169 | Grounding Down: Finding Your Rhythm in Autumn's Embrace

Fall invites us to embrace seasonal living by slowing down, grounding ourselves, and nourishing our bodies with warming foods as nature transitions. The changing season offers a perfect opportunity to reflect on what serves us well and let go of what doesn't as we prepare for the busier holiday months ahead.

• Walking barefoot in nature reconnects our feet as sensory organs to the earth
• Spending time outdoors observing seasonal changes significantly reduces stress
• Creating small rituals like mindful tea breaks or candle lighting helps cultivate presence
• Eating seasonal root vegetables and warming foods supports nervous system health
• Honoring natural sleep rhythms by aligning with shorter daylight hours
• Moving through gentler activities like walking and stretching rather than intense exercise
• Recognizing that midlife represents our personal "fall season" requiring more nourishment

Join our FormFit community for more everyday tips on seasonal living and grounding practices. For those interested in seasonal living and cozy experiences, check out my other podcast "Novel and Nosh" where books and food come together.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Seasonal Living
• 3:00 Grounding Through Barefoot Connection
• 5:24 Nature's Calming Influence
• 8:30 Creating Mindful Rituals
• 10:33 Fall Nourishment and Warming Foods
• 14:00 Honoring Natural Rhythms and Rest
• 17:30 Moving With Intention This Season

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Welcome to Moving Through Midlife. Today, I want to talk about fall. If we think of health and wellness and how we want to move through this next phase of life, I truly feel like seasonal living is the way we must go. When we think of fall, we think of letting go of things that aren't serving us and grounding down, making sure that we're eating nourishing foods. Making sure that we're eating nourishing foods All of these things help us to find our rhythm this fall. This is a time to slow down and reflect on how summer was, or even how the first half of the year was, and what served you well and what would you like to continue over the next few months, as life begins to get busier and get rid of the things that no longer serve you. And it's important to understand that as we move towards the holidays, life is going to get busier and more hectic, yet our body is designed, through seasonal living, to start slowing down, so making sure that we are creating space for that in our life on the daily, to ensure that we don't get overrun and burnt out. This is a time for you to explore, experiment and discover what nourishes you. Don't think about it as rules or programs. Fall is a season of transition, a chance to slow down, to notice how your body and mind feel and to reconnect with simple pleasures that bring calm and joy. This month, we're exploring ways to ground ourselves, nourish our bodies and find our rhythm as the days get cooler and the world slows down. Cooler and the world slows down. If you want to join us, make sure to head over to our FormFit community. I believe it's Move Better, feel Better. I will have a link in the show notes. This is where you're going to get more everyday type information about grounding down, and today is more about things that you can do this season to help.

Speaker 1: 2:52

When we think of grounding, many of us are going to think of similar things. The first thing is getting our feet on the ground, and I have had many episodes where I talk about the feet. The feet are a sensory organ. They tell your body where it is in space. They tell your body how to move through different areas, and because we wear shoes, we have created a disconnect for our body, so our body does not know how it should move over different surfaces If you were to get barefoot and any of you who do, especially those of us who have had children, young boys, with Legos, you're going to understand the sensory element that your feet provide.

Speaker 1: 3:47

So one thing that you can do is practice walking barefoot a little bit, and I would prefer you do this out in nature, just because our tile floors are very hard on our feet. So when we talk about barefoot moving, we have to understand that a lot of the textures and flooring in our house are not natural, so it creates a strain for our feet. So if you are going to do that, if you're new to this experience of walking around barefoot, just make sure you do it for a very limited period of time in the beginning. Getting outside and walking around a little bit barefoot is a great sensory experience for you in your body and helps you to ground to the earth. Obviously, make sure that you're doing it in a safe way and you know. Just notice how you feel when you do that. And it is so simple to do. You can just go out there first thing in the morning or mid-afternoon or in the evening, it doesn't matter. When you practice this, it's just making sure that you go out, you allow your feet to be in the sand, the soil, anything like that, so you can feel that sensation.

Speaker 1: 5:18

The other thing that you can do for grounding is spend time in nature and observe the seasonal changes. If you are here locally to me, or if you happen to be in another tropical area, there are very little changes that occur, so you have to really start to look for them. It was beautiful this morning If you are around me, you know this. It was like 77 degrees here. I'm sure all of you that live up north you get to experience a beautiful fall and you know these are things that we need to really enjoy and savor. The other thing that spending time in nature does is it decreases stress. So, making sure that you are taking a few minutes to go out into the environment that you enjoy and take deep, calming breaths.

Speaker 1: 6:20

Find also ways that you can take what you love from wherever you are in nature and how can you bring it into your household. You know, maybe it's a few dry leaves that you bring into your house, maybe it's a seashell if you live by the ocean, or a rock. Maybe those little things can provide you that sensory experience that you're looking for. You can even mimic some of these nature things. I will let you know that.

Speaker 1: 6:56

Obviously, getting out in nature is the best thing you can do, but then you can also mimic nature at home with maybe some of the music you listen to. There are some great apps out there and, honestly, youtube has a lot of stuff as well that's free, where you can watch the waves rolling in from the ocean. You know, like there are different I can't think of the word you know like there are different uh, can't think of the word right now but there are different atmospheric ASMR that's the word I've been trying or the thing that I have been trying to think of ASMR videos that you can watch and listen to. That will help you feel like you are in nature and that there also has been studies that confirm that if you just look at a picture of nature, it can significantly improve your mood, reduce stress and restore attention. So even doing something like putting up a beautiful picture of nature in your home to help mimic that, like I said before, one of the best things you can do is get out in nature, but if you are in an area where nature may not like a more of an urban area, there are still opportunities that you can do to create nature in your home.

Speaker 1: 8:25

The other thing that will help ground you is creating short little rituals like mindful tea, taking a moment to breathe, taking deep cleansing breaths, journaling or even just lighting a candle. All of these little things that we do can create a moment of being present, can create a moment of being present and this is something so many of us struggle with in the world we live in today, because it is so fast paced and we are doing or listening to a lot of things at once. So you might be like right now listening to a podcast while you're doing something else. So it takes away the moment of presence and it is imperative that we get back to presence within ourselves to help ground us. And, on a side note, just because this is kind of where I'm moving in my seasonal, is kind of where I'm moving in my seasonal, in my moving through midlife, so to speak, is I'm learning that I am ready to move into a different aspect of myself. So if you are really into the seasonal living and you like where I talk about the rituals of mindfulness, journaling, candlelight, those types of things, I want to let you know on a side note, that I do have another podcast, it's called Novel and Nosh. I will put a link in the show notes. Yes, it is where books and food come together, but it's more than that. It is seasonal living and cozy experiences and it will always hearken back, because I myself have created this. It will always hearken back to movement and health and wellness as well, just because it is a part of me. But if you're interested, you can listen to that as well. Okay, so back to seasonal living and grounding down.

Speaker 1: 10:29

The other thing that I mentioned with fall is nourishment. Right, we want to make sure that we are eating foods for our health and if you think about fall, what are the foods? You want to look at the foods that become seasonal, seasonal. So your, your squashes, your heartier foods, your potatoes, all your like foods that are in the ground. I mean, what's more grounding than pulling the foods from the ground? The potatoes, the carrots, the beets, the onions, all of these things are in the ground. And then your squashes and your acorn squashes, all of the squashes, butternut, all of them, pumpkin, all of those things are great for nourishment.

Speaker 1: 11:18

One thing that I am doing to add in one cozy aspects, calming aspects, is drinking tea. I got a, I don't even know it's like a harvest tea. I can't think of what it is, but there's all different flavors in them, you know, like a pumpkin spice, a pumpkin chile, an apple cider, all of these things that kind of helped nourish me in the way of hydration rather than just drinking plain water. I'm drinking nice warming teas, all of these things, along with warming foods. The foods that you eat are more nourishing, heartier, to get you ready for fall, making sure that you know, while you're nourishing yourself.

Speaker 1: 12:10

You've heard me say this if you've listened to any of my other podcasts, episodes where really savoring meals, sitting down, do not worry about the you know the gruels or don't feel guilt for what you are eating. Sit down, enjoy the moment, savor the food, because if you deal with guilt around the food that you eat, your body absorbs that guilt and it's been shown that you end up having effects that can decrease your metabolism and increase the caloric intake because of that negative feeling that you have around the food you are eating. And it's important to connect to our food for comfort, warmth and nervous system support. I am definitely leaning more into supporting your nervous system and during this time of year, the things that nourish our nervous system are warming soups, more comforting foods that is all going to help. More comforting foods that is all going to help. So I would encourage you to try some simple fall recipes or tea ritual and notice how it makes you feel and feel free to share in our community as well. Over the next few weeks, you're going to see me posting, and my goal is always to build a community first, so please don't be afraid to share your thoughts and ideas surrounding some of these things and sharing what you're doing. I think we all can learn from one another and be a part of each other's journey to help us move through midlife better.

Speaker 1: 14:00

In regards to the daily rituals and rhythms that we should be practicing in the fall is, you know, notice the light. We have less long days, so it is going to probably mean that you will start to sleep longer. This is a nature thing, so don't feel like you're getting lazy. I have noticed people I talk to. They're like oh my gosh, I wasn't able to get out of bed this morning. I'm feeling so tired. No, this is your body's natural way of trying to get you to sleep a little bit longer during this time of year, so lean into that. It may mean that, yes, if you have a specific time you have to get up in the morning because you have either children that have to get to school or you have to get to a job, then maybe what it's going to mean is you go to bed a little bit earlier in the evening. Our bodies are designed to work with the sun and the moon, and when the moon comes out we are designed to go to sleep, so this may mean that we don't run ourselves quite as late in the evening in the fall and winter. And, as always, if you're struggling with sleep, making sure that as soon as you wake up in the morning, you get outside to get that morning light exposure Over time you are going to notice how this helps you get a better night's sleep and it will make you more tired because it gets that circadian rhythm going so that your melatonin naturally starts to come up. That's a hormone starts to come up. That's a hormone Starts to come up as the evening starts to progress. All of these things will help you to really start to feel better about yourself through this phase of life.

Speaker 1: 15:59

You know our body. If you think of the woman, cyclically we are. If you are in midlife. You are in the fall phase of your life as well, so it is time to nourish your body more rather than beat it up. We are no longer in those summer years. We need to be way more kind than what we have been in the past, and this is where I would recommend for your movement stretching, walking, spending a lot more time outdoors, not structured exercise. You can still do structured exercise if you want, but if you don't enjoy that, do not feel pressured to do that. Do things a little bit different. It doesn't mean getting rid of it altogether. It means finding different ways to move, and that is one thing that I will continue to say. Movement is not exercise. There are things you need to do. Yes, you do need to strengthen your body. Yes, you do need to get your heart rate up, but it does not mean that we need to be doing it day in and day out. We can find small, small nourishing movements each and every day that will help us live a healthy, happy life. So I ask that you join me. Think about the things that I talked about, test a few things out, reach out to me if you have questions. Head to movingthroughmidlifecom. You can jump on the newsletter.

Speaker 1: 17:42

Like I have mentioned before, our world is a very noisy place and I am no longer creating weekly podcasts just to create a weekly podcast for the algorithm. I am living in a more nourishing design for myself and honoring what I feel for myself, for you all and you know. Obviously, as a person who's moving more into seasonal living, I feel like I want to communicate to you all this episode because I do want you to start slowing down and not being so hard on yourself, and part of that is not constantly having something on the outside telling you what to do, so more you trying things out and moving within that. So ultimately, what I'm trying to say is you won't get weekly podcasts from me all the time. Sometimes I might be in a situation where I want to do that and you will, but if you want to stay in communication with me, two ways to do it is to jump on my email list, because I am still sending out pretty much weekly or bi-weekly emails, and jump in the Facebook group, because I do post there. You will see my natural rhythms, because I think last week I was on there like four times in one week, like just constantly doing little quick videos for you.

Speaker 1: 19:22

And then the weight of the world got too heavy in the past couple of days and I've been off completely and that's just kind of you know, for me personally. That's what I'm leaning into and I would encourage you to do the same Lean into what feels right for you. Right now. Fall is a season to notice, experiment and reconnect. There is no perfect way, just your way. It's time for us to move through it with curiosity, joy and grounding in the little things that make life feel richer.