3 Ways to Heal with the Cycles of Nature

Many of our health issues, especially the chronic ones, are rooted in long-term stress. This stress can be caused by unresolved trauma or grief, but it can also be triggered by living in a society that emphasizes productivity over everything else, including the natural cycles of nature and the body. Within grind culture, it’s a badge of honor to be exhausted, to have worked all night or weekend, to never take time out to rest. We treat our bodies like robots, pushing them to labor until they break down.

But human beings are animals, not robots. It used to be very common that we would live and work seasonally, farming, planting, harvesting, and resting according to the seasons and the phases of the moon. Our seasonal holidays reflect an ancient past where we honored the power of nature and the weather, which had a major impact on our daily lives—and even on our survival.

With electric heat and light, we barely pay attention to the elements (unless, perhaps, a natural disaster comes to our door). But by working with the seasons, we can get in touch with the ancient wisdom of our bodies and possibly heal ourselves. If you constantly suffer from colds or the flu, chronic pain or illness, exhaustion, stress, or burnout, it could be that living cyclically can heal and correct these culturally inflicted wounds.

Living by the Wheel of the Year

While we tend to think of productivity in terms of a day’s work or a quarter’s earnings, it can be really helpful to zoom out and look at our lives in terms of the cycle of the year (what many pagans refer to as the Wheel of the Year). As I write this, we are in the dark season: the stretch of long, cold nights and short, shivery days that runs all the way from November to about April, depending on where you live. Historically, this time would have been the space between harvest season and planting season. It is a time of rest, slowness, dreaming, and feeling. It is a time to be gestating ideas and plans, not necessarily taking action on them.

In some ancient cultures, November 1 was the start of the new year. It was considered a time of death and dying that lays the foundation for new life to be born in the spring, and a time to contemplate the Crone aspect of the triple goddess. In other cultures, the new year starts in late February or March, beginning the solar cycle with the planting of the seeds and the hope that comes with lengthening daylight and new shoots appearing out of the melting snow.

If we consider how low the collective energy is during the darkest season of the year, it feels unnatural to celebrate the new year around January 1. In fact, the ancient Romans didn’t even bother naming January or February for a long time because no one did much of anything until the war season started up again with the new year in March.

In an ideal world, we would be reading, learning, researching, listening to elders, dreaming, and gestating ideas in the winter season. In the springtime, when the energy is powerfully pushing the sprouts up through the dirt toward the sun, we would be working, connecting, having meetings, socializing, and taking action on all our winter plans. The late summer would be a time to enjoy the fruits of our labor; to slow down and appreciate what’s been working and what might need adjusting. Autumn would be a time for reflection, integration, and tweaking what needs to be changed before the restful dark time returns again.

Of course, we don’t live in an ideal world. This cyclic practice around the Wheel of the Year would require listening to the body in a way that is not encouraged—if not actively discouraged—in our culture. But perhaps there is a way to zoom out a little and give ourselves more time in the darker season to make our plans of action in the spring. In my experience, having a seasonal practice that allows for plenty of rest has actually made me more productive overall.

Living by Other Natural Cycles

This big annual cycle of the Wheel of the Year also has smaller, more frequent cycles built into it that we can begin to attend to right away.

The Moon Cycle

Every moon cycle of 29.5 days also reflects the 365-day cycle of the sun: The new moon corresponds to winter; the waxing moon to spring; the full moon to summer; and the waning moon to autumn. Each month, there is an opportunity to explore these mini-cycles in your body and in your work. When you pay attention, you might notice that you simply do not have the energy for your usual high-intensity workout class on the new moon and would rather stretch slowly or curl up for a nap instead.

The Menstrual Cycle

The menstrual cycle also reflects the seasons and the phases of the moon. The bleeding phase is like the new moon/winter; the follicular is like the waxing moon/spring; ovulation is like the full moon/summer; and the luteal phase is like the waning moon/autumn. For those who menstruate, paying close attention to these patterns and adjusting the types of food and activity you enjoy during the different phases of your cycle can go a long way towards addressing hormonal issues and other female health concerns.

The Circadian Cycle

There is also a cycle in each day: Nighttime is the new moon/winter; the morning is the waxing moon/spring; midday is the full moon/summer; and later afternoon and evening are the waning moon/autumn. Most men have a hormonal cycle that matches this in the way most women’s hormones follow a monthly cycle. Honoring the times of day that are meant to be most productive and the ones that are meant to be more restful or contemplative is a simple daily practice that can help to rebalance all the systems of the body.

Listening to Our Body’s Unique Cycles

When you start to pay attention to the cycles of nature, you may also notice you have your own cycles and rhythms associated with other things. Chronic pain and illness often have cycles that will reveal themselves if we pay attention. Maybe some triggers are milder in certain seasons and more easily aggravated in others. Grief also cycles, especially around holidays or anniversaries. Again, listening to the wisdom of the body will often reveal when we might have more energy and when we might need more rest and gentleness.

These cyclic practices are so powerful for healing partly because they naturally integrate so much rest. At the end of each energetic phase, there is a rest phase right afterward. This gives us time to recover and integrate the work we are doing and take care of ourselves intuitively, rather than living according to a strict routine that never changes.

Rest is the most powerful medicine we have access to, and many of us ignore it in favor of taking supplements or trying fitness routines instead. What if you worked with, rather than against, the human animal of your body? What could we heal if we allowed for the natural rebalancing we have access to every moon cycle, every year? What could we accomplish in a year if we stopped trying to accomplish everything every day?

Explore ways to use nature to practice self-acceptance.