If we were to align specific practices that correspond to the energy of the season, we would have more success in sustaining them.

This is ancient Chinese medicine wisdom, knowing that the energy (chi) shifts each season, based on the relationship of the earth to the sun.

Chi energy is very subtle. It informs us through our emotions and physical symptoms. It tells us either we're in balance, when we're feeling grounded and harmonious, or that we're out of balance, which results in worry and doubt..

There is a distinct shift in my reactions when I meditate and do my yoga practice compared to when I don't.

I noticed this in a friend who used to be so judgemental. When she started meditating regularly, she became much more accepting and understanding, and I enjoyed her company a lot more.

One of the best attributes of this late summer earth-element energy is the feeling of contentment.

To feel contented is to feel fulfilled. Different aspects of our lives can provide fulfillment and balance the areas that aren't fulfilled.

This time of year can be so soothing that we may feel lethargic and not want to move much. Sitting for hours can create stagnant chi flow, which affects us emotionally and physically.

Late summer is one of my favorite times of the year. It's so mellow, soothing, nourishing and grounded.

These qualities happen to be the energy we feel when the stomach and spleen chi are balanced. Late summer corresponds to the earth element, which relates to the energy of the spleen and stomach. And it makes sense: The gardens are abundant and ripe for the picking, so digestion is at high tide this time of year.

This time of year can be so soothing that we may feel lethargic and not want to move much. Sitting for hours can create stagnant chi flow, which affects us emotionally and physically.

As the summer season marches on, there's a shift in the energy. From the early summer fire season of extreme yang chi, it's now balancing out to the earth season.

This is the only time of year when the energy is balanced.

In the spring, the yang sprouting energy of the wood element rose from the deep winter yin energy of the water element.

Then, the sprouting transformed into the early summer fire blooming energy when the yang chi (energy) peaked.

As I write this morning, I know that, according to the wisdom of Chinese medicine, this is the time of day when the intellect is energetically running the strongest. Between 7 and 11 a.m., the stomach and spleen are in energetic high tide and directly relate to our intellect. We can be efficient and get the most work done during these hours.

Knowing the energy patterns of nature throughout the day, through the seasons, and our life stages can help us organize ourselves to utilize them rather than push up against them and expend more energy than needed.

The life stages, the seasons, and the daily flow of energy that runs through our organs can be considered the three gears.

I was reflecting on my energy level to learn new things this year. I usually like learning new material, but not so much this year.

At first, I felt concerned: What's happening to me? Have I lost my motivation?

And then I remembered that I'm in a metal year. Metal years are about letting go and clearing the old so something new can emerge.

What does this mean, you might wonder?

As you may have read from my previous emails and what I share in the Meridian Flow classes, energy shifts each season, which is also reflected in our life stages.

My friend, Richard Sloane, shared something potent for me during the Mindfulness Meditation course he led last weekend. He shared the story about when he received his cancer diagnosis and the victim mentality he initially went through, thinking, "Why is this happening to me?"

We can all relate to this. Whenever something difficult is going on, especially a severe diagnosis, it can feel like we are being punished for some unknown reason.

But he then shared a phrase that shifted that mindset—this isn't happening to you; it's happening FOR you.

This difficult time is happening for your evolution.

Do you know the difference between judgment and discernment?

Judgment compares and labels things. Wise discernment sees the difference between things without comparing them.

Why do I bring this up? The small intestine's energetic role is to discern what to keep and what to let go of, and its energy is running the strongest right now, in this early summer fire season.

In my recent emails, I've focused on the heart's energy since it's front and center. I have yet to give much attention to the heart's energetic partner, the small intestine.

Although the small intestine and the heart have very different physical functions, they are affected by the same energetic frequency and vibration. So they are both running the strongest in this early summer FIRE season.

I had an interesting realization this morning. I woke up feeling heavy-hearted for no particular reason.

Sadness was up for me. I wanted to distract myself by scrolling on my phone, but I quickly realized that wasn't a great plan.

I wrote in my journal some reasons that triggered sadness, but still, they didn't seem enough to elicit a heavy heart.

So I sat on my meditation cushion and allowed my heavy heart to just BE. I let sadness be there without analyzing it, to float... and then came peace.

A common phrase I often hear in yoga is 'We are all one.'

Truth be told, I have struggled with this understanding.

How is this possible? We all seem so vastly different!

It wasn't until my teacher described the spark of light in our hearts that comes in with us when we enter this life and leaves with us when we leave this life that I understood.

This is the light that connects us all.

This light is a particle from the great, ever-pervading universal light that consciousness comes from and returns to.

This is the divine light that permeates all living beings.

That rang true.

After listening to Ester Perrel's talk on 'Love is a practice' and sharing it in my Sacred Sunday class, I'm witnessing where it's showing up in my current life.

According to Chinese medicine, we're in the fire season, which corresponds to the heart, which makes it the easiest time of year to focus on the primary emotions felt in the heart, with love being at the top of the list.

Perrel states that love is a verb. It's not a permanent state of enthusiasm; it's an actual practice, and this practice needs to be repeated constantly.

It requires discipline, concentration, faith, and the overcoming of narcissism.

It isn't just a feeling; it's a practice.

What are you doing this weekend?

If you'd like to join a like-minded community of folks of all different ages and genders, come join us for the practices that will guide your heart into a peaceful state.

This is the easiest time of year to cultivate a joyful attitude and a peaceful heart, as it's fire season when the heart's energy is front and center!

I received a phone call yesterday from my daughter, who was feeling anxious and manic. I thought, ah yes, right on time with the fire season.

As this fire season rolls in, I start to notice the emotions and patterns of behavior that relate to the energy frequency of this season.

Joy happens to be top on the list.

As well as anxiety and manic thinking.

Recently, I was asked how I stay inspired while teaching and practicing yoga for over 30 years. I responded, "I teach by the seasons."

They asked me to explain.

When I healed my chronic pain through meditation, Chinese medicine, and Qigong and wove it all into my yoga practice, it intuitively made sense. Understanding that we are energetic beings housed in the physical body, and our energetic flow dictates how we feel emotionally and physically.

According to Chinese medicine, we are subject to seasonal energy depending on the sun's relationship to the earth. The sun is like our Wi-Fi signal, and our organs are like computers, each with its own specific function.

It's the time of year for heightened inspiration. Nature's energy is rising, sprouting, and blossoming, and that same energy runs through us, too.

I love to feel inspired; one could say I'm an inspirational junkie. But the problem yesterday, as I sat down to write, was that I wasn't feeling it. I tried and deleted it. I poked around for some inspirational help - but couldn't find it. I sat and wrote... and deleted it.

Inspiration can't be forced. So I took to the trees.

I want to share a personal experience I had this morning, in which I had to rely on the practices I teach in the upcoming Emotional Endurance Program and put them into action.

I woke up early to hear my husband getting up and making coffee.

Mornings are one of our favorite times to sit and sip my tea with him, listen to the news, and chat about what inspires us.

But this morning, he had different plans. He wanted to write, and I was disappointed. I wanted to connect, but he wanted to follow his inspiration and get some work done. This has been happening for a few days, and I feel like our special time is being usurped.

The other day, while sitting with a new student, I was struck by how she identified with her emotional state—because we all do this.

We speak as if we are our emotions!

She told me, "I am an anxious person".

When we identify with our emotions, how we speak about ourselves limits us. In English, we use the "I am" in front of the emotion.

We believe that's who we are and peg ourselves into a corner as 'this is who I am' instead of framing it as experiencing an emotion.

Recently, I struggled with an issue, and my mentor said, "Remember the Buddha's teaching; it's only a problem if you make it one."

Wow, right, it's all about how I frame it.

This made me think of how I speak. to myself about things I have to do that I resist.

Mel Robbins, a motivational coach, inspired me to change "I have to" to "I get to!" What an energetic shift!

I can view challenges as problems -that make them worse, or I can view them as something I get to work through