Seasonal Yoga aims to incorporate the energy of the current season into your yoga practice. Practicing seasonal yoga is an opportunity to ensure your practice remains rooted in the spiritual benefits of yoga. It is an excellent way to remember that yoga is as much a work-in as it is a workout.
If you practice yoga regularly, you likely have a framework that you build your practice around. For instance, your framework may be setting an intention or mantra at the beginning of your session, building your postures around the Sun Salutations, or always ending with Savasana.
Think of your framework as the foundation of your practice, while the incorporation of seasonal principles is like the holiday decor of your yoga. In addition to mirroring the energy of the season through your postures, each of the four seasons offers different themes to meditate and reflect upon during your flow.
Winter
While Winter is the darkest time of the year, it welcomes time to rest, or hibernate as many creatures do in preparation for what’s to come in the Spring. Energy is sinking during the Winter months, so you may think of sinking or relaxing into your postures for longer holds. Winterise your yoga practice with Yin Yoga, which focuses on restorative postures, such as Pigeon Pose or Eka Pada Rajakapotasana, and Child’s Pose or Balasana. Long meditative Savasanas and Yoga Nidra sessions are also perfect for the Winter months. If you find yourself wanting a boost of energy, throw in several Warriors, reminding yourself how strong and brave you are to face the Winter.
Read more: 5 Tips to Improve Your Winter Yoga Practice
Spring
Spring represents fresh beginnings and brings with it the opportunity to plant new seeds. The energy of Springtime is rising and growing and can be utilised in your yoga practice by bringing more warmth into your flow. Build heat within the body through Sun Salutations and long holds in postures that require your mental and physical strength, like Chair Pose or Utkatasana and Bridge Pose or Setu Bandha Sarvangasana. Imagine yourself rising out of your postures, blooming, and moving out of the darkness and into the light.
Read more: How To Reconnect With Nature Through Your Yoga Practise This Spring
Summer
While the first day of Summer is the longest day of sunshine, the days begin to shorten after that. Because of this, Summer energy is active and dispersing yet centering and grounding. This means that you can incorporate Summer energy into your practice through active flows, such as with Vinyasa yoga, where there is a constant wave of movement linked to your breathing, and grounding postures, such as Tree Pose or Vrikshasana. As you flow through your Summer practice, concentrate on planting yourself into the ground, making a point to center yourself in each posture before moving on to the next one.
Read more: A Summer Yoga Practise for The Garden
Autumn
Autumnal energy is consolidating, as Autumn is the time to be grateful for the harvest that prepares us for the Winter ahead. You could think of yourself coming full circle during the Fall and incorporate this into your yoga with a practice that is well-rounded and balanced. There also may be no better time of year than to acknowledge change than during the changing of the leaves. During the Fall, your yoga should be a transition between the high-activity Vinyasa flows of Summer and the restorative Yin sessions to come in the Winter, by embodying a balance of the two. A Vin and Yin Yoga practice that begins with lots of motion and ends with deeper holds is a great fit for Fall.
Read more: 5 Yoga Poses to Find Your Balance This Autumn Equinox
Learning How to be Present and Recognise Change with Seasonal Yoga
If you struggle with remaining present, then practicing Seasonal Yoga can teach you how to exist in the moment. While we often fear and resist changes, consistently acknowledging the beauty of each season will help you appreciate the impermanence of our environments and life itself. Respecting change as a rule of life can also help us to be more flexible with ourselves, honouring exactly where we are in the seasons of our life when we come to meet ourselves on the mat.
