Shape and Stillness

A Moving Meditation

Hello friends,

Autumn Equinox arrives on September 22. We’ve transitioned from Earth into Metal Element. Earth centers us by harmonizing transitions. With Metal, we inhale this great gift of life (Lungs), and exhale into the Great Mystery, this falling-away time of releasing leaves, fruits, and what no longer serves (Large Intestine). Here and now, you are in your body like a plant is solid in the ground, yet you are wind.

Put on some slow flow music you love, and try the InterPlay movement form of Shape and Stillness. Make shapes. Hold stillness. Flow. Pulse between shapes, transitions, and the still spaces between. Notice what and how you hold, try on new forms, and find stillness within movement.

Shape & Stillness

Warm-up by shaking out, walking around, or exploring delicious movement however you choose. When you’re ready, pause. Find a shape. Hold it. Feel what’s here. When you’re ready, slowly glide into another shape. Then quickly transition into another shape.

Trying making three fast shapes. Three slow shapes. Shape into a mountain. Into the feeling of steady Earth. Embody the shape of this moment. The shape of a place you love. The shape of something challenging or distasteful. The shape of love.

Move between shape and stillness. Let your transitions be fast or slow. Try alternating both. Let your body and this place guide your dance, or put on a piece of music and flow.

How does it feel to travel between movement and stillness? How does it feel to take one shape, hold still, and fully experience that state of being? Experiment with your ratios of shaping to stillness, your transitions too. Perhaps elongate your holds into an 80% stillness and 20% movement dance. What’s here? Play with it. Savor the pauses, soften into presence, and fully embody your shapes and the spaciousness therein.

節氣 Seasonal Nodes

The 24 seasonal nodes in the Chinese lunisolar calendar observe seasonal shifts. Each node has 3 pentads, poetic snapshots of natural phenomena to align with EarthBody cycles. Here’s this month’s upcoming seasonal nodes and pentads:

• Sept 8: 白鷺 White Dew • 草露白 Dew glistens white on grass • 鶺鴒鳴 Wagtails sing • 玄鳥去 Swallows leave

• Sept 22: 秋分 Autumn Equinox • 雷乃収聲 Thunder ceases • 蟄蟲壞戶 Insects hole up • 水始涸 Fields begins drying

Recommendations

• ⭐️ Ventura: Monthly Harmon Nature Meditations begin Oct. 1, in collaboration with Ventura Land Trust. Practice walking and sitting meditation in beautiful Harmon Canyon. Join us the first Wednesday evening of each month (-ish) for these free community gatherings.

• Podcast: Enjoy my interview with

  Liane Moccia
  about herbal fertility— and stay tuned for an upcoming interview with Pam Montgomery about cocreating with nature!

• Ephemera: 🌶️ Make Ma’s Hot Sauce and Fire Cider. 🌙 Practice Embodied Presence with Tara Brach. 🌊 Sing along to This is a Wave by Sarina Partridge. 🌿 Learn about Herbs for Fire Season with me and Herbs for Grief with Elisha Storey. 📚 Read Renegade Grief by Carla Fernandez, On Muscle by Bonnie Tsui, and Sweat Your Prayers by Gabrielle Roth.

❤️ May this be the best season of your life,

Jiling Lin, L.Ac.

JilingLin.com • Acupuncture, herbs, art

---

Hi! I’m Jiling, an acupuncturist and herbalist in coastal southern California bridging medicine and expression through my Ventura acupuncture clinic, Five Elements classes, and Elemental book-in-progress that interweaves nature, art, movement and ritual for thriving personal and ecological wild beauty. Learn more about me here, join events here, get acupuncture here— and buy me a tea if you wish to support the book-writing process. See you next month!