Embodiment through the seasons
Welcome to the Peaceful Power Podcast. I’m your host, Andrea Claassen, Ayurvedic wellness coach and yoga teacher and today we’re exploring one of my favorite topics: seasonal embodiment.
Growing up on a farm in Minnesota, the seasons weren’t just something I noticed they were how we lived. Our days revolved around planting and harvesting, light and darkness, warmth and stillness. I didn’t realize it then, but that early connection to nature’s rhythms would shape how I now approach my body, my energy, and my work.
Because just like the land, we are meant to change with the seasons.
Your Body’s Seasonal Cues
We live in a world that loves consistency the same workout, the same diet, the same morning routine all year long. But our bodies are cyclical beings, constantly shifting with the environment around us.
If you pay attention, your body will tell you what it needs.
In the brightness of spring and summer, your energy might feel outward and expressive you crave lighter foods, more movement, more social time.
As autumn and winter arrive, that energy turns inward you may want slower mornings, heavier meals, and more rest.
The problem is, we’re often taught to override those cues to push through the fatigue, stick to the plan, or keep up the same level of productivity no matter what. That’s when burnout creeps in.
Your body is not meant to stay the same year-round. It’s meant to flow.
Ayurveda’s Lens on Seasonal Living
In Ayurveda, this is called ritucharya honoring the rhythm of the seasons.
Each season carries a different energy, or dosha, that influences our body and mind.
🌱 Spring (Kapha season) invites cleansing and lightness it’s a time to shake off winter’s heaviness and begin again.
🔥 Summer (Pitta season) asks us to soften intensity and cool down the fire.
🍂 Autumn & Winter (Vata season) call us to slow down, root deeply, and nourish ourselves from within.
Instead of forcing the same “year-round routine,” Ayurveda invites us to listen, adjust, and live in rhythm just like nature does.
Nature doesn’t rush her transitions she releases with trust. As you move through autumn, notice where you can soften, simplify, and surrender.
The invitation isn’t to do more, but to be with what is.
To let go of the excess so your roots can deepen.
To prepare your inner soil for what’s yet to come.
This is the wisdom of autumn- the sacred rhythm of release.
Embodied Practices for Each Season
Here are a few ways you can start living more seasonally and attune to what your body is asking for:
🌸 Spring – Move your body with joy. Add in energizing pranayama like Breath of Joy or Kapalabhati. Eat lighter, fresher foods and get outside often.
☀️ Summer – Trade intensity for flow. Try evening yoga or swimming, enjoy cooling foods like cucumbers and melons, and spend time in the shade.
🍁 Autumn – Ground yourself. Practice slow, stabilizing movement, self-massage with warm oil, and eat warm, spiced meals.
❄️ Winter – Rest deeply. Embrace yoga nidra, journaling, and long, nourishing baths. This is the season for reflection and tending your roots.
Each of these practices brings you home to your own inner rhythm to that part of you that already knows what balance feels like.
The Sacred Stillness Challenge
As we move deeper into the darker, slower half of the year, I want to invite you into something special my upcoming Sacred Stillness Challenge.
It’s a 5-day journey to help you pause, breathe, and reconnect with your body’s natural rhythm. Through gentle Ayurvedic and yogic practices, we’ll explore what it means to rest not as a reward, but as a necessity.
If you’ve been feeling like you need permission to slow down this is it.
Let this be your reset, your reminder that stillness is sacred too.
In Closing
Thank you for tuning in to this week’s episode of the Peaceful Power Podcast.
If today’s message resonated, I’d love for you to share it with a friend who’s craving a little more rhythm and rest this season.
And if you’re ready to practice what we talked about, join me inside the Sacred Stillness Challenge you can find all the details linked in the show notes.
Until next time, may you slow down, tune in, and find your own peaceful power one season at a time.
Weekly Challenge
What do you need to feel embodied with your seasonal word this year?
view + leave comments . . .