Embracing the Shift: Somatic Practices for Autumn 🍂

As the days grow shorter and the air turns crisp, Autumn invites us to slow down, turn inward, listen, and honor the quiet wisdom of change. It’s a season of shedding and softening, releasing and letting go. A time when nature models the art of release, and our bodies long to follow.

Somatic practices can offer a gentle way to attune to this shift, helping us ground, reflect, and renew. Here we will look a few practices you can lean into this season to support your body, mind, and spirit as we shift into this time of cooler days and longer nights.

🌬️Breath Work for Release

Just as the trees let go of their leaves, we too can exhale and let go of what no longer serves us. Breath work can be an effective way of letting go, releasing, and softening.

Find a comfortable seat or reclining position. Inhale for four counts, hold for two. Then exhale for six counts. Each time you exhale, invite a release or softening into your body. Continue in this pattern of mindful breathing for about 5 minutes. You may find it helpful to journal about your experience with this breath, noting how you felt before, during, and after the practice.

🧘🏻‍♀️Earth-Based Movement Rituals

Autumn calls us to root. Engaging in restorative yoga or intuitive movement that emphasizes grounding though the feet, hips, and pelvis. As you practice, you may enjoy imagining that you are drawing strength from the soil beneath you, much like a tree anchors deeply into the Earth before winter.

Restorative yoga postures, such as a supported child’s pose or a supported butterfly posture, can be effective at inviting grounding into your body while offering healing stretches to the back and hips.

If intuitive movement is calling you in this space, find a song that is soothing and peaceful. Allow your body to move and sway with the music in any way that speaks to you. Close your eyes and just allow your body to move with the rhythms. Make it a conversation with the Earth.

🍁Leaf Meditation

Find a fallen leaf and hold it gently in your hand. Notice the colors, the patterns, and the shape. Trace its veins with your fingers. Slowly and with intention, examine every aspect of it. Reflect on what it means to the tree to release and let go of its leaves each fall, then ask yourself how that same letting go is can play out in your life right now. Let the leaf become of a symbol of how gracefully we can let go of what no longer serves us.

You may find journaling about this experience to be a great method of pausing to reflect on what you learned about yourself or nature in this practice.

🔥Warmth and Containment

As the temperatures drop, our bodies crave warmth and containment. You can indulge these cravings by wrapping yourself in a warm blanket or sitting near a peaceful fire. You might try the practice of self-holding by wrapping your arms around yourself in a gentle hug.

Another practice might be to make yourself a warm spiced tea, like Chai. Turn the act of making and consuming the tea a meditative practice. Notice the steam from the hot water. Stir with intention and purpose. As you drink, inhale the aroma noticing what scents you might find.

The comfort of warmth can be a somatic anchor, reminding us that we are held.

🕯️Candle Gazing

Light a candle at dusk and soften your gaze toward its flame. Let the flicker draw your attention inward. Allow your mind to soften, while keeping your attention on the flickering flame. If your attention drifts away, call it back to the flame as soon as you are aware. This ancient practice supports focus, stillness, and the quiet beauty of transition.

🌾Harvest Gratitude Journaling

Autumn is the season of the harvest. The time when we receive the benefits of the seeds we sowed in the Spring and the crops we tended in the Summer. Take time to journal about what you’ve gathered this harvest. Whether your crops are physical or metaphorical, honor the abundance of the harvest before the winter‘s rest. Ask yourself reflective questions. What have you learned or unlearned? What do you want to take with you into winter and what do you want to leave behind? Include sentiments of gratitude for your bounty.

🎶Sound and Vibration

Singing, humming, or using sound healing modalities can awaken vibrations in the body. Gentle sounds can stimulate the Vagus nerve and support emotional regulation. Drumming, playing singing bowls, and chanting mantra are great methods of creating vibration in the body. You can also check yoga studios and wellness centers in your area for Sound Bath meditations. Sound bath guides use a variety of instruments and tools to tap into the vibrations of the body and promote healing and a sense of peace.

🌕Moon Salutations

As the days shorten and the nights grow longer, we find ourselves spending more time with the Moon than with the Sun. Practicing gentle Moon Salutations is a way of tapping into the Lunar energy and honoring the yin energy of Autumn. The Moon moves through its cycle much in the way the Earth moves through hers. Explore that connection through each movement of the Moon Salutation, dancing in the rhythms of our cyclical ways.

There are many versions of Chandra Namaskar, Moon Salutations. Find one that resonates with you and use that one in your practice.

Final Reflection

Autumn doesn’t ask us to bloom, it invites us to soften, to listen, and to shed. Through somatic practice, we meet this invitation with reverence. We become like the trees: rooted, radiant, and ready to release.

May these practices guide you gently into Autumn’s embrace, and may your body feel like home, no matter the weather.