Syncing with nature's
rhythms
We are a part of nature, so why aren't we syncing with her?
This is a pursuit I have found myself on for years. I am a huge advocate for tuning into nature’s cycles, yet I kept finding myself in daily dazes of unconscious habits. When I started to truly learn about ancient ways of seasonal living and deepen my understanding of our circadian rhythm, everything began to make sense and feel easier.
So, what is circadian rhythm? For millions of years, life on Earth has adapted to the natural cycle of day and night. Most living things – plants, animals, and microbes – have internal clocks, called circadian rhythms, which help them stay in sync and respond to the daily shifts created by the planet’s rotation. You can think of this as your own internal body clock, which follows a 24-hour cycle.
These natural patterns are affected by light and play a vital role in our sleep schedule.
As the sun goes down, the brain starts releasing melatonin, a hormone that makes you feel tired. Your body temperature also drops, which lowers your alertness. These circadian-driven changes, along with your body’s natural need for sleep, help you drift off at night. In the morning, light signals your brain to stop producing melatonin, and your body temperature rises again, helping you wake up and stay alert for around 16 hours, or until the sun begins to set once more. So, it isn’t hard to believe that sleep is more restorative when our sleep patterns align with the natural cycle of daylight and darkness.
This was a turning point for me, and quite frankly, giving myself grace for needing 9–10 hours of sleep – especially in the darker months of autumn and winter – was long overdue, which brings me to slowing down.
What does it mean to slow down? Like, really slow down? Well, nature has been trying to teach us this for millennia. Our urban lives can often disguise temporary pauses as slowing down: incorporating 20 minutes of meditation at the start of your busy day in the office, reading a few pages of that book you’ve had for 6 months every few days, or having a loose-leaf tea alongside your dopamine hit social media scroll as a reward for the intense on-screen admin work you just completed *cringes with guilt*.
I admit, I struggle to turn off sometimes. I love being active, physically and mentally. I always have a project on the go and can sometimes feel unfulfilled otherwise – I am on this life-long journey with you. However, I have been following our planets seasonal changes and listening to her closely for some years now, and it has completely changed my life.
I used to have an unhealthy outlook on winter. “Seasonal Depression” is a term thrown around a lot these days, even by health professionals. I associated the dark, cold months with sickness, unproductiveness, and well, depression. I longed for warm summers, and coming from Scotland, that ruled out more than half of the year.
When I began to lean into the months, really celebrate them and hold them, I started to see a massive shift in my mental health and now winter is so welcome in my life. I began to associate myself with paganism, and spent a lot of time researching the ancient nature-based traditions that I felt myself connecting to. I realised that we had lost so many traditional ways our ancestors lived by.
It’s normal to feel out of sync as we transition into winter. You have less energy and you might become more reserved, which could be accompanied with anxiety. Rather than fighting these feelings, accept and flow with them. Nature tells us to rest in the winter months, to embrace the shift and slow down. Animals hibernate, trees shed their leaves, and plant growth slows down or stops completely, the natural world preserving energy in preparation for the new life spring brings. Not only does this opportunity to be still offer important health benefits, such as boosting our immune systems, reducing stress and fatigue, and allowing us to quite literally recharge, it helps us reconnect with nature even if we can’t physically touch it outside. It’s important to remember that this pause isn’t idleness; it’s essential.
We struggle to be present. We constantly live in the future: planning what’s next, fantasising about upcoming events, always romanticising tomorrow – but what about today? I believe the constant drone of “life is too short” and elderly statements of “I ran out of time to do…” is the result of wishing our life away and longing for something better to come and sweep us off our feet. Acknowledging the now, realising what energy envelops us in this moment. What joy can winter bring you? For me, it’s waking up after a long 10 hour sleep whilst it’s still dark outside. That comforting feeling of knowing your whole day is ahead of you, not an ounce of guilt for not getting up at dawn. It’s 8am and the birds aren’t even singing yet, there’s a stillness in the air as the natural world has a 3 month lie in.
As I write this from my family home in Scotland, we are in the midst of winter and have just welcomed the solstice. Greens have been replaced by orange, gold and brown. The air is crisp and there’s a lingering smell of burning wood from fireplaces. If you live in a city or just want to fall in love with winter, go for a walk outside. Visit your nearest forest, botanical garden or if you’re really lucky – national park. Being immersed in nature during winter is magical and deeply relaxing. The low sun casting it’s orange hue on hills and mountains, the komorebi filtering through the trees. If you struggle to sync and slow down, there’s no better way to begin than outside.
January isn't my New Year
It’s also important to note that many ancient cultures followed a 13 month calendar, which aligned with the lunar (feminine) cycle. This structure corresponds more closely with natural rhythms than the modern 12 month calendar, which was created to track the solar (masculine) cycle. Following the lunar cycle is linked to our biology! Natural processes like menstruation, sleep patterns, and even ocean tides follow the rhythm of the moon. Adopting a 13 month calendar could help us sync with these cycles, promoting lower stress levels and a greater sense of well-being, but that’s a whole blog post of it’s own…
Rather than adopting a whole new 13 month calendar (for now), another meaningful shift I made was aligning with the pagan Wheel of the Year, which is rooted in the Earth’s cycles and changing seasons, and acknowledging that the “new year” is marked by the spring equinox in March rather than the 1st of January. It never made any sense to me that we, as humans, go through such seismic change in the midst of winter, and even less so that we commit to resolutions then. It’s about relearning – relearning what already exists within us, with what our bodies still remember.
Now, I’m not saying drop what you’re doing and become Pagan (although, this might help). We can take inspiration from these ancient, nature-based ways of life and incorporate them into our everyday. And I won’t judge you if you decide to have earth rituals around a makeshift altar in your bedroom – in fact, I encourage it.