I love autumn! Andthe beginning of a new season offers a beautiful opportunity to be present with changes in nature – the air, the temperature, the smells, colours – all begin to shift and mutate. And in response, our bodies start to feel different as well.
Attuning to autumn, for me, is very much about colour and watching the change in plants, flowers and fruits. April in New Zealand is my favourite month for three reasons in particular – lavender is still flowering, feijoas are starting to drop, and the walnut tree outside my art studio is starting to bear fruit. In Australia, which is where I am currently, we get these beautiful pink skies in March and a new freshness in the air that tickles your skin and makes you reach for a scarf.
What is Mindful Creativity?
Hello, my name’s Jordan. Mindful Creativity is a great way to relax, unwind and enjoy creativity to enhance our sense of wellness. If you’re looking for a way to connect with your inner voice as you develop your own personal creative practice, it might be just the thing for you.
My Mindful Creativity blog, resources and tools provides ways for you to deepen into a more nourishing creative practice!
Engaging with Autumn through Colour and Texture
The first step I take when it comes to attuning to a new season is to get out with my phone camera.
I take huge delight in the process of touching plants and soil, lifting up flowers to smell them and capture them on camera, breathing in the air and feeling the difference in temperature on my skin. I find the physicality of this sensory experience very grounding and life-affirming.
A secondary step is to create an image gallery, or a mood board, of the visual elements I’m enjoying. This can be done through collage, and Pinterest is a good option as well.
I find that it’s a great way to collect creative inspiration as well as wellbeing inspiration – getting in touch with all of the ways that a shift in the seasons can affect us. This, to me, is key to the practice of Mindful Creativity – being present, imaginative and intentional wherever we find ourselves.
It’s about using creative techniques and activities to enhance our sense of connectedness and wellbeing – and what better way than to connect with nature and be present as she transitions from one season to the next.
Creative Visualisation – a great tool to to connect with the colours of the incoming season!
If you haven’t yet read my blog post on creative visualisation and why it’s good for you, there’s no time like the present! And if you are interested in trying a guided ocean meditation, go here. Once you’ve checked both of those out, remember to circle back so we can take this wonderful process for a spin as we attune ourselves to autumn!
Creative visualisation in art sees us connecting many different parts of ourselves – activating our breath, our imagination, our mind’s eye, our heart and our hands! We can also use the process to work with our own energy field. If you’re keen to know the definition of this field, this paper describes it as ‘a luminous field of energy that comprises a person, extends beyond the physical body, and is in a continuous mutual process with the environmental energy field.’
Part of taking time to be in the moment is being as fully present in our physical and energetic bodies as possible, as well as the spaces we inhabit. And intentionally making those spaces clean, clear and energised, to allow great things to happen.
In this visualisation exercise, we’re going to explore another use of colour to enhance our sense of wellbeing. We’ll be using it to wash, cleanse and detoxify our energy fields, and set the scene for a gorgeous and multi-level transition of the seasons. So, without further ado, let’s get started! This is a guided meditation for you to read and follow in a way that works for you. And stay tuned for the guided audio meditation – coming in a few weeks!
A colour cleansing visualisation to welcome autumn!
A quick note here – I’ve already gone ahead and done an autumn-inspired Pinterest board, which I’ve linked to below. I found this helpful to do first, to connect with the kind of autumnal colours that really resonated with me. And you might like to do the same – mostly because it’s really individual – and interesting! I found that I was resonating with a different range of colours than I had first imagined I would – focusing on oatmeal, natural fibres and very pale pinks. Perhaps it’s because we are really just at the beginning of the season. The deeper browns and rusts that I had expected to resonate didn’t – but perhaps they will in a few months’ time! You can find the link to my Pinterest board at the bottom of the page – please check it out and connect with me on Pinterest while you’re there!
OK, so if you’re ready;
Find yourself a quiet space. Close the door, turn off your devices and give yourself the gift of uninterrupted time! Another alternative is to do this when you are in bed at night and preparing for sleep. I really enjoy doing this visualisation in the dark, as I lay snug under the covers. For me, this is the time that this kind of restorative visualisation has the chance to do its best work – kind of like a shower or bath and washing your hair and enjoying how nice it feels. But cleansing and clearing your energy instead.
- Lay down. Close your eyes. Enjoy some deep, cleansing breaths.
- Connect with your energetic field; this is your energy both within you and radiating out from you.
- Imagine that you are sliding into a sleeping bag – a big one that loosely wraps around this energy field and holds you snug. It’s not your usual sleeping bag, as it’s large enough to envelop not just your body, but your energy field as well. And it has a hood! So, it doesn’t just come up to your neck, but envelopes your whole body; like a very light, gentle, protective cocoon.
- This cocoon is safe, and creates a calm, protective environment for you to start cleaning and clearing your energy field.
- You can feel immediately how lovely it is to be protected in this energy cocoon. It provides an opportunity to use your imagination and visualisation skills to start this restorative process.
- This is a great time to reflect on summer. Take a few moments to appreciate all the joy that this season has given you. For me, I’ve loved all the walks on the beach with Magic and hubby – one of my highlights. I’ve loved the long days, warm nights (noting that I’ve had an Aussie summer this year, after five Kiwi ones!) I’m grateful for all of the early morning coffees, for being able to wear shorts so often, and generally having time with family and friends. I’m thinking about all blue skies, clear days, stunning sunrises I’ve enjoyed throughout summer. As you reflect, you can store your memories and know that you could well return to them in the cooler seasons!
- Now is the time to start doing a few colour visualisation warm-ups.
- Visualise the colour of your energy field within your cocoon turning green. Can you see it? Feel the calming energy of green. Enjoy the sensation and take a few deep breaths, feeling your body register the deep power of this colour. Relax into it. Take a few more deep breaths.
- And now, when you’re ready, shift the colour of your energy field to blue. This deeply restful colour is calming, and you feel your body flooded with a deep state of peace. Enjoy this feeling. Take a few more deep, slow breaths. Can you feel the colour creating this sense of peace in your body? Breathe into it.
- Now, with the power of your imagination ignited, bring in one of your chosen autumnal colours. I’ve chosen oatmeal – it’s a very peaceful, restful colour. And when I was doing my Pinterest board, a lot of similar colours were the ones I was responding to – straw, stone, sand coloured – all the colours that relate to very textural natural fibres and elements. This makes a lot of sense to me. I love the texture of real oatmeal – you’ll know exactly what I mean if you’ve ever made yourself an oatmeal soap or oatmeal and lavender bag for your bath! I’ve also discovered recently that oatmeal is a very good detoxifying agent – it absorbs all manner of things. And so I’m finding that oatmeal works well for me on all levels – calming as a colour, and deeply cleansing in it’s natural state.
- Feel how you are responding to the change in the colour of your energy field. And take a moment to think about all of the things you love about the season ahead – and set your intention for how you want to experience the season.
- Now, imagine that you are using this colour just as you would shampoo, allowing it to wash and cleanse you. Your whole body and energy field are illuminated by this colour. You may choose a very soft, gentle hue to start with – and that may be all you need. Feel your energy field expanding, as though the field is made up of bubbles that start to slowly get larger. As the bubbles get larger, visualise them breathing out the energy of summer. See the bubbles gently loosen and pop, releasing the last residues of the energy of the season. Visualise more and more of these bubbles expanding and releasing. As the bubbles release, feel your energy field becoming cleaner, and transitioning into the new season. Know that as those bubbles gently expand and release, you are creating new space for clean energy in your system. And you can start to fill your energy field with the energy of autumn, with it’s cooler days and lengthening nights.
- The new colour in your energy field is going to allow you to more deeply attune to the changing seasons – it’s like using colour as a cue, or giving a direction, or taking a moment perhaps to really register that you have already arrived in Autumn. Breathe it in!
- When you feel like your energy within your cocoon has been cleansed, imagine yourself rinsing out your energy field, just as you would rinse out shampoo. See the colour washing away, leaving a clear and clean space around you. Breath that clarity in. Take a few moments to simply breathe in, and enjoy this quiet, peaceful moment.
- Take some time to simply breath. Notice your body, and how you feel. Keep breathing quietly for a few moments as you gradually close out the visualisation. Remember that sleeping bag you visualised yourself slipping into, to create your snug cocoon? Imagine that sleeping bag lifting. Remember that cocooning is a great trick – and so you may like to keep that sleeping bag close – perhaps, visualise yourself folding it up and placing it somewhere safe, until you are ready to use it again.
- Whether you are ready to return to your day, or drift off to sleep, take some time to enjoy the sensation of feeling clean and restored, and connected to the earth in her own cycles of creative expression!
Check out my Attuning to Autumn Pinterest Board!
I’ve created this Pinterest board as part of my exploration of autumn colours. I encourage you to both take a look at mine, and also create your own! See what colours, textures, tones and elements are appealing to you as we move more deeply into Autumn.
