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Welcome to the Nourished Nervous System, an exploration of stress, the nervous system, and resilience for parents and other humans through the lens of Ayurveda, somatics, herbs, and a whole lot more. I'm your host, Kristin Timchak, an Ayurvedic health counselor, stress and resilience coach, somatic stress release practitioner, and mother of a tiny human. Please join me for information and insights, deep thoughts and small steps to help you nourish your nervous system. Hello. Hello. Welcome. Welcome back to the Nourished Nervous System. I'm super grateful that you are here listening. And here in Maine, we are in that transition from summer to autumn. We're moving from pit to season, the season of fire and activity to fall season, where everything is starting to dry up, die off, move more into an internal space. And I've been thinking a lot lately about rhythm, and I've mentioned it a few times in recent episodes and throughout the podcast, especially when talking about vata dosha or about the mind, about how important rhythm can be to help to keep those things balanced. And I think most people, no matter what your base constitution is, most people in this world can work on balancing vata dosha. So I think rhythm is something that can be really applicable for all of us in our lives and in this world that we live in. And so, as I like to do when thinking about this, I decided to dig in a little bit and look up the definitions and see what this word rhythm means. And so here's a couple definitions that I like. So from Merriam Webster Dictionary Online, it's an ordered, recurrent alternation of strong and weak elements in the flow of sound and silence in speech. And I love this one because, because even though they're talking about sound, I can totally relate this to the rhythms of our lives. An ordered, recurrent alternation of strong and weak elements and silence. So periods of silence in music are called rests. And so it's this ordered alternation between the activities of the day, the strong and the weak elements, and rest. And the rest is crucial to both our spoken word and to music. And so how a musician uses silence is as important as how they are using sound. Same thing as somebody who's speaking. The way they use silence is as important as how they use their words. And so let's remember that when we factor rest into the rhythms of our days, that it's actually these rest places that, that create the rhythm that give the meaning to what we're doing. So it's not just a blank, empty time of nothingness. These are actually the spaces that give form to everything else. So another definition that I liked was from Wikipedia, and it says rhythm, from Greek rhythmos is any regular recurring motion. Symmetry generally means a movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions. This general meaning of regular recurrence or pattern in time can apply to a wide variety of cyclical natural phenomena having a periodicity or frequency of anything from microseconds to several seconds, as with the riff in a rock music song, to several minutes or hours, or at the most extreme, even over many years. So I love this definition because I really feel like it encompasses what I'm talking about with Ayurveda. It's like this regular succession of these elements, and it can apply to things happening in the microsecond in our body, to things happening over many years. Because I think there's a lot of different rhythms that we experience in our lives. There's the rhythms of the day, there's the rhythms of the seasons throughout the year. But then there's also these bigger rhythms of our lives. And I think really our whole living existence is made of different rhythms. So we can zoom out into that macro of the Earth orbiting around the sun, which creates the seasons of our year, that rhythm, and then the Earth spinning on its axis, which creates the rhythm of our days. We can see how every life cycle, whether it's an insect or plant or humans or other animals, has its own rhythm to it. And then we can zoom into the rhythms of our bodies. The monthly rhythms of hormones, the circadian rhythms of sleep and digestion, and all the other bodily actions, the rhythm of our heartbeats and breath. So in essence, we are creatures ruled by rhythm. Our nervous system attunes to the predictability of rhythm. That's one of the things I love about Ayurvedic body work is like with the Abhyanga treatment, where we're oiling in these rhythms around joints and on the long bones of the body and the mind and the nervous system, once it's received this treatment, a number of times, attunes to that rhythm, and it knows what's coming next. And that creates a safer place in the body. And the mind. And the nervous system can relax more deeply into it because of those rhythms. And so that's something you can think about if you've gotten into the practice of self Abhyanga, of putting oil on yourself before or after a shower. And if you haven't yet, you may want to check out my self Abhyanga guide, which is linked in the show notes. This is a great time of year to start doing it. But instead of just slapping the oil on, how can you create a little bit of rhythm in it? Do circular motions around the joint. You could even count five circles around the wrist, 10 long strokes on the forearm, five circles around the elbow. How can you make that oiling of your body into something that has its own rhythm? And you may find that your mind and your nervous system calm down even more from doing it in that way. And so what happens when we get completely out of rhythm, or another thing I see, is that when we're forced to operate in a rhythm that's discordant from our natural rhythm. And so what I mean by that, and we touched on this in last week's episode with Jocelyn Pepe, that even though working from nine to five, five days a week in itself is its own rhythm, it's for many people, a forced rhythm that may be discordant with the actual living rhythm of their bodies. And so when I think about nature, with each season there are strong elements and weak elements. Each season has its own rhythm. So in summer, it's a time of productivity and movement and growing. And the rhythm of those days are different than the rhythm of winter, which is about rest and reflection and inward movement. Yet in our dominant culture, especially work culture, there's not a reflection of that. We keep it the same strong rhythm of productivity all year long, and eventually this creates imbalance. And I think each of our bodies have their own unique rhythms. And so some bodies may thrive in the nine to five schedules, and some bodies may thrive in it for a period of time. And for other bodies, it just doesn't work at all. It's just too discordant with their natural rhythm. And I think when we think about constitutions, some constitutions may have the energetic resources to keep pushing through, even though they're not necessarily thriving in that rhythm. And then other constitutions don't have those resources. And so it's really hard for them to. To force themselves to be in that rhythm. And there's no moral judgment here. It's not better or worse. It's more of a question of what is your body's rhythm and how can you support it, even if maybe you are forced into a rhythm that's discordant from your body's rhythm, what are the other ways that you can support yourself in that? Because it's not always feasible for us to leave a 9 to 5 job just because it doesn't align with our body's rhythm. So how can we support ourselves in that in other areas of our lives? And I think one of the ways we can tell if either we're out of rhythm or forced into a rhythm that's not resonant with our body's natural rhythm is we may start noticing symptoms in our bodies that are associated with vata dosha that show the irregularity. So what I mean by that is irregular periods, which can be a part of perimenopause, but sometimes it can happen earlier in life, and it can be a sign that there's some rhythm that's out of balance. Irregular digestion, irregular sleep. I think these are clues that vata dosha is out of balance, that that erratic nature of vata is dominant and that we've lost our rhythm in some way. We've gotten out of sync with our body's rhythm. And so that's one of the things I love about Ayurveda is that it's really based on this wisdom of nature. And so here in the Northern hemisphere, we're moving into vata season right now. So vata is made up of the elements, air and space. And its qualities are light, dry, cold, rough, mobile and erratic. And when I think about vata season, I think about the different qualities that are present at different times. So I think throughout vata season, through fall and early winter, the qualities of light and dry and rough are present. If you look out in nature, the leaves are getting lighter and drier and rougher. The plants, everything is kind of starting to get lighter and drier and rougher. But I would say in the first phase of vata season, which would be fall, that there's more of that mobile and erratic quality. So if you look out in nature this time of year, there's still a lot of mobile happening. There's a lot of bees buzzing around, getting the pollen from the flower before winter. The animals are scurrying about preparing for wintertime. There's still a lot of activity happening. The plants are putting out their last flowers and making seeds and fruits are getting ripe. And I'll say even in my own life, there's all of the preparation that we do for winter of getting firewood and harvesting the garden and preserving food and making sure our cars and everything else is ready for the oncoming winter. And I would say that their erratic quality can show up both in that action and buzz that's happening, but also because we're in this changing of seasons. We're going from the summer where the days are longer, the days are getting significantly shorter. At this time of year, I can really feel and see the difference in my body. And so there's like this little bit of the rhythm can get out of sync this time of year. It can become more erratic as we're adjusting to a different rhythm, a different pace of life, even going back to school for kids. And all of these things that happen in the fall. There's ways that we're adjusting to a new rhythm. So there can be a little bit of a discordant harmony in this time as we're adjusting and creating the rhythm of the next season. And then I would say that the second phase of vata season, which is early winter, is characterized by more cold and subtle properties. So especially here in northern New England, it gets very cold at that time of year. All the trees have lost their leaves. Everything is covered in snow. And there's this quietness. And it feels like there's more space. There's a more subtleness in that space. And so when I look at the bigger rhythms of the year and the seasons, the height of summer has a more staccato rhythm. There's more sound, less rest, less pauses. There's more activity to the rhythm. And the height of winter is more spacious in its rhythm. It's slower night is longer. There's more rest and longer pauses between activity. And so this season that we're in right now, this beginning of autumn, is this transition between those two things. Where spring, if you're in the Southern hemisphere, is also a transition. There's also vata dosha, even though it's more of a kapha season, it's more heavy and wet, there's still some vata there because it's still a transition. It's moving from winter to summer. And so I often talk about, in Ayurveda, how with our daily schedules, we try to eat meals and go to sleep and wake up at similar times each day. And just to get a little bit more specific about that for me, because I do feel very connected with the sun and these rhythms over the years, those times do change for me throughout the year. So in the summer, when the days are a lot longer, I do tend to eat dinner later. And I go to bed later than I do in the winter when it's dark at 4 and I'm eating dinner shortly after that and going to bed a lot earlier. And so even though I'm staying in a certain window with things, and then during the season I'm trying to have that routine and that rhythm of waking and sleeping and eating at similar times. There are these times of years where we kind of need to go with the transition and shift those things. And I know that not everyone's schedules can accommodate that. But if you can just notice if it's different for you and be okay with that difference, like if you are just more exhausted in the winter and need to go to bed earlier than you normally do, give yourself that. Know that that's a part of your body's wisdom. It's a part of the natural cycles of the seasons to sleep more in the winter, to have more rest. And that right now, in this transition season, it's a really great time to do a cleanse or a reset. And it's a way that we can reset our rhythms as the season changes. It could even be as simple as just being aware of it, noticing, when is it getting dark? Right now, if I want to start to go to bed a little bit earlier, when do I need to eat my last meal so that it's digested before I go to sleep? And even if you're just changing things by like, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, just noticing if those changes affect your digestion and your sleep and your energy and all of those things. And so one of the other things that Jocelyn Pepe talked about in last week's episode that really struck me that I've been thinking a lot about is this idea of turning habitual into ritual. And I think that one of the ways that we can create more rhythm in our lives is through these little rituals. And so I looked up the definition of ritual, because that's what I like to do. And there were so many different definitions and some disagreement and some controversy in what the actual definition is. And a lot of it referred to religious rituals, rituals or things that affect communities and bigger groups of people. And so I got a little bit lost in that rabbit hole for a minute. One of the definitions that I found was from Wikipedia, which says a ritual is a repeated structured sequence of actions or behaviors that alters the internal or external state of an individual, group, or environment, regardless of conscious understanding, emotional context, or symbolic meaning. I liked that definition. I liked the thing about altering the internal or external state, because I do think that's what differentiates ritual from habit, because habit might be doing the same thing. But there's sort of an autopilot kind of feel to it where with ritual, there's some way that we're becoming more present in what we're doing, and that creates this altered State, even if it's just very subtle, very slight, just noticing I'm taking a breath instead of just breathing, it creates a different energy to it. But I wasn't quite satisfied with these definitions, so I refined my search a bit and I looked up the definition of a personal ritual and this resonated much more with what I'm talking about here. So a personal ritual is a freely chosen, repeatable sequence of actions performed by an individual that holds personal significance and offers a sense of familiarity, control and meaning, often serving to reduce stress, regulate emotions and improve performance or well being. Unlike rote routines, personal rituals are performed with intention and mindfulness, creating positive psychological outcomes such as enhanced mood and heightened self awareness. And so yeah, that kind of just sums it up for me. And so we can use these rituals to ground ourselves into our rhythm. I see them as touch points that help us to become more present and alive in our daily rhythms. So examples of this could be if you do a morning practice, whether it's movement or yoga or meditation or journaling to this in itself can be a ritual. It can also just be a rote habit. So you can make this more of a ritual by creating a space for it in your home. If you have space, you could create a little altar or have a candle there that you light when you do your practice or burn a little incense. Or if you don't have the space, it could just mean rolling out your yoga mat and just pausing for a moment and taking a couple deep breaths and tuning into your body before you start. It can be as simple as that. You don't have to buy more stuff. You don't need to make it super elaborate. It's just a way that you are touching in with yourself and becoming present in what you're doing. Another example of ritual can be lighting a candle before you eat or before putting fresh flowers on your table, or like a beautiful centerpiece and taking a moment to admire them before you start eating or looking out the window for a moment. If you're eating areas near a window and just taking a moment to pause and notice what's around you, even just noticing your senses. What do I see right now? What do I smell? What do I feel? What do I taste and just feel Being really aware of these things as you start eating, that can make it more of a ritual instead of habit. Oh, also I guess around meals, another nice ritual could be either by yourself reciting a prayer or a grace or a poem, or if you're eating with other people, acknowledging something that you're grateful for before you start eating. There's so many little rituals that you can create with your family to mark these times and make them more alive. I feel like rituals are a way that we can anchor ourselves into what we're actually doing. I worked with someone recently who was a busy mom of a baby, and she incorporated a ritual cup of broth during her baby's morning nap where she would sit and breathe and be present while she drank her broth and felt nourished. And it was just a small thing. It's hard as parents. We're so, so busy. It's hard to add extra. But what are you already doing that you can make more of a ritual? Another ritual could be taking a moment outside in the morning to greet the sun and connect with nature before the busy swirl of morning activity. It could literally be 2 minutes, 30 seconds. It doesn't have to be long. It could be just a moment that you pause. And these rituals, when they're done regularly, they start to rewire our brains. So the more that you do these things, the more quickly your nervous system will regulate. The more quickly you'll feel more present, the more quickly the state of your consciousness will alter when you do these things consistently. I also think about these rituals as in music, the pauses, or the rest. These are small rests. They're small moments of the day where there's a rest in the activity of the day to become present. There are moments to remember that you are a human being and not a human doing. And it's really these pauses or rests that help to create that rhythm, that help to create the beauty of the song that is your life. I do have a couple resources in my show notes that can be helpful for this One is my Nourished for Resilience workbook, which has a self assessment tool to track the areas of your life where you're feeling nourished. But I think a lot of the things that I list are places in your life that you could create some ritual. And then I also have the weekend nervous system reset, which is really great for this time of year, Especially with vata dosha being so connected to the nervous system. It's a really great way to just take a day or a couple days to incorporate some of these rituals into your life and create a little reset and get your rhythms back into balance with you. And with this time of year, if you are in the southern hemisphere and it is becoming spring where you are, this is also a great time to do the weekend nervous system reset because you're in that opposite transition of going from the shorter days to the longer days. And you'll also need this moment of time to help your body reset to those rhythms. I think these ideas are foundational to the work that I do to Ayurveda, to Somatics, and I think it's foundational to nervous system health. We have so many ways throughout the day, especially with social media and all the things that are going on in the world that we get pulled into nervous system dysregulation. So having these rituals that help to bring us back into regulation can be so helpful, helpful for our minds. So in Ayurvedic thought, the mind is called manas. And manas has a lot of the same qualities as the wind as vata dosha. It's always moving and and it can easily get very erratic and very out of control. So creating this rhythm also helps to keep our minds in a rhythm. It helps to keep our minds more calm and more regulated and able to handle those little pings and stressors that come towards us throughout the course of our days. Okay, friend, I hope that this was helpful in some ways. I definitely am going to have more on this. I can even imagine some type of course, seasonal course where this would be sort of foundation of it. It's forming, it's in my brain space still. It's not out in the world yet. But I'm excited to delve more deeply into this topic and do more with it. Okay. If you are in midcoast Maine area, I'll be teaching this weekend at the Common Ground Fair on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 1pm at the Herb tent. So come check me out there. And so for your small step for this week, begin to notice your body's rhythm and notice the difference between rhythm and habit. Maybe it's a habit to go to bed at midnight, but really you're tired at like 9:30. So how can you tweak your habits to be more aligned with the actual rhythm of your body? It could be around food, exercise, sleep. There's so many different areas of our lives that we can tweak those small rhythms with some ritual and get more aligned with ourselves. Okay, my friend, have a wonderful week and I'll be back next week. Hey there. Thanks for listening. I really appreciate you. If you weren't listening, I'd be sitting in this room talking to myself and that could get kind of weird. So I really, really do appreciate you. If you can think of anybody else that might enjoy listening, please share. And if you share on social media. Please tag me. Nourished nervous system. Have a beautiful day.