Fall Meditation for Grieving and Shedding

The meditation below is from Nourish Within, a class I taught in Fall 2019. I introduced Aroma Point Therapy* with the application of Cypress** essential oil to acupoint Kidney 24 (Ling Xu or Spirit Burial Ground) and led intuitive movement and guided meditation after applying the essential oil.

My sense was that people needed to feel the movement of letting go. During class we talked about the biology of leaves dropping from plants in the Fall. The color happens because the chlorophyll breaks down because the plant has programmed it to do so. Then the plant programs the leaf to be cut off and after it drops the plant creates a scar from where the leaf once was.

Everyone had a chance to dance to music with what this movement felt like to them relating to something that they were letting go of in their lives. (Some song suggestions: Let Go by Frou Frou, Falling Slowly by Glen Hansard and Markets Irglova, Nuovo Cinema Paradiso by Ennio Morricone)

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Here is the guided meditation that happened after the movement:

When the leaf breaks down we're not only left with no leaf or nourishment but also our memory of the beauty of the breakdown.

The beauty of the memory it once was but how beautiful the actual process of breaking down is.

We have a memory of something great that once nourished us and then the stunning beauty of the breakdown.

Because of our ability to see that its usefulness has cycled through to the end and program it to let go.

Let go, cut off.

Scars of the process.

In your movement feel not only the memory of the nourishment but experience the beauty of the breakdown.

Is it slow and steady or a clean cut and a rapid descent?

Did an early frost come and rob you of the full beauty in the breakdown?
Is it a gradual cooling that triggered the glorious breakdown (think red leaves and fall in New England)?

The weather is so out of our control but can we control our response nonetheless?

Or, can we find the beauty in the breakdown regardless and allow the song to aid us on our journey?

Let's break the cycle of overwork, undernourishment, breakneck pace, on a path to nowhere happy. It's time for some soul nourishing, gentle, slow YOU time. You deserve it as much as anyone else and everyone will thank you for giving yourself this gift.

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*Aroma Point Therapy is a technique of applying essential oils to acupoints taught by Tiffany Carole, LAc. If you are interested in learning more, I recommend beginning with the Healing Oil Collective or Aroma Point Therapy Fundamentals.

**Cypress essential oil is widely available. I recommend diluting with a carrier oil or prediluted Cypress Essential Oil from Monara Essential Oils (use laurafreeshipping to receive free shipping)