picture, or make a collage out of objects found in nature. (If you have kids, they may want to join in this activity!)
• How much do you know about the science of how trees reproduce? Use the resources available to you online, in books, from a knowledgeable friend, and so on to find out more. Once you have done this, observe whether your newfound knowledge adds to or detracts from your enjoyment and appreciation of trees. Share your knowledge with friends.
• Mindfully cook something with fruits that you have grown or found growing wild (only eat wild food if you are certain it is edible) or buy some seasonal fruit from your local shop.
• Try out the Apple Mindfulness Meditation in this chapter.
Meditation upon a Crab Apple Tree at Harvest
Last August I was walking in the countryside with my husband. We were both feeling low because his elderly mum had recently died, and we had been talking about where to scatter her ashes. As we passed through a wooden gate leading from a field into the woods, I noticed a wild crab apple tree laden with apples, its branches intertwined with an oak tree. We stood and admired the beauty of the trees for a few moments and somehow it lifted our spirits. Below is the tree prose poem that I wrote in response to meditatively spending time around this crab apple tree.
Your path leads you through a grove of trees. Two white butterflies zigzag playfully and draw your gaze to the branches of a crab apple tree, linked arm in arm with an oak. Shafts of rainbow-sunlight filter through the trees and do a dance of sunlight and shadow upon the woodland floor, which is carpeted with blackberries ripening on the brambles, pink campion, and yellow daisies. Beyond the trees a field of golden grain is bathed in sunshine. Swallows fly overhead,
and white clouds drift across blue sky to the mountains.
The crab apple tree gives pollen and nectar to the bees; blackbirds and thrushes eat her apples and disperse the seed. She is laden down with love, her branches heavy with apples and the seeds of possibility.
The Apple-Mother takes all your cares and woes and scatters
them like apple blossom on the wind. The seeds of love bear fruit,
she says, give all your love away. Give all your love away today,
your love will be returned to you, give all your love away.
Exercise
You will need an apple and a kitchen knife. Allow 5 to 10 minutes.
Sit on an upright chair at a table. Place your apple on the table in front of you.
Imagine that you have never seen an apple before. Look at the apple; notice its shape, its color, its texture; notice where it catches the light and where it is in shade.
Now pick the apple up and hold it in your hands. Explore the apple with your hands; enjoy its shape, its curves, and its texture. Notice its color and how it catches the light.
Now place the apple on the table again. Pick up your knife and, with care, cut transversely across the middle of the apple. Replace your knife back on the table. Smell the sweetness of the cut apple. Hold the two halves of apple in your hands: What do you see? If you look closely, you will notice that hidden inside the apple is a five-pointed star in a circle around the core. It looks like a flower with five petals contained within the circle of the apple.
Now remove one pip from the apple’s core. Cradle the pip in the palm of your hand, noticing its shape, color, and how it catches the light. Take the pip between your thumb and first finger; roll it about to feel its texture. Notice how although the pip is so small, at the same time it contains within it the potential of a future apple tree.
When you are ready, slowly and mindfully eat your apple, enjoying and savoring each mouthful.
Summer to Autumn Meditation Questions
These questions are designed to be used any time from around the end of July to mid-August in the Northern Hemisphere and from around the end of January to mid-February in the Southern Hemisphere. Guidance on how to use the seasonal meditation questions can be found in Chapter One.
• This is the season of harvest. What is my own personal harvest?
• Who has helped me realize my harvest and how will I thank them?
• How will I celebrate my harvest and how will I share my abundance with others?
• What are the seeds inherent in my harvest?
• Which seeds will I be incubating over the autumn-to-winter season, ready to plant out next spring?
• Which of my outer achievements need to be taken inside to be processed, the wheat sorted from the chaff?
• What do I need to sacrifice in order to realize my harvest? What needs weeding out or cutting back to ensure the success of my harvest?
• Do I use my time wisely and are there any activities that I could drop in order to ensure that what really matters to me is fruitful?
• What am I harvesting in my personal relationships?
• Which relationships have been fruitful and how will I celebrate them?
• Where relationships have not been fruitful, do I need to invest more time and energy in them or do I need to let them go?
• How can I help those close to me realize their potential so that they might lead fruitful and fulfilling lives?
• How will I go about spending time with my loved ones over the remaining weeks of summer, and what can we do together that would bring us closer and give us both pleasure?
• What am I grateful for in my life?
• Do I regularly notice and savor all my everyday blessings?
• Am I able to acknowledge suffering in both my own life and other people’s lives while at the same time still appreciate and enjoy the beauty of life?
• What am I harvesting in my yoga practice?
• Have I put in the time and energy required to ensure a fruitful practice?
• What are the strengths of my practice and how could I build on these?
• What do I love about yoga and how can I share this love with others?
• The earth is so bountiful giving us the harvest. What small steps could I take this season to give back to the earth and to ensure that she continues to flourish?
• How will I go about connecting with nature and enjoying with all my senses the fruitfulness and beauty of the season?
17. Barbara Stoler Miller, Yoga: Discipline of Freedom; The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali (New York: Bantam Books, 1998), 55.
18. Amie M. Gordon, “Gratitude Is for Lovers,” Greater Good Magazine, February 5, 2013, https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/gratitude_is_for_lovers.
19. Barbara Stoler Miller, Yoga: Discipline of Freedom; The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali (New York: Bantam Books, 1998), 55.