Earth Rhythms
What are Earth Rhythms?
Theses are the Daily, Lunar and Seasonal rhythms of Nature. These rhythms are a part of the ebb and flow of life, and our bodies respond to them. No matter what the patterns of light, dark or seasonal changes of a region, until recent times humans have lived in harmony with those cycles where they live. The lives of plants and animals also respond to those cycles, and we are connected to both of those for our food and well being.
I'll focus on the Earth Rhythms that are familiar to me, that arise from the temperate zone of North America. Re-connection to the natural world can begin with attuning to Earth's Rhythms.
Why do they matter?
When we disconnect from them, it weakens us. The waxing and waning of daylight, lunar light and the seasons form dependable cycles that balance activity with rest, doing with being, expenditure with renewal. When we are out of phase with those cycles, we fall into patterns of anxiety, tension and dis-ease.
Would you rather race through a life that becomes a blur; or pause to reflect, savor and be in life? Attuning to Earth Rhythms helps us to slow the pace, allowing us to integrate with our inner spirit and the living planet; and affords us an opportunity to savor what has meaning for us.
How do they affect our health?
Our bodies evolved within these rhythms, and various hormonal and metabolic processes are triggered by them. When we ignore or fight these triggers, or are forced to live opposite to these cycles, most people suffer adverse impacts on their health.
One example of this is the rhythm of sleep. During the day, if our hormones and neurotransmitters are in balance, we are active and have plenty of energy. Our melatonin levels are lower, and cortisol higher. By late afternoon, as the light wanes, those amounts are reversing as the body prepares for sleep. Melatonin also responds to the lunar cycle and the seasons — we generally make less during the full moon, and summer. There are other examples as well; the body is finely attuned to the rhythms of life around us.
The harmonic aspect of these cycles where regeneration takes place: Sleep, Winter Rest, and the New Moon, have been hijacked by our culture, and that is no accident.
Tuning in to the daily, lunar and seasonal rhythms allows time for renewal and repair amid the busyness of life, and can help us reclaim our own inner healing rhythms. It can deepen our connection both to the earth we live on and our own spirits. This fosters health at every level: Physical, emotional, mental, energetic and spiritual.
What do they have to do with Herbs?
Attuning to Earth Rhythms is an often overlooked aspect of Lifestyle Medicine that forms a matrix for working with herbs. The lives of plants are tied to the moon and seasons, certainly; but as you come into alignment with earth's rhythms, you participate in a deeper medicine — the medicine of Earth, Sun, Moon and Seasons that the herbs are also attuned to. When you set your intention to enter into these rhythms and embed your life into them, herbs are reliable allies that can help us return to them, and settle there, even against the backdrop of changing stressors.
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For example as mentioned above, when the diurnal rhythm of sleep is disordered, it impacts everything else in the body.
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Herbs can play a large role in helping to re-establish a normal sleep cycle.
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We can use them, too, to foster an awareness of the the subtle ebb and flow as the moon wanes and waxes
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We turn to them for health, comfort and support as the seasons change and our immune systems are challenged.
In the interconnected flows of Nature
our Allies work is enhanced when we are aligned with the rhythms of the planet we evolved on.
