Letting Go and Looking within: what fall teaches us about healing
Estimated reading time 4 minutes | Song: Let Go and Let God by PJ Morton
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As the leaves turn, this season offers a powerful metaphor for letting go of what no longer serves us. This fall, the practice of brahmacharya is a strong one I am leaning on like never before, often reflecting and asking myself if whatever it is I am doing is the best use of my energy and time? Coddling folks feeling guilty for their counterparts supporting an oppressive dictator? Nope. Trying to convince others how Project 2025 is detrimental to anyone who is not at the top of dominant culture’s hierarchy? Hell NO! Reflecting on the stories we’ve been told, by others and those we’ve created for ourselves and the systems we’ve endured, coming together to reclaim our ancestral roots, reimagining the future for our families and communities is of the utmost importance.
The air is crisp, as if it has personally purged itself from the busyness and extra energy of summer. Leaves are being shed, changing colors and falling away. Spices are making their rounds back into meals of comfort and familiarity. These are just a few ways we can explore how the season is mirroring our own journeys.
“Only in America, and perhaps among people who believe that they are separate from nature, is hoarding resources seen as acceptable. In indigenous cultures, the Earth’s abundance is a communal blessing meant to be shared, not accumulated by individuals.”
Symbolism of Fall
Trees are great teachers and models for what it looks like to release and let go. More often than not trees have spent two full seasons with their leaves used to bring in what they need to breathe and release what does not serve its growth while putting out flowers, fruit and shade. But when the time comes, the trees have the practice of aparigraha (non-attachment) down. There is no struggle the tree has when it is time to let the stem of a leaf dry out and fall off the branch it once was connected to. In other words, there is no resistance to letting go. Living this human experience can be challenging in this way because in the words of Elder Malidoma Patrice Some, we have a tendency to hold on and hoard things. This includes people.
For me, this year I have had to grieve coming to terms with ending a friendship where I was only seen and valued for what I could do for someone and the value I could add to them. Where every opportunity for them to receive and benefit from my gifts, they would but when I needed to be paid for my value or honored for my time, it was typically dismissed. I’m a Taurus yall. You know that means (to some degree) we collect people, once we let people in our lives we want them to be there and a part forever. So I had to recognize this relationship for what it was AND not only cut ties with this relationship that has meant a lot to me but also allow myself the spaciousness to grieve what the relationship meant to me. If I am honest, I am still sitting with this grief although I knew it was coming. At the same time, I am also grateful for what the friendship meant to me for the period of time it was a part of my life. The laughter, the smiles, the revolutionary ideas and communal sharing, the times we broke bread together or walked into spaces and both had to name the things or ways dominant culture was showing up in those moments. I also have to recognize that what I am supposed to do in this life and those I am meant to be in relationship with will not have the space to find me or expand if I limit myself to this single friendship in the way it was unable or unwilling to engage in transformative justice or decolonization.
The Importance of Looking Within
Our ancestors embraced seasonal cycles by engaging in ceremony and ritual, whether this meant beating a drum for harvest, working together to gather the last harvest and prepare the land for winter or all the women gathering in the kitchen space or workshop to create medicine and remedies for the colder season. These rituals and practices not only grounded us to who we are but also reminded us in the process of crafting how to look within.
At the basis of yoga and meditation, the journey is to reconnect with our Self. Not the self society has created, labeled or defined for us. Not the identities that our physical bodies may place us in (disabled, bigger bodied, queer bodies, etc.) but the Self, our soul came to this experience to be. In slower practices (yoga nidra, restorative yoga, meditation), we have more opportunity to slow down and become introspective about who we are, much like the ways the natural world around us does the same.
Preparing for Renewal
When we are able to slow down and let go, we are able to find the space we need for renewal, much like when we clean out the fridge or a house, we don’t realize how much we have held onto or accumulated until we slow down long enough to posture ourselves to clean it all out. I don’t know about you but one of my favorite things to do is purge and let things go because I feel lighter and clearer on what is and is not for me. I even express gratitude for the moment those items were of use to me, whether it was an old narrative I told myself or an old sweater I used to love but now hasn’t seen the light beyond the back of my closet. I even find, when I have cleared or let things go, it shifts the energy in my space and I am able to rest deeper.
Let Go This Season
This fall, allow yourself to let go of what no longer serves you and create space for the healing and growth you deserve. Try out my class in The Village, it’s free and a yummy restorative yoga class for slowing down and letting go. After you finish the class, enjoy this playlist (link to playlist) and write down what you need or desire to let go of in these categories: Physically, Mentally, Spiritually, Financially. Look over the list and get as specific as you can about the details of what you can release. Then write what you want to add and give more life to those areas. If you need support with those questions, download this pdf (link to bio site)to support you.
Right Quick!
I know the holidays are around the corner for those that celebrate and for those that just enjoy being in shared space with family and friends. If this ritual in writing has benefitted you in any way, please consider donating to support me in getting home to Gabon in the spring for my tribal initiation. Any and every contribution helps me fund my flight, food and training in the lineage of my paternal ancestry and bring back with me the practices rituals and gifts of my tribe to our local community.