Many people have lost their footing these days –they suffer from a previously unknown insecurity, as a consequence of which they experience anxiety, depression, anger, or bewilderment, while seeking answers in their biochemistry or blaming themselves for losing their balance.
Few realize that there are much bigger forces at work in the changes now seemingly turning our lives and our planet upside down.
We humans are not independent entities, encased in our own impenetrable bubbles. Body, mind and soul, we are influenced by each other and by the times and environment in which we live.
Ancient wisdom delineates vast 24,000-year cycles that set the stage for the evolution of human consciousness. The ancients defined the Yuga cycles as rising and falling ages in which mankind rises from matter-based to spiritual awareness, then devolves back again. You can read a fascinating account of the Yugas, with a great deal of previously undiscovered evidence for their reality, in an inspiring book by Joseph Selbie and David Steinmetz, The Yugas: Keys to Understanding Our Hidden Past, Emerging Energy Age, and Enlightened Future.
Each Yuga characterizes the unique opportunities and pitfalls offered to the individual at these times.
Around the year 1900 the world entered Dwapara Yuga, a 2400-year age of rising energy-awareness. Since 1900 virtually all of the inventions we now take for granted in our daily lives have been based on the new energy-awareness: radio, television, x-rays, jet and rocket propulsion, smartphones, personal computers.
In 1914, Soon after the beginning of the last century Albert Einstein announced his Theory of General Relativity which showed that the underlying reality of the cosmic structure was not matter, but energy.
Following upon 2000 years of the descending then rising ages of matter-awareness, the effects of the shifting ages have been radical. These great changes are always dizzying, disorienting, chaotic, and frightening – but also transformational.
For individual souls, we are each born into the specific circumstance that will best present us with our own opportunities, gifts, challenges, and personal attributes. For those eager to embrace a broader vision, the start of Dwapara Yuga presents great spiritual opportunities.
We are born into the culture and geographic circumstances that will best help us further discover our true nature and who we are to become.
We share a consciousness with the people who surround us in our unique social, political, economic, and spiritual landscape. Surrounding ourselves with negative news and angry people disturbs our mental and emotional health. Conversely, communing with peaceful and positive people balances our emotions.
Millions of years before man arrived on the scene, the earth endured cycles of great heat and cold, drought and flood. Arid deserts became watery seascapes and volcanic ash covered verdant tropical ecosystems. Throughout, animals and plants appeared, adjusted, disappeared, and reappeared. The cycles continue even today, as we witness and adapt to the current extremes of weather.
Within the vast Yuga cycles, each season presents us with unique possibilities, perils, and implications for the health of the humans living in this period.
We don’t rebel at the cycle of the seasons; rather we acknowledge and celebrate spring, summer, fall, and winter. Yet we resist our individual cycles, welcoming the springs and summers of our lives but struggling with the reality of autumn and winter. Our emotions react roller-coaster fashion, swinging from positive to negative. Our bodies change inevitably, and equanimity evades us.
Yet within each changing season, opportunities arise. An opportunity this month is the Hunter Moon, the first full moon after the equinox. Ancient wisdom tells us that this is a special time, offering us the opportunity to shift our consciousness. As the trees lose their leaves, we can let go of those things that are not working for us and make room for the new.
Under the grand, slow influence of the Yuga cycles, every human experiences cycles upon cycles within his or her body.
Diurnal cycles are responsive to sunlight, monthly cycles responsive to moonlight.
Acknowledging and understanding cosmic influences and cycles allows us to relax into the inevitability of those things that simply are – and to change those things that we can change; and work with the opportunities and adapt to the circumstances in which we find ourselves.
We can benefit from a healing system that integrates this knowledge into a new “lifestyle medicine.”
Understanding the Yuga cycles helps us observe the chaos of the times patiently, with courage and determination, as the inevitable shifting of a great cycle as we move from the age of matter into the age of energy.
Studying our Vedic astrological chart can help us work with our gifts and overcome our obstacles. Honoring the contractive time of autumn and winter and the expansiveness of spring and summer can help us align ourselves with the rhythms of the seasons that dictate the most wholesome foods, activities, and spiritual practices.
Honoring the monthly lunar cycle can help us align our body’s hormonal rhythms and plan the optimal times for conception, for rest, and even for surgery.
We can work with the daily solar cycle that tunes our pineal gland and adjusts our internal clock. For example, exposing ourselves to sunshine early in the day improves our energy, mood, and sleep.
We do not exist apart from the cosmic, seasonal, and Yuga cycles. When we ignore the unity of all things and pretend that we are separate, we swim against the tide, do battle with the inevitable, ignore our opportunities, and suffer from failing health. Honoring the natural cycles enriches our lives and helps us optimize our health on all levels.
Still Accepting Patients…
Contact Drs. Connie and Marcel through Pacific Naturopathic, 650-961-1660, to schedule an in-person visit, a Zoom visit or phone visit.
New patients may contact them in person via email to set up a Zoom consultation.
DrConnie@DrsHernandez.com
DrMarcel@DrsHernandez.com