Are you feeling autumn's winds of change? Last week's summer-like weather seemed to disappear overnight! Such abrupt change is a hallmark of both autumn and life.

Change can feel unsettling. Yet it promotes opportunities, which we can more readily see when we are experiencing expansiveness, creativity, and joy. Yoga practice is an amazingly effective way to experience these.

Other common aspects of autumn include allergies, colds, flu, and sinus congestion. Practicing yoga alleviates allergies, strengthens the immune system, and helps align the body with seasonal changes.

In fact, practicing yoga prior to developing symptoms helps prevent symptoms. Rather than waiting until catching a cold or flu to react, we can practice yoga as a proactive way of preventing or lessening colds and flu. Plus we get countless other benefits as we practice yoga, with none of the potential side effects of a shot or other medication.

These additional benefits include an enhanced ability to let go. Autumn is a time for us to release all that no longer is a part of us, much like the trees shedding their leaves. Yoga practice opens us up and gives us physical experiences of release that naturally carry over into intellectual and emotional release.

Autumn also is a time for harvesting summer's abundance and building supplies of nourishment in preparation for winter, as well as grounding and connecting to the earth in the midst of the season's winds. The enriching and grounding benefits of yoga practice serve us well at this time.

Going into the holiday season becomes stressful for many people. Yoga practice helps us experience expansiveness - including in relation to time. This decreases stress and gives us greater enjoyment of life. Paradoxically, spending time practicing yoga actually has a way of creating space in our schedules for everything that has real value. We find ourselves feeling as though we have more time than we did prior to prioritizing yoga.

Much more could be written, but the true benefit lies in the experience! We look forward to experiencing yoga together with you at the shala this autumn.