Speaker 1 (00:09):
This recording is an offering of Networks for Training and Development's Online University.

Jessica Stover (00:20):
Hi, everyone. Welcome to Networks' Healing Circle call. My name's Jessica Stover, and I'm so delighted to be with you all today. So whether you're tuning in live, or listening later, thanks so much for joining in. So I wanted to start today with thinking about the fall and what it means. So here on the East Coast, we're right at the beginning of the leaves starting to change where I'm located. And it's getting crisper. Today we hit a high of about 54 degrees, so it's definitely that sweater weather.

(00:58):
But for some people, people long for summer, and they mourn the autumn when they watch the leaves fall, and they might amp up their workloads, might zip up their coats a little tighter and wait for the holidays. And the holidays can be hard too, so this can be a season that can be pretty tough as we move through each of the months. And for some, that prescription is, to get out of that funk, is a pumpkin spice latte, or a slice of apple pie. Do whatever you need to do, but there's some other ideas I'd like to present for you, 'cause there's some plus sides to the fall season, but it can be difficult to see sometimes when you're just not quite there yet.

(01:37):
So how do you tap into the positive feelings of fall when maybe it's not the easiest time of year? So I wanna present to you this idea, maybe a perspective shift. As you consider nature's rhythm, see if you can align your energy with the season. During fall, the weather chills, the trees begin to shed their leaves, hibernation and rest is what nature practices, and then spring arrives, all emerges brighter, bolder, and well-rested, so this can be a time of rest.

(02:13):
So to align yourself with the autumn rhythm, to best learn the lessons that fall brings, consider these questions. What, figuratively now, what leaves can you shed this season? In what ways can you plan to rest and reset? What are you clinging to that isn't serving you or isn't necessary in your life? In what ways can you slow down? What would you like your life to look like and feel like in six months? What do you need to learn, address, or resolve in order to get there? And what can you cultivate now so that you can emerge brighter and bolder in the spring?

(03:06):
Essentially, fall is your time to let go of the old and make way for the new. When you acknowledge its purpose, to invite you to shed this excess baggage, these excess leaves, if you will, the time of year can take on a new meaning. So I encourage you to go with it, and create the space in your life for some magic to unfold. Think about it as you could trim, cut, shed, snip, shape, chop, condense, pare, prune, digest, and tidy up. And once you've rid yourself of all that extra, you'll wonder why you've held on to it for so long. And you'll have the space you need to move forward in all the ways you've been hoping to.

(03:55):
So I wanna present to you this guided meditation to jumpstart your fall journey and face the season with a plan for maybe some personal growth. So wherever you're most comfortable, whether you're currently sitting, standing, laying down, get yourself into a space of comfort, and close your eyes if you can. I want you to focus on your breath, some deep inhales, and slow exhales, in and out through your nose. Inhaling deeply, exhaling slowly and deeply. Inhaling deeply, slowly exhaling deeply, in and out through your nose.

(04:44):
Set an intention for this meditation of letting go. So with your eyes closed or in your mind's eye, picture yourself as you are, whether it's on a chair, on a couch, on the floor. Visualize yourself at this very moment. Now, imagine that you get up and go out the door and down the street, and notice your pace and the direction that you're moving in. And as you're moving, you see a giant door in the middle of the street, and you're gonna walk through that door. And it takes you down a long hallway. You see a light at the end of it, and you walk toward it, steadily and with curiosity.

(05:33):
When you finally get to the opening, you step into a beautiful fall scene, a forest that's filled with red, gold, and rust-colored leaves. And you begin to go for a hike through that forest. You notice those trees all around you, the sounds of the leaves rustling and crinkling beneath your feet, a squirrel scurrying by. And as you're moving through on this trail in the forest, you're seeing it unfold, add some details as you go. What other animals do you see? You see any birds? You see a Cardinal perhaps? Might you see a deer? Maybe a rabbit? What do you hear? Is there a breeze? Do you hear the leaves rustling up in the trees that haven't yet let go of the branches? Do you hear the leaves rustling on the fo- forest floor? Do you hear the trees swaying gently in the breeze, branches maybe swaying against each other?

(06:49):
Imagine again the scene as it folds before you. Now, bring that focus back to yourself. How are you moving? What kind of mood are you in in the forest? Does it remind you of anything? You might now sit down under a tree and reflect on your life. Your mind might settle on someone or something in your life that you know deep in your heart may not be serving you well. It could be a relationship, an activity, a responsibility, or maybe a negative mood you've been feeling lately, and you know it's time for you and this situation, thing, idea, to go on your separate ways.

(07:36):
And so you get up and continue on your journey. And you notice the path runs along a river, and you follow that river upstream. And you're hearing the sound of the water flowing with strength. And as you get closer, you're seeing things up ahead. You're not sure what it is you're seeing, but it becomes clear that you're seeing this thing, the situation you need to r- release in your life. You wonder why it's there. Why is it in your life? And you make a decision to release yourself of it once and for all. You take this thing that you need to release and walk over to the water, and you take a deep breath, and gently offer it to the water, and watch it get carried away by the currents, gently moving away from you in the direction in your path.

(08:33):
And you watch it for a moment, and you feel a sense of calm wash over you. You look around with the sun shining strong, the birds singing in the distance, and that smell of fall around you. You feel the breeze against your face, and you hear the leaves rustling. And you decide to sit under a different tree, and you reflect on all the things that are now possible in your life without this thing weighing heavy on you. You breathe deep, feel at ease, and excited about the possibilities that lie ahead. And when you're ready, release that visualization, and take a few deep breaths, and come back to present.

(09:26):
Now, with this visualization, you can do this at any time, and that's the beauty of visualization. You can come back to it whenever you need. So I'm gonna encourage you to reflect on it, utilize it as you need, and then consider those leaves that are falling as things that you need to release and let go, because fall begins that cycle of winter, which moves to spring, so we're getting into the hibernation time. And we're getting into the time of hibernation, which turns into growth, so this is a time to release, and to take stock, and to let go of things that maybe aren't serving us. So I wanna encourage you to do that, and go back to it whenever you need to. If it's not now, maybe later on to revisit this, and revisit this idea of letting go.

(10:20):
So to wrap up our time, we're gonna do another quick guided meditation just from head to toe, and back up, to notice our bodies. So again, in your mind's eye, or if you can close your eyes in a comfortable position, feel your body where it is. Feel the air coming in and out of your lungs. Feel the rise and fall of your chest. Notice your breath. Again, this is about noticing. So we're noticing our breath, and we're f- noticing at the top of our heads, and we're working our way down to our neck and to our shoulders. We're dropping our shoulders. We're unclenching our jaw, and we're getting our tongues off the top of the roof of our mouth, and we're just dropping everything.

(11:17):
And we're noticing where our arms are, what they feel like. We're moving further down our torso, and further down, and we're feeling ourselves seated, or leaning against something, what that feels like against the back of our thighs or our back. And then we go down further with our knees. Where do they feel? What do they feel like? What do the muscles feel like in your thighs, in your knees, in your calves? Noticing that. If they're tense, to release them. We move back down to our feet a little further, our ankles, wiggling our toes, noticing what they feel like if we're barefooted, or in socks, sandals, sneakers, slippers, what have you. What do they feel like? Just noticing our body, coming into the present, being one with our bodies and one with our breath.

(12:16):
We're gonna sit with that for a moment, breathing in and out, feeling and noticing our breaths, and we're gonna work our way back up, noticing the muscles in our body, in our calves and knees, moving back up to our thighs, feeling what we may be sitting or leaning on, resting against. We're noticing the muscles in our back. We're feeling our body's position. We're noticing our arms, fingertips even. Start there, and up to our wrists and our elbows, moving up to our shoulders, again, making sure that we've dropped our shoulders.

(13:00):
Okay. We've unclenched our jaw. We're not holding our tongue on the roof of our mouth. We're moving further up. We're noticing our breath this whole time, and we move back to the top of our heads, and we're breathing in and out, noticing. And then as we're ready, we're opening our eyes and we're continuing to notice our bodies, and noticing our breath, and noticing where we are.

(13:35):
That was lovely. Thanks, everyone. Mm, I feel so much better. So, that's gonna wrap up our time together. As per usual, join us on the first Monday of every month. We have many years of our healing circles archived available as podcasts. You can find them through our website if you go to www.networksfortraining.org. You can find them there, and you can follow us on social media. We're on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, all that good stuff. If you have an idea for a healing circle, reach out. We'd love to hear from you. But again, thank you so much for joining in. This was absolutely lovely.

(14:24):
Autumn is honestly my favorite time of the year. For me, it's a time to recharge and maybe not hibernate per se, but I like being cozy in my sweaters, and drinking my hot chocolate, reading a good book. It's my favorite time of year. So whatever time of year is your favorite, lean into it. If autumn isn't yours, I hope you find pieces that are good for you, and that you can use the release of the leaves to maybe shed some things that are unwanted or not serving you anymore. Thanks so much, and we'll see you next month. Take care. Bye-bye.

Speaker 1 (15:14):
Thank you for listening. We hope the information provided was helpful. Don't forget to stop by our website and take advantage of all we have to offer. (singing)