September is here with low clouds and a little rain. They say summer will roar back later this week, then more clouds. Birds are gathering for migration; animals are stockpiling food. Transitional weather with unstable, transitional energy. We’re a part of all that.

Like everything living, people are seasonal creatures tuned by dualities: the swing of breathing in and out, the blossoming of warmth yielding to the shedding and introspection of the colder months. Now that the bounty and expansion of summer is coming to a close, it’s time to embrace the inward turning energy. Here’s a short sequence to reel you back in.

The sequence is very simple so that you can focus completely on the smooth flow of energy. Really feel the opening and closing of the postures, the rising and falling. Do the sequence as one flow or repeat the postures to absorb and consolidate their energy. Either way, link all movement with your breathing so that it is one continuous expression.

Stand in tadasana and observe the rise and fall of breath until you feel rooted.

Deepen those roots in utkatasana, work to lengthen the spine

Balance up and down in vrksasana

Open up in urdhva hastasana then release all the energy in uttanasana.

Feel your connection to the earth – both hands and feet – in adho mukha svanasana.

Accept the energy in urdhva mukha svanasana and let it go again in adho mukha svanasana

Release into child’s pose. Stay until you feel as compact as a seed.

I hope to find someone to snap some pictures to guide you, but in the meantime, you can look the poses up if you need to.