thyroid & metabolism

Thyroid cancer rates are not on the rise. Thyroid cancer rates are on the rise. No one seems to know for sure. That’s science for you.

Yoga is a science also, but it’s a different kind of science. It’s a science developed by trial and error over thousands of years, passed on from teacher to student in private and institutional settings, and formalized into different schools, each specializing in their own slice of the pie of yogic knowledge. And we yoga students partake of this knowledge in our personal practice in ways that Western science can’t quite understand. It comes down to this: the practice itself teaches you things.

At some peaceful moment within the stillness of an asana, or during the hectic push of an intense pranayam, wisdom comes. Like drops of sap sliding down the delicate curve of a flower stem, wisdom kisses the pressure between our eyes, arriving in our consciousness in the form of a thought, a dream, or a word. Yoga is not a science of opposites that debate paradoxes. It is a science of connection to the source of wisdom.

As the seasons change, so do we. We are part of nature, after all, not its opposite. There is no “man vs. nature” storyline in nature, only in our divided minds. This fall we change: we slow down, we feel a chill, we can turn on the oven without our apartment getting too hot, so we cook something soupy and filling, foregoing the salad for the first time in a while.

It’s a time to nurture ourselves. We’re turning inward with this last equinox, toward the heart. It’s a time to call friends and family far away and reconnect with the part of them that reminds us of who we are.

It’s time to take care of our physical body with good food and our spiritual body with good communication. It’s the season of Virgo and Libra, the communicators. It’s time to follow the debate with an open mind, letting the heart have a say. Where do we want to take our lives this year? Where do we want to take our souls this lifetime?

It’s time to take care of our thyroid and fifth chakra. Talk sweetly, with a neutral mind. Take it easy, and indulge your appetites – just a little. Breathe! Breathe.