Living with the seasons is more than just Spring to Winter. Did you know that the moon also has its seasons that influence you, your mood, emotions and physical body?…

If you have been struggling with your energy levels, feeling exhausted all the time, struggling to keep focused, and feel like you’re not making the best use of your time, learning to shift to a more cyclical planning and creativity approach is a game changer…

Tracking and using the seasons of the moon not only give us a deeper understanding into ourselves, our bodies, and fluctuations in our emotions or energy. It can also make sense of things you are struggling with or explain certain repeating patterns.

Seasonal living is a constant practice of adjusting our daily routines and habits in accordance with the changing seasons and natural rhythms of the earth. This approach to living recognises that our bodies and minds are interconnected with the natural world, and that we can better optimise our health and wellbeing by aligning ourselves with the patterns of nature.

One of the key areas where seasonal living can have a profound impact on our overall health and wellbeing is our circadian rhythm. Circadian rhythm is the internal 24-hour clock that governs our sleep-wake cycle, a process that is controled by the release of hormones that tell our body either ‘it’s time to wake up’ or ‘it’s time to sleep’, and it is influenced by a variety of factors including light exposure, meal timing, and physical activity to name a few.

Have you ever thought about how different men and women’s bodies are, how we function and (as that famous book tells us) act as if we are from different planets?

Have you ever looked at your male friend, sibling, relative, or partner and wondered how, when you are so different, we are all treated the same by out health system?

What’s so important about womens health you may ask? Can it be so very different?

When so much in this world is designed and tested around the male body and composition womens health and wellbeing is very much lagging behind…

Yep, that's right. There are in fact eight different types of rest! Which do you need most right now?

When we think of rest we often only think of being sedentary eg. sitting/laying on the sofa, or passive rest eg. sleeping/taking a nap where the whole body and senses are resting and inactive.

But our body as a whole system is so much more than this. Our 'body' and our well-being are dependant on our Spiritual, Emotional, Physical Active, Physical Passive, Mental, Social, Sensory, and Creative health.

These are seven of the different types of rest, and this is why, even after days of sleeping well, you cans till find yourself as burnt out, depleted, and fatigued as ever!

Nettle is still one of my favourite (and underrated) wild herbs. Not only is it full of nutrients and essential vitamins and minerals our bodies need to be healthy (in fact, it probably contains more vitamins and minerals than the foods we buy from the supermarket!) but it is also hugely beneficial to the health of our skin and hair too.

Nettle Benefits for Hair

Nettle benefits for hair include promoting hair growth and even treating hair loss.

In fact, nettle is one of the oldest recorded remedies used for treating and preventing hair loss…

The movement of the seasons is a never-ending cycle. Although in reality there is no place that we can firmly point to as the beginning of the seasonal cycle, spring is often seen as the first season in the sequence. This comes from the fact that earlier calendars began the year in the spring.

Spring is traditionally associated with new beginnings, sowing, childhood, and young things in general. Spring is a time of potential, a time for planning and planting, and a time for making wishes about what you want the future to hold…

I’ve learnt a lot in my eight years of transitioning into and living a slower and seasonal lifestyle. But after finishing this year exhausted, depleted and struggling with multiple injuries I have realised two things:

Although I’d been making sure to schedule in regular self care I hadn’t actually given myself any real holiday or time off all year!

The way I was planning and trying to work just wasn’t in alignment with my slower and more intentional way of life.

Although seasonal living doesn’t mean doing less, it does mean slowing down and following natures cues to live + be in a cyclical process that supports wellbeing, as well as many physical and mental health benefits…

But what if there WAS a way to set goals, plan + make my dreams happen in a more intentional and sustainable way?

What if I could prioritise health, wellbeing and happiness AND achieve my goals for the year?

These were the questions I asked myself in December last year.

A Seasonal + Intentional Planning System…

Humans are creatures of habit.

We like our routines and the predictability of how we do things. even when those things aren't conducive to making us healthy and happy.

It isn’t always easy to see where we are holding ourselves back, or where our daily habits may be letting us down.

So that no matter how hard we try to improve our health or how we feel mentally + emotionally, we can’t quite get there.

The problem is our habits and actions we take aren’t always the right ones. Mindless action is only of benefit to you if that action takes you in the right direction!

Intention is a powerful thing.

When we are present, and do things with intention, make choices with intention we not only take action, but it is action in the direction of where we truly want to go.

Stress has become one of the top causes of health problems and one of the most common things we have all dealt with at some point in our lives.

This modern world of ours has pushed to the sidelines a lot of the things that help humans to stay healthy + happy, and so now our minds, body’s + wellbeing are starting to suffer. Cases of burnout, depression and anxiety becoming more common than ever before.

Chronic fatigue syndrome and chronic fatigue in general are predominantly nervous system related illnesses. This means that anything which aggravates your nervous system and increases inflammation, makes your health worse!

One of the worst causes of inflammation in the body is stress.

We all have different stress triggers — things that cause a stress response in our body, or make us feel ‘unsafe’

The body’s natural response to stress is our fight-flight-freeze-fawn response. A hormone reaction that causes elevated amounts of cortisol + adrenaline to be released into our blood stream giving our body the strength + reactions it needs to escape immediate danger

The problem is this response was built to help our ancestors escape the jaws of a sabre-tooth, and is a little out of place in the modern world

Unfortunately our body doesn’t recognise the difference between the threat from a sabre-tooth and our reaction from being shouted at by our boss or trying juggle work + family life on a schedule

If you are anything like me you may have been finding it tough to adjust to the change in season, the shorter days, reduction in sunlight, and colder, wetter weather?

Sometimes it can be hard to let go of the summer season and mentality, especially if you enjoy the heat and the feeling of expansion and growth Summer brings.

BUT sinking into the cosy vibes, slower and darker days of Autumn and Winter is important too!

The seasons are a cycle, one which repeats each and every year without fail, and, just like the ebb and flow of energy within each of these seasons [the expansion and growth of Spring/Summer, the contraction, withdrawal, and rest of Autumn/Winter] our minds, bodies, emotions, and needs also need to rest and withdraw sometimes.