I’ve previously struggled with SAD (meanest name ever btw!) and fall has a way to shutting us in. I’ve learned and developed techniques to make it easier to adjust to fall and prepare for winter. What helps you through seasonal changes?
Bri greets viewers, explains she's passionate about wellness and nature, and sets up the topic of working with autumn energy, noting that fall is both beloved and challenging. She previews that she'll share a personal story and practical tips for the transition.
Bri describes how reduced light and low vitamin D made fall difficult for her during adolescence and explains that she implemented strategies which helped. This chapter establishes credibility and encourages viewers that change is possible with small interventions.
She outlines challenges of living in the northern hemisphere—less sun, cold, wind and clouds—and introduces light therapy as a helpful tool. The segment explains how morning light supports sleep, alertness, and homeostasis.
Bri recommends vitamin D consultation, moisturizing with oil or lotion to counteract dryness, and drinking warm water to support digestion and cellular hydration. She emphasizes warm, moist, and grounding practices to balance fall's dry, stimulating energy.
Using the Vata (air/ether) concept, Bri likens fall's scattered energy to the invisible internet and urges reducing overstimulation. She suggests adapting to the season by using fall to establish routines, cook warming foods like stews, and eat seasonally for grounding.
Bri acknowledges that seasonal routines take time and recommends socializing, finding engaging books or hobbies, and learning new things rather than doomscrolling. This chapter offers practical lifestyle ideas to maintain mental health during fall.
She invites viewers to share how they incorporate fall practices, promises a winter follow-up, and reminds everyone to stay warm, hydrated, and active with walks to enjoy foliage. The closing reinforces movement, circulation, and self-care.
Hey, Happy Friday, Cadre. It's Bri, your wellness, nature, and energetic enthusiast. I am excited to talk about autumn today and fall. It is one of my favorite seasons. It's also one of the hardest seasons. Spring and fall are seasons of change and transition. It can be hard on our bodies. It can be hard on our mental state. It can be hard with other things that are going on in our life. And so I'd love to share a little story and discuss some tips on how to help navigate this transition. I know when I was a teenager it was always really hard for me to adapt to the lack of light or just going to school.
At the time I thought it was just going to school. I did not like school at all. I love to learn but I hate being told what to learn and so I very much struggled with that and forever I just thought it was because I hated school so much. And then as time went on, it was actually because it was fall and I started getting less light and my vitamin D levels were really low. And there were a lot of things that factored into it aside from my lack of preference for school at the time. So I took steps to mitigate the downward slope and It has helped.
I still have a lot of these techniques in place and I know that a lot of people suffer from it. It's really hard living in the northern hemisphere and not only is it lack of light, but it's cold, it's windy, it's cloudy. Sometimes we don't see the sun for a really long time and that can be really hard. So A few things that I do that has helped me a lot is getting a light. It can be really any light. It doesn't have to be a specific one. Like I use this guy in the morning for a few hours just to help.
It helps with your circadian rhythm as well, just to get you awake and alert in the morning so that you can have regular sleep and routine and assist with your body's homeostasis. Secondly, Vitamin D is really I'm not a nutritionist. I'm not telling you what to take or what to do blah blah blah I'm just saying vitamin D helps when it is dark outside and we're going into winter Our levels can drop because we're not getting any Sun. So just a thought you might want to consider to consult with your doctor Fall let's talk about the energy of fall it is Vada season which in Ayurveda is air ether And that means it's dry.
You might have dry throat, dry nose, your skin might be dry. And it's a great practice to use oil or lotion to help moisturize your skin as well as your body. So oil or lotion for the body and water for the digestive system and your cellular health hydration. Warm water is better, not hot, but warm is better, especially during this transition into winter. I mean, I pretty much drink warm water from fall to spring, into spring. And then once it starts to get to spring, I go to room temperature water.
And I know it's not fun in the beginning, but I promise it will help. It will help everything move and flow. So think like warm, moisture, and grounding because the air and Vada energy is very mentally stimulating. So think of Vada as, I think of it as the internet. It is the internet, to be honest. Perfect thing. It's going around, you know, Wi-Fi, you can't see it, but it's there. And it's important to make sure that we are counteracting all of this consumption anytime, but most of all in Vada season because it's extra like at you, at you.
And then you're more likely to continue to think about it over and over again. So that's just something to consider because we are energetic beings and spiritual beings living in a human body and having an experience. And When we can understand what our body is trying to tell us and move through the change of seasons by living within the seasonal means, we are going to thrive. right? We can't, if you're in winter and you're like, I just want it to be summer, you will suffer. If you're in fall and you're just like, I hate fall, you will suffer.
But if you're like, I'm going to use fall to grow, I'm going to use it to reestablish my moisturizing routine. I'm going to use it to eat more potatoes again. to cook more soups and stews. And there's a different way that we can think about it so that we're working with the energy, we're working with what nature is giving us. We are cyclic and one of the best things that I've done for my diet and my mental health and just overall wellbeing is eating seasonally. Whatever the fruits and vegetables that are natural to that season, is like, I can't get it in my diet.
Give me more. Let me make what I can with this seasonal spread. So I encourage you to just Google, look up what veggies and fruits are in season for this season in your state. And you'll find, and also they're better. They're like, they taste so much better in the supermarket. versus if you got something that was out of season. So it's also just because they taste better. I'm going to be transparent about that. But it's very grounding to eat with the season and we're flowing with nature and then that way nature can help us flow with it.
And it's something that takes time and it took me a really long time to develop my like seasonal routines. Because we're always changing, life is always changing, and then the seasons are always changing. So it's like, it's a lot. We're change management humans by nature. And the more we can dive into that, the more at ease our body can be because we're knowing what it means at this particular time. Just like how when you age, you know you got to do certain things, right? Same thing with the season.
When it's fall, you know you need to moisturize more, you need to drink more water, you need to feel your bones more. and get more out of your head. And it's also a good social season too. So I highly recommend going out, socializing, find a good book, stimulate your mind in really healthy ways so that you're not just doom scrolling through all the addictive algorithmic madness that sometimes can happen. Find what you like and follow it. Go with it. Learn something new. And I would love to hear what you learned and what you're doing to incorporate the fall season in your home, in your physical home, in your temple home as your body.
And hopefully it goes well for you and you feel like you're in line with nature. So I'll do another one in winter, of course. But for now, I hope you have a great rest of your day. And I hope you stay warm and you stay hydrated and you get some movement. Movement is really good to help circulate Vada. Vada is circulation and movement energy. So I hope you can get out, get some walks and look at the beautiful foliage if you have it near you and go enjoy yourself. So have a great weekend, everyone.
Thanks so much.
