Seasonal Living: Embracing Autumn

🍁 Living Seasonally: Falling in Love with Autumn

Let’s take a moment to appreciate autumn. There’s something a bit special about a crisp autumn morning, swooshing through leaves on a walk, picking apples and conkers, and digging out the slow cooker to make warm and cosy comfort food.

After a busy summer with long days, juggling work and family commitments and squeezing in some holiday (anyone else find they work twice as hard before they take time off then play catch up on their return?), autumn is the season that invites us to slow down, cosy up, and start to rest.

And if the thought of winter approaching with her dark days and long nights fills you a little with dread, then embracing autumn can help ease you into this transition more gently and take some control back over winter’s influence on your mood.

Here’s some ideas to help nourish your soul this season:

🕯 Cosy Up Your Space

As the temperatures dip, our homes become sacred spaces for rest and restoration. Think curling up with a soft blanket, light the log burner or some candles, or add some warm fairy lights to your living space.  Adding a touch of autumnal colour can make a big difference too.  Pick some berries or branches from the garden or while on a walk, carve a pumpkin, and add deeper, warming colours like dark reds, oranges and greens.  The aim is to make your home, or a special part of it, feel cosy and inviting.

Create time and space for slower, more gentle evenings.  Think spiced, warming herbal teas, curling up with a good book and earlier bedtimes help nourish our Yin energy after the heat and busyness of Summer’s Yang energy.  This helps our stressed out nervous system switch to relaxation mode in which we can rest, digest and repair.

🍃 Make like a tree (and leaf)

If we follow nature’s example, Autumn is the perfect time for release.  In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), autumn is the season of the Lungs and Large Intestine - the organs of letting go. It’s all about release, reflection, and renewal. Just as trees shed their leaves, we’re invited to clear what no longer serves us - physically, emotionally, and energetically.

Autumn invites us to simplify our life - our routines, our homes, our minds. TCM teaches that stagnation (whether emotional or physical) blocks energy (Qi) flow, so decluttering your space and your schedule can help your energy move more freely.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), autumn is the season of the Lungs and Large Intestine, which are aligned to the Metal element.  These are the organs of letting go. It’s all about release, reflection, and renewal. Just as trees shed their leaves, we’re invited to clear what no longer serves us — physically, emotionally, and energetically.

When our Metal energy is balanced, we feel clear, calm, and aligned. When it’s out of balance, we might experience grief, stubbornness, dryness (like dry skin or throat), or even resistance to change.

🍁 4 ways to nourish our Metal Element and ‘let go’:

1.     Declutter: Autumn invites us to simplify — our routines, our homes, our minds. TCM teaches that stagnation (whether emotional or physical) blocks Qi flow, so decluttering your space and your schedule can actually help your energy move more freely.

2: Try a “mini release ritual”:

• Write down one thing you’re ready to let go of.

• Burn or tear the paper.

• Take a deep breath and visualise that old energy leaving your body.

Even small symbolic acts like this can shift your mindset and lighten your emotional load.

3.The lungs are connected emotionally to grief and sadness.  It’s okay if you find yourself feeling extra nostalgic or tender this time of year.  Try journaling or allowing yourself some time to think rather than block out difficult thoughts or feelings.  Cry if you need to.  Breathe it out – deep breaths that expand your rib cage and your lower belly.  This can help you release what feels heavy so you can move into winter lighter.

4.Our lungs love fresh air and breathwork.  Get outside and breathe.  Take a walk – crisp, early Autumn mornings are rather special when the air feels crisp and new.  Breathe deeply to strengthen Qi and calm a busy mind.

🥣 Nourish your body

As the air gets cooler and drier, our bodies need warmth and moisture. In TCM, raw and cold foods (like smoothies and salads) can strain digestion in autumn, so this time of year is basically nature’s version of comfort food season. This is the time to embrace hearty soups, roasted root veggies, spiced teas, and cozy one-pot meals.  I love my slow cooker and regularly use it for simple but nourishing meals such as parsnip daal, root vegetable casserole or a warming curry, topped with crispy kale from the oven. 

Seasonal foods include pumpkins, squash, apples, kale, carrots, apples, pears.  Add warming spices like cinnamon and ginger.

Bonus tip: Pears are especially beloved in TCM for soothing dry lungs and coughs. Try simmering a pear with a bit of honey (Manuka if possible) and ginger - it’s basically autumn in a mug.

🍁Autumn Reminds Us: Let Go to Grow

Autumn is nature’s way of showing us that release is not loss — it’s renewal.
When we live in rhythm with the seasons, we remember that every ending creates space for something new.

So breathe deeply. Eat warm food. Let go of what no longer fits.
Enjoy Autumn, and trust that, like the trees, you’re making room for new, exciting growth next Spring.