Summer Energy

In this episode, we explore what summer is actually asking of us. We unpack the science behind why we naturally feel different during the longer days, why our nervous systems crave more light, movement, and connection, and how working with the energy of the season can leave us feeling more alive instead of more exhausted. Through a personal story from a recent trip to Banff, we talk about the difference between productivity and presence—and why joy isn't something you earn.

In this episode:

• Why every season has a different purpose and how nature offers a blueprint for our own lives
• How longer daylight regulates your circadian rhythm and influences hormones, mood, energy, and sleep
• The role of serotonin and why natural light supports emotional well-being
• Why humans are biologically wired to expand during the summer months
• Summer as the season of bloom: visibility, expression, joy, community, and connection
• The surprising lesson that came from leaving work behind and embracing an unplanned adventure
• Why the "90s Summer" trend reflects our longing for presence, not just nostalgia
• Reflection questions to help you participate more fully in this season of life

Summit takeaway: "You don't need to earn summer. Nature isn't asking you to accomplish more right now—it's inviting you to participate more. Summer isn't the season to force the harvest. It's the season to bloom, to be seen, and to experience the life you've been working so hard to build."

If this episode resonated with you, I'd love if you shared it with someone who needs permission to slow down this summer. Tag me on Instagram @alannacrawford_ and let me know what's on your summer bucket list—I genuinely love seeing how you're bringing these conversations into your everyday life.

If you're enjoying The Summit Effect, leaving a rating and review on your streamer. It is a great way to support the show and help more people discover this community. Thank you for being here, and I'll see you next Wednesday.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Welcome to the Summit of Event, where science meets goal and you don't have to pick one or the other. Hi, I'm your host, Elena Crocker, osteopathic manual practitioner and breaking out teacher. On the pod, we're talking about body wisdom, energy, intuition, and becoming an expert on your own feeling. Whether you're looking to find yourself again, create a new version, or see, just here for the results, you're in the right place. I'm here to demystify spiritual curiosities while adding a layer of humanness to the healthcare experience. No gatekeeping, no pedestals. This podcast is for the woman who is ready to take her power back. Let's do it! Hello everyone! Happy Wednesday! If you are listening to this on Wednesday and you're Canadian, happy Canada Day! I love being Canadian. I love the country I live in. But what's really cool about this year is my daughter's almost three, and she's asking so many questions about like what is Canada? What's a country? What is being Canadian? And it just has me in all my feels. I also think as the World Cup is going on, we're just very patriotic right now with our historic World Cup run that hopefully we continue on Saturday, but I'm just loving it. I think right now, um, especially like the world is on fire and we focus so much on what makes us different and what divides us. And as Canadians, we're known for, you know, being the peacekeepers, being welcoming and kind and empathetic. Like that's kind of when we go to other countries, people always assume, like, oh, we're we're very nice and gracious. And I think we are. And I think it's really neat to teach my daughter those values as a source of national pride. This morning she shared some of her fruit with me, like her favorite fruit at breakfast. And she she gave it to me and she said, Mommy, I'm being Canadian. And it like, it almost made me cry. That was just so beautiful that that these are the things that she is going to associate with her country. But because it's Canada Day, it means it's summertime, baby. And we just had summer solstice uh 10 days ago on the 21st, which is the longest day of the year. Um, and it ushers in our summer season. Every season has a job, my friends, or a theme rather. Let's say a theme. So if you're new here, this might be the first time you've heard me say that, but if you've been around for a bit, you've probably listened to the spring energy episode and you understand that each season is asking something different from us. It has to. It's congruent with nature. We are not in bloom 24-7, 365 days a year, okay? We need a planting season, we need a growing season, a blooming season, and a dormant season, like a recalibration season. Um, and when we understand what season we're in, life becomes easier because we're working with the current state instead of swimming against it. So, summer, my friends, we are in bloom. The body naturally wants expansion. And we can look at this from science too. Okay, let's look at the circadian rhythm. So, the biggest player in the summer season for us, and like our biggest bang for our buck, is our circadian rhythm. Inside our brain, we have a little structure, we'll call it the SCN, and it's in our hypothalamus. And I want you to think of that structure as your body's master clock, if you will. So every morning, sunlight enters our eyeballs and sends a signal to the SCN that says, hey, it's daytime, wake up, get moving. And that one signal, it coordinates like almost everything in our body. So it coordinates cortisol release, that's our stress hormone, um, body temperature, metabolism, digestion, hormone production, alertness, sleep timing. So longer daylight in the summertime means your brain receives more consistent signals that it's time to be awake and engaged in the world. And that often leads to more energy, better mood, more motivation, better sleep quality, provided that you are getting that morning sunlight. But with longer days, you know, the sun's up earlier, it sets later, we have more opportunity to get that sunlight in our eyes. And it with being nicer weather, we want to go outside. We're not like fighting against a snowstorm. We are getting more of that light into our eyeballs just naturally. This circadian rhythm, it also has a positive effect on serotonin. So serotonin is often called the happy chemical, but it's actually like much more than that. So serotonin is involved in our mood, our confidence, even, emotional regulation, appetite, memory, digestion. So exposure to bright natural light has been shown to increase serotonin activity. That's the reason why like sad seasonal affective disorder is much more common in the winter. So summer summer naturally supports serotonin production because, simply put, like we are exposed to more light more effortlessly. Like we have more opportunity to get into that light. So, right off the bat, summer really helps us on a biological level because we have so much more time to be exposed to the light, and we need all of that to get our system thriving, blooming, if you will. So I want you to think about that bloom for a second. And I'm gonna talk about a rose, mainly because I have a yellow rose bush in my front garden, and it is popping off right now. Okay. It is so beautiful. I am so in awe of it every morning. Like you think that that effect would dull on me, but it doesn't. Every morning I'm like, oh my God, you're freaking beautiful. And I have a lot of clients who come in because they have to pass the rose bush and they talk about it. And I'm like, take some stems, like take it with you, enjoy it. It's meant to be seen and shared and experienced. And that's exactly what summer is. Summer is bloom. Summer is the element of fire. So the theme there is like visibility, expression, joy, play, community, connection. Guys, summer is the heart chakra energy. It's not a season of like isolation or hibernations, as we see in like a winter season. This season is a scene of being witnessed, just like my rosebush. So I want to share a big aha moment I I had with this summer energy on a trip that I just took with Jay to Alberta. So in March, I was just like really beaten up about my fertility journey. I knew that I needed to find a way to like refocus my health and wellness efforts towards a goal that wasn't dependent on a positive pregnancy test each month. Because I just could I just couldn't do it. That couldn't be the sole focus anymore. It's too much on me. If you've been through a fertility journey, you know, like it's it's too much. So Jay and I are big backcountry hikers. Um, we've been out of the game kind of since like halfway through my pregnancy and then um having race, so almost four years we've been out of the game. Um, so I was like, you know what, let's plan an epic backcountry trip. Um, because both of us, like Jay needs to work on his health too, so do I, but I want to focus our efforts around training for something and not trying to create life. So we booked a trip in March. Um two things happened. Probably like two months out, maybe, I had realized that I was going to be gone for summer solstice. So on Summer Solstice, I typically volunteer for Annette's Yoga Studio. If you don't know who that is, episode 23 is with her. It's amazing, she's amazing. Um, but with her yoga studio, she does this epic outdoor event for summer solstice. So it's like over 300 people, they're doing 108 sun salutations. There's so many vendors, it's such a community, it's such a vibe. Like Burlington yoga event season of the year, hands down. And I felt so guilty missing it. I actually even looked into moving the trip. Um, I could change the hotel, but I couldn't change our flights. And I had to just like step back for a second and sit with like Alana, you do not have to be of service all the time. Like, that's really big for me. I always feel like I have to be working, hustling, grinding. And I know and I teach that that just can't happen. Okay, we're all in seasons, and this season of grinding cannot be 365 days a year. The second thing that happened is Canmore and Banff area, they got a ton of snow. Like they were just getting dumped on through May and June. And I'd been crazily checking all trails for route feedback because I don't know if you guys use the all trails app. It's amazing, but people will hike it and then comment on like those they'll share pictures and like the train and what's on the track, uh, what's on the trails. So I was constantly seeing how much snow were on our routes and if we were going to be able to do them, and it really wasn't looking good for those like very hard routes that I wanted to do in this like challenge I'd created in my mind. And then kind of like the tipping point was I had a backup route, like a long hike, but it was easier. So it's with this backup route, you needed to take the Sunshine Banff gondola, like the ski resort. Um, you needed to take the gondola to the to the top of the mountain, and it alerted me that Sunshine Banff was actually opening for an unprecedented ski season starting two days after we got there, so the day before the solstice. So like there would be no hiking on the backup route. And I was just like, what the fuck? So again, I had almost this worthiness battle. Like, am I supposed to just go to Alberta and have a vacation? Like, not try to break myself on a mountain and prove that I trained so hard and I did all the right things and I'm achieving something. Guys, to say this out loud seems insane. Like, if somebody said those things to me in my clinic that they felt bad taking a vacation because it took away from like them being of service or their work or they needed to achieve something on vacation and now they wouldn't be achieving something, I'd been like, whoa, you probably need an even longer vacation than five days and like a chill pill because it's summer and just live. So after self-therapizing myself, I came to the conclusion that I will be away literally on summer solstice. I am welcoming in the season of being in bloom, of feeling joy, being witnessed, just soaking in everything. This is wildly unlike me, but I went on that trip with a loose agenda. Like I had a hike in there, didn't say which one. Snowboard, a few other few, like a few other fun options. Um, but pretty much we were just going to show up and see what the weather was doing and just kind of wing it. I say kind of wing it, I can't fully wing it. Okay. I need a little bit of a rough outline, I need options, but I'm open to them changing. So that's as winging it as it's gonna get for Atlanta, but that's very, very, very unlike me. Um, but when I got on the plane, oh sorry, before I got on the plane. So I I went one step even further. I went as far as to say, I am not bringing a computer, I'm not bringing a work notebook. If you know me, I have a notebook everywhere in case like an idea or something like inspires me, and then I start working away on my thing. So no work notebooks, no reading for work. Um, I'm bringing only a fantasy novel, and I had downloaded a season of um the Four Seasons show, the second season. Oh, so good. Um, and I'm not opening any emails. I'm not even going into my inbox. And then when I got on the plane, I did a little meditation and I said, My goal for this trip is to be present. Whatever happens, happens. But I am here to be fully present in this trip, in this life with my husband, in my body, in my joy. I am that's my whole goal for the trip. I could do an entire podcast on how fucking epic and amazing, how just everything flowed effortlessly on that trip. But I will sum it all up and say we laughed so hard so much until we're crying. My poor sister-in-law, Jay's sister, probably has like so many ridiculous videos we sent her of us just like laughing until we cried, but it really felt like Jay and I were first dating again. Like we had so much fun. And I think like when you think about that initial, what do we call that? The honeymoon period when you're first dating, it's like your only goal is to be present, right? You're not gonna be distracted, you want to fully learn who this person is, be with this person, be immersed with this person, and it really hit me like that's what's missing from so much stuff is just like that presence. Um, it was amazing. I wish I could take those four days and put them in some sort of memory bubble that I can just like jump into and relive it and do it over and over again. But the coolest thing that happened is that it really, I shook my head about that, it really shook me up. When I came home, my body and my energy were like, no, we're not jumping back into the grind. It's summer. Like, what can we experience here? I don't know if you guys have noticed, but like that 90s summer, let's have a 90s summer is trending everywhere. And I really don't think it's nostalgic. Like, yes, we love the music, we love the food, we love the activities that might be part of it, but we're nostalgic for presence. No timelines, no phones or notifications, like constantly pulling us away from the moment, no hustle, no grind. It that's what summer season is asking of us. I don't want you to think like we're abandoning our goals or our projects or our health, like really anything we're working towards, we're not we're not abandoning them, but we aren't making them the main focus. We're not making them a grind. We're creating space. Our focus is being present because I promise you, I promise you that with being present, with the acceptance, like you're accepting the invitation to ask yourself with that presence: can I be seen? Can I receive? Can I participate? Can I enjoy what I'm building? That is so huge for me. Can I can I take a step back? Can I take some space and truly enjoy what I'm building? It reinvigorates all of the things when we do that. It reinvigorates us. We are biologically wired to expand during this season. And I think the mistake we make, and I am saying we, because I realize I do this too, is we spend summer treating it like it's an extension of other seasons, more work, more productivity, more optimization. But nature is saying to us, like, go swimming, go to the patio, laugh with friends, stay outside longer. In springtime, we plant. In summer, it's growth and visibility. In fall, harvest and reflection. And then winter is rest and integration. We do not need to harvest right now. That is fall's job. And you might already be on this train of thought, and you're just like, hell yes, Alana, we're going in all in on summer. And I love that for you. And I love if you're at that point already. And I would say, guys, make that summer bucket list. I will tell you right now on mine. It's pizza and ice cream Fridays with Ray. My dad did this with us in the summer months, and it's one of my favorite childhood memories. It's like he'd pick us up from school, uh, we would go get an ice cream, be outside, share about the week. My dad travels a lot for work, so we didn't see him a lot during the week. Um, and I feel like with Ray, it's not that I travel, but I do work evenings, so I don't see her as much in the evening during the week. Um, so we catch up there and then we go buy everything to make pizzas and then we make pizzas. And it's just like it's such a it's such good family time and sharing. So that is that is on my list. But it also on my list is like I want to take her in a canoe. I want to take her for three hikes around the area, weekend farmers markets, hitting that Saturday weekend farmers market. Like, it doesn't need to be crazy stuff, guys. It can it can be the little simple things. But if you're at the point where I previously was where I had to talk myself into just like being on a vacation, like if you're there, here are some questions I would like you guys to ponder. Where have you confused productivity with worthiness? What would happen if you stopped trying to earn rest? What have you been putting off until you feel healed enough? And I say that because I see this a lot with summer. And before I had Ray, I very much was in this like I wouldn't bring bathing suits to a pool party because I'm like, oh, I have to lose weight before I can be in this bathing suit in front of people. Like you put things off, I say healed enough, but it's like until you get to that goal. What are you putting off in summer that you feel like you can experience because you're not there yet? And what would participation look like this summer? What would joy look like this summer? What would it feel like? And I just want to say this you don't need to earn summer. I'm gonna say it again for the people in the back. You do not need to earn summer. It is here. You get to participate in it to your fullest extent, how much you want to. It's like, can you just step into that present moment and take it? Just take it. That's all I have for you today, folks. Uh I got a jet out of here because I am going to go be very present at some Canada Day festivities with family and new friends, which I'm really excited about. I hope everybody has a wonderful day. If you're kicking off this Wednesday to be a long weekend from the holiday, rock the hell out of this long weekend. I am so excited for you. Summer is here, the warm weather is here. Let's freaking live it. I will see you all next Wednesday. Love ya.