Autumn Equinox 2022: What does balance look like in your life?

Autumn Equinox - Sept 22nd 8:03pm CST

Autumn Equinox marks the halfway point between Summer Solstice and Winter Equinox, halfway between the brightest day of the year and the darkest day of the year. Many people consider this a day of balance when we have as much light as darkness. 

This idea of balance is what I want to explore with you today. I find it so interesting that our culture holds this idea of balance as an ideal place to be. Countless people have come to me wanting to be in balance or to come back to a place of balance. As a yoga teacher, meditation instructor, crystal bowl player and certainly as a coach, when I ask what people want or what is their intention for their session, the reply is so often to come back into balance.

Now, what do we mean by balance? And what does balance mean to you? Yes, that’s a real reflection question for you to answer now! :) Take a moment and I will muse on some thoughts. 

Dana explores the idea of balance and how we can reframe the idea to support us as we move through a time that feels totally out of balance! I also offer some reflection exercises about balance and what it really means to you.

In the western mindset, balance is held up as an idyllic state of being where everything is in order and okay, and our mission seems to be to stay in that perfect state of balance. In this mindset, if we’re doing things right, then we’re in balance, and if we’re out of balance, then something must be wrong. 

I propose to you that this idea of balance is a total misnomer. 

As a yoga teacher, tree pose is an accessible concept of human balance. We often think of trees as these immovable stable forces. But this is really because we only focus on what is right in front of our eyes — a nice solid, hard trunk. But if we follow the line of the tree down into the ground we discover seemingly endless networks of roots that constantly reach out in new ways to support the tree as a whole — new directions, new nutrients, new pathways. Look up and we see and hear the leaves and branches moving with the wind and rain. In reality, a tree is never perfectly still and immobile. 

As a human in tree pose, the goal has also never been to be an immovable solid force. Instead, it is to gracefully and beautifully find your way back to center. The reality is that, in tree pose, you’re constantly making minor adjustments in balance and awareness to maintain a clear connection to center. Staying in the center isn’t necessarily the goal. Rather, the goal is as life unfolds and the unexpected arises — wind, rain, emotional upset, loss — that we’re able to skillfully process and experience those aspects of life without losing our connection to our true unchanging center. 

Being off center or out of balance isn’t an indicator that something is wrong or bad or that you’re off track somehow. It’s actually information about how your system is responding to your current experience. Being ecstatically joyful because your beloved has delighted you means you aren’t in a neutral or balanced state, but it also doesn’t mean something is bad or wrong. If you’re sad or even devastated because you lost your job or a loved one, that doesn’t mean something is wrong with you. Letting your system process and experience the fullness of life while knowing that you’re connected to your center and will gracefully (or messily) find your way back is this practice of balance. 

We see this in action in nature. The amount of sunlight varies and changes on a daily basis!! Our days move from very bright at Summer Solstice to having significantly less light at Winter Solstice. This month, however, we have the Autumn Equinox, when our days have a balance of light and dark. 

During this Autumn Equinox, I offer up the exploration of this question: what does the idea of balance mean for you and your life? 

Do you give equal weight, meaning or value to the light and the dark in your life?. And what do light and dark mean to you?

Light can mean activity, yang, spirituality, play, things that are known or seen, innovation/newness, beginnings…

Dark can mean rest, yin, physical matter or daily life, heavy or burdening activities, things we can’t see or don’t know, old things, endings…

In our current world, this is quite a relevant exploration because we’re in a time when there’s a great deal of life happening for everyone. - which means that right now we’re experiencing the light and the dark, joy and pain, creation and destruction, activity and rest, and beginnings and ends.

Historically as humans, we’ve experienced these things over time, which allowed our systems to integrate with them more fully and easily. But currently, it feels more like a daily rollercoaster of light and dark, throwing us easily off our centers and out of balance, causing us to believe that we’re somehow doing something wrong.But really there’s such a large amount of life force moving through our lives and so many things transitioning and changing that we have to be far more aware of and skillful at staying connected to our centers and to what is true and unchanging within us. Now, as we reach this year’s Autumn Equinox, nature’s moment of balance, is the time to remember our connection to center