Yesterday morning on the Today programme I heard the weather forecaster say there would be sunshine across the UK around 3pm. It was another grey, cold and damp January morning when you question - have they got this right? By about 2.30pm the clouds sure enough started to part and the sunshine came through. As I walked the dogs people were sitting on benches in the park soaking up rays from the low slung, golden, winter sun.
Letting the light in is so important to our well being. Especially through the winter, as most of our biological systems follow a sun based sequence. Sunlight influences how we think and function and sets our circadian rhythms.
Georgia Frances King wrote a piece in one of my favourite books, Kinfolk Home, about exactly this. She writes about how the rapidly changing light quality at dawn and dusk helps cue our brains. Probably not surprisingly, these cues send messages to our bodies to work out whether it’s time to wind down or rev up.
Also, how making a few small changes in our routines and in our homes can help us stay in sync.
Having good curtains or wearing an eye mask to ensure a good night’s sleep to prevent light pollution is one sound piece of advice. (This out weighs the light disturbance from looking at your phone in the night!)
She also talks about the value of being outdoors to soak in the morning or evening light - literally absorbing the vitamin D. I love this idea of wrapping up in a blanket and taking your coffee outside to sit in the morning sun.
The sun salutations in yoga originated to celebrate these natural rhythms too. As the name suggests surya (sun) namaskar (salute) . The sequence honours the sun as provider of all energy on the earth. As the sun rises it is less powerful and by facing it (as the original yogi’s did in their loin cloths) the whole body can absorb the benefits of the suns rays.
However, perhaps we all need a little nudge during the winter months to get out, open a window, or sit on a park bench for a few minutes, to take in some magic natural medicine from those rays.
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