Mindful Transitions and the Art of Savoring
Oh, the end of summer. It’s beautifully bittersweet in my opinion because I adore the hot weather, bright sunshine and all the lighthearted feels that pair with this season. As someone who loves to people watch, I’ve observed that around this time of year, people tend to do one of a few things: (1) freak out that it’s suddenly almost September and cram in the “last” of their summer activities they didn’t get to do earlier (2) jump start everything they need to for what’s coming in their fall timeline (school, work, and the like) or (3) they slow waaay down to reflect on their summer and savor it before the transition to fall. Being that I’ve never really been the kind of person who likes to cram things in or get too ahead of myself, I tend to fall into the last category most of the time. It’s just my nature tbh.
Especially in recent months, I have been intentionally practicing the art of savoring to help my brain make positive new neural connections and to be truly present with myself and my world. I see savoring as a form of meditation - allowing embodied awareness of what’s happening right now. To me, savoring is relishing in a moment or thing, taking in every last bit of physical, emotional, energetic and mental information about my current experience and doing my best to enjoy whatever I notice; really immersing myself in it before moving on. After more than a year and a half of the COVID-craziness that we’ve had, I believe we have to take time to relearn what savoring means to each of us. Change has been so quick, constant and intense that I honestly felt like I had emotional and mental whiplash on a daily basis since NYC locked down last March. Right now, I’m really enjoying this conscious exercise and watching how it impacts my perspective, psyche and well-being, as well as my movement practice.
It’s incredibly hard to savor the “good” stuff, even if it’s something you love, be it some delicious salted almond dark chocolate (which I’m totally not eating as I write this ;), a satisfying binge watch of a favorite show (arguably, TV-watching can be mindful if you’re aware of how you’re watching) or a big bear hug from your bff. These heartfelt moments tend to happen in the blink of an eye (yes, even your 10 hours of Netflix) and we quickly move on to the next thing, food, activity, person, conversation, etc. Our modern lifestyle has conditioned us to move at lightning speed and our human brains are hard-wired to look for and latch on to the “bad” stuff. The latter is largely just our biological way. It was hard enough to nurture that way when we didn’t live in a sped-up digital society like we do now, so we must intentionally look for ways to appreciate what our hearts connect to, pause and revel in it.
Can we live life almost in slow motion as if we landed on earth for the first time and let our senses and feelings illuminate our experience? Allowing your fingers to map the varied smooth and bumpy texture of a salted almond dark chocolate bar. Listening to the crinkle of foil and paper as you unwrap your coveted sweet. Inhaling the bitter, yet sweet aroma of dark cacao in anticipation of the flavor hitting your tastebuds. Noticing the texture of the chocolate melt on your tongue, the pool of flavor liquidating in the warmth of your mouth. Letting yourself indulge in the satisfaction of eating something you love. Staying in the feeling of delight and warm fuzzies once your treat dissipates in flavor. The practice of conscious savoring reminded me that being utterly present in the moment helps us make a thoughtful transition to our next moment or thing, while being grounded by what just was.
If you’ve practiced yoga with me over the last month or so, you know we've been focusing a lot on leg and lower body strength. This body focus is a simple, tangible thread that helps lead into how we can translate that strong and grounded physical essence to the more subtle layers of ourselves. In yoga, we tend to start with the gross and move to the subtle (Patanjali’s 8 limb path is a great example of these concentric layers of going inward). We practice so our bodies, breath and mind can connect to more and more nuanced sensations, in order to keep staying curious, in the present moment and perhaps attain enlightenment (one day after all this practice - fingers crossed). When that sweet Savasana comes, we surrender to the work we’ve done and savor taking it all in during that well-deserved rest.
I realized just how tied together this past month’s yoga focus has been to my savoring practice when I sat down to write this blog post. By appreciating the details of how my feet ground into the floor and focusing on the sensation of strength in my quads, hamstrings and outer hip stabilizers lighting up as I rise out of Chair Pose to Warrior 3, I feel that my transitions from shape to shape have felt more mindful and solid. Similarly to my yoga practice on the mat, from practicing savoring, I can see that my approach to this fall is more thoughtful in terms of what I want to invite in my personal life and what I wish to leave out as I evolve into another season. By taking time to acknowledge and discern my senses and feelings with more clarity and detail on daily small stuff like dark chocolate, I can apply that same presence and awareness to the bigger picture of my life. Does that mean everything is as I want it to be in my life? Oh, hell no. Far from it. BUT, the elements that I’m carrying forward and what I want to focus on are bright and fresh, and more importantly, aligned, relevant, supportive and honest.
To be fair to us all, the ability to savor anything was truly a challenge over the last year so I share all of this post with genuine compassion in recognizing where we have all been. But, as we start heading into Vata season next month, I invite you to join me in savoring these remaining lazy summer days, whatever they may be or hold for you. Start with whatever’s right in front of you and don’t worry about getting it “right” with what you wish to luxuriate in. Remember, there’s only what’s right for you. Try to immerse as much as possible in that split second of now. Allow your senses and breath to take it all in and marinate on the feels. Let what you notice embed its memory in your body and mind so that when you decide to make your transition to your next (yoga pose, season, job, relationship, whatever), you can draw on these learnings and experiences and wholly move forward in a more grounded, mindful and aligned way.