#92: Rhythms of Renewal: Restarting Routines Amidst a Winter Pause

It's time to get back into a routine. The body works in patterns and habits, so when it's spent some time being out of sorts because of schedule changes or downtime, as has been the case for me a lot recently with winter break and an obnoxious number of snow days, how do you return to the sense of normalcy or routine that keeps you thriving?

In this episode, I'll share with you...

1. How to know when you need to invite more routine into your life or back into your life
2. Why routines, patterns and habits actually create expansion and freedom in your life
3. How to balance routine with flow

After a restful break, it's time to rekindle routines and habits for a mindful journey through winter. In this episode I explore the delicate balance between structure and flow, navigating winter's pause while reigniting creativity and self-discovery. Learning to transition through life with ease is what cultivating health, harmony and happiness is all about. I share insights on cultivating wellness, fostering connection, and embracing the beauty of easing through seasonal transitions.


Resources:
Stop cycling between burnout and recovery - grab your Daily Rhythms Tracker to get started.

Register for our winter session of yoga + breathwork classes at our local studio.

Verilux® HappyLight® Luxe - Light Therapy Lamp*
*This is an affiliate link so if you end up purchasing , I receive a small compensation at no extra cost to you.

Other Resources:
How We Feel App (Android)
How We Feel App (iPhone)

Grab the full show notes and resources at www.cairnyogawellness.com/podcast92 and subscribe and listen wherever you catch your podcasts: 

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More Episodes Like This One:
#52: Intention-setting for Focus in Life, Energetic Rhythms Phase 1
#50: Stuck in Motion vs. Taking Action
#25: A Food Adventure with Blue Gate Farm

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Transcript

Cathy: 0:00

It's time to get back into a routine. The body works in patterns and habits. So when it's spent some time being out of sorts because of schedule changes or downtime as has been the case for me a lot recently with winter break and an obnoxious number of snow days. How do you return to a sense of normalcy or routine that keeps you thriving? And this episode I'll share with you how to know when you need to invite more routine into your life or back into your life. Why routines patterns and habits actually create more expansion and freedom in your life and how to balance that routine with flow. Cathy Struecker. I'm a state patrol wife, mama to three lively kiddos, a yoga teacher. Certified NLP coach and an energetic rhythms expert as an energetic rhythms coach. I help action taking women use their body's rhythms and the moon cycle to optimize productivity and avoid burnout without letting their desire to remain in control, alter their focus. And this podcast is all about doing just that and perhaps a bit more so that you can create your own path. So come along with me and may this episode serve as a nudge to discover tools that could help you on your path towards more intentional living. Enjoy the show. Hey friends. Welcome to episode 92. As you can tell, I took a bit of a break to be with my family and to be truly present. With my family over the holidays. But as I'll tell you, in this episode, it's time to get back into a routine. Everyone talks about how the new year is a time to start new habits and to set resolutions and to jump head first into them. But generally that momentum goes until about the third week in January and then comes to an abrupt halt or. Fizzles because let's face it. Lifestyle changes are hard. They take courage, discipline and persistence. And if you don't have someone holding you accountable, they can feel downright impossible. And if you have no sense of routine or pattern in your life, Already, I'm sorry to break it to you, but that new habit or resolution is bound to fail. I know that may not be what you actually want to hear, but it's the truth. So if you don't have a daily routine or a habit that supports you living the life that you want to be living, what are the ways you can begin to invite one, maybe that is reaching out to someone who can hold you accountable, like a coach or a friend or a mentor maybe that is just starting to create a sense of habits or routine into your life. But for those of you who generally do have routines or patterns that support you living your best life, but have fallen out of them because it may have felt like the forces of nature have been conspiring against you since about mid December with the holidays and weather and no school days. This is a reminder that one nature really has been trying to tell you something it's been telling you that it's okay to slow down and enjoy the true attributes that winter brings. Recovery from busy-ness and outward production. And I have to tell you, that's kind of what I've been doing and what I still continue to want to do as winter continues on. But it's also telling you that too. This is your nudge to start to get back into those routines and start to invite a subtle shift in increased energy into your life. Now that subtle shift in increased energy can be noticeable by the amount of daylight that we actually have in our lives. You might already be noticing depending on where you are, that we are indeed seeing a little bit more daylight each day, which is a blessing, but we're not out of the winter blues timeframe yet. And there are still those dreary cold days, at least where I live that tend to feel a little bit heavy. So. I'm just going to add this little side note in, but if you haven't ordered yourself a happy light yet I'm going to drop a link to the one that I use daily this time of year in the show notes, because in my experience it really does indeed work to improve mood and energy. This time of year. It definitely helps. Um, So that could be something that could also help you feel that little spark of energy. A little bit more this time of year. Last year also, I learned from our CSA farmer that our chickens ag production would pick up around Valentine's day because that's generally when there's a noticeable increase in daylight. So. Just to let you know, that is just around the corner. So. It's a little bit of encouragement and I do have to report that on February 14th last year. Our chickens laid more eggs than they had in months. So there is hope, right. And nature really does tell us something. More light is coming. In the meantime though, grab yourself a happy light and use watching the sky as the sun sets in the evening as maybe a mindfulness practice, just to remind you to be present and to use this time of winter to turn inward, I've got a whole nother episode coming on that sometime. So, uh, stay tuned for that. All this to say that now is the time to start gently inviting those routines and habits back into your life. Just like daylight kind of gradually increases and comes into our life. I've heard that we actually start getting, well, actually this is from the other perspective, I've heard that we, we lose. Um, after summer hits, after the summer solstice, we lose around like two minutes, a day of daylight, which is bonkers. Right. That's absolutely bonkers. So if we reverse that and put it this time of year, which I don't know if that's true or not. So you might not want to use this as scientific truth, but it's at least something to consider that we might be gaining around two minutes of daylight, um, a day, which is. Pretty fantastic. Just use that as a mindfulness practice. Personally. I enjoyed the downtime that I had with my family and kids, and even some of the unexpected snow days. But eventually my body spoke back. It's been telling me for a few weeks that my creative expression needs to be let back out there into the world. How do I know this? Because my neck and shoulders were extremely tight and it literally felt like energy was stuck right. In that area of my body. Conveniently that is the area that most closely aligns with the fifth chakra or the energy center right around your throat. Also known as the vocal center and the center for expression. My body was telling me that it was done with a lack of routine done with the lack of schedule done with nurturing everyone else's needs and desires, except my own. And I'm a creative being. As we all are just in case you didn't realize that even if you don't feel like you have a creative bone inside of you. You might just have become an expert at covering up. So yes, we're all creative. But even though my creativity can be expressed while playing with my kids or being with my family. It's just not the same as when I get to express in this way, in the way that comes from writing and speaking from my heart to people who aren't under the age of 10 and living in my own home. Has your body ever screamed something like this to you before? And did you listen? The body works in patterns and habits. So when it spent some time being out of sorts because of schedule changes or downtime, there comes a time when you need to recognize that the lack of schedule or routine may be causing your body to fight back and maybe keeping you feeling stuck. It's about remembering or reminding your body what it needs to do to thrive. This is true, not only in the daily activities you do, but also when it comes to the optimal breathing technique and spiritual connection, when you are disconnected from the rhythm of your life, rather than feeling it and experiencing it with your body, instead of just your mind or overthinking self. Your breath gravitates towards what you've learned to be easiest, which is often shallow breathing. And that shallow breathing ultimately leads to more anxiety, worry or stress. Which leads to ignoring the connection. With the highest or spiritual self to simply go through the motions of the demands that life places on you. But when you step in to take taking ownership of your thoughts and actions, You begin the process of remembering who you are. Remembering who's underneath the layers of armor that you've built up over the years as a warrior. And begin laying down that armor. You begin to uncover the inner child who's innocence, tenderness, curiosity, and creativity is begging to come out and play. And sometimes that means stepping back into routine so that there can be intentionality with it. Routines help you thrive because no conscious thought is needed. You expend less energy on non essential things because you know what to expect. That's not to say that you allow whatever you're doing to just become mindless. Placing intention behind or knowing your intention for the routines and patterns you keep certainly elevates the connection with them. But having baseline routines creates non-negotiables in your life. You don't necessarily have to think about them and they're things that aren't going away. It's kind of like brushing your teeth. They lower the pressure and noise in your world. That keeps you disconnected. And by doing so your mind can begin to tune inward toward deepening, whatever it is you are doing. Or do it with more focus and less distraction. It's why I taught one single yoga sequence for years because it removed the external noise and allowed for the creation. Of inner focus and calm. Now I've since understood that along with routine and structure needs to come, the ability to invite the feminine flow and softness into routine, including a yoga practice, but more on that in a moment. The body finds calm with routine. Just consider how you feel when you're in a room with let's just say three kids and they're all moving about doing their own thing. While you're trying to relax and read a book or watch a movie. Just bring that to mind for a moment. Imagine all these little energies, just walking around. Doing their own thing. Maybe asking you questions, whatever it may be. Imagine how you feel. When that's happening. Okay. There's a little bit of chaos going around. Going on around you. That compared to when you're sitting in a room with no one else or perhaps maybe one. Other person who is as equally engaged in a book or movie with you. The energy. The feeling is so much different. Right. The chaos. Creates chaos inside of you. But it's learning to calm in the chaos. When surrounded by chaos, the body feels that energy. But when routine and a pattern is in place, the body can more easily feel safe. And calm. And that takes practice. With limits, the nervous system knows what to expect, so it can operate from a ventral vagal state, which basically means it's operating from a place of optimal engagement. It's within this window of tolerance where even if a stressful situation arises, it can flow and adapt without becoming completely overwhelmed. And that's why we do things like breath, work, yoga, mindfulness, meditation. Walking. Because it allows the energy to flow outward to get out of us writing. Speaking using creativity, it allows the energy to flow so that you can find. This place of calm this place of centerdness within you. Just like we function best when our outward actions fall within a pattern or routine, our brain is actually wired to create pattern and routine within the body. This is partially why we feel so comfortable when we have that structure within our days. The body naturally gravitates towards routines and patterns because it seeks to find the most efficient way to do anything. Even if that way isn't contributing to you experiencing life as your best self. Consider a time when you may have injured yourself. Remember how your body adjusted accordingly so that that injured part could be nurtured or protected. Your body does that because it wants you to keep functioning in the most efficient way possible. Even if it means without using a part of the body. Which in turn has the potential to create the pattern of overcompensating or engaging other muscles that create a different discomfort in the body. Right. It takes finding the balance in both the routine or habit and allowing for the flow and adaptability to happen. The mind seeks routine and habit. In order to thrive. And when that routine and habit is missing, it can feel like you are floating aimlessly through the wind with no particular direction. But when there is too much rigidity, too much structure and no room to adapt or flow, it can feel like you're stuck in a box and can't move forward. So, how do you invite routine? With flow. You focus on the rhythm you want by setting an intention. Then put the structure in place by listening to your inner guidance to create a plan. You own your thoughts and actions by committing to yourself to following the plan and you witness what happens and how you need to adapt as the natural events in life happen. And when something tries to pull you out of routine, you start that process all over again. It's actually my flow process and it's the way to cultivate greater health, harmony and happiness. In your life. But it requires both routine. And adaptability. Habits and routines lower the pressure and noise in life. So we can thrive instead of just get by. They take the decisions out of life that create pressure and tension and keep us stuck, unfocused and feeling blah, or like chaos has taken over. When you create the right habits and routines, that foster connection with yourself. You free yourself up to enjoy the other connections in your life. More. And that's what greater health harmony and happiness is all about in my mind. It's not pushing others away with rigidity and over busy-ness, but instead. And join the intentional. Essential work to be done and creating fulfilling experiences through connection with self and others in life. So if your routine has gone away, for whatever reason, Whether it's just been for a brief season or one that's been lingering for quite some time. This is your nudge. It's your nudge to begin to find your rhythm. Once again. And if you need help doing that, I'm an email away. I'd love to hear from you. If you found this episode helpful or think that someone else might I'd be so grateful if you shared the episode or the show with someone else. Cultivating greater health, harmony, and happiness is not something that can be done in a silo. And it takes the support of a community and the vulnerability to share and ask for support when you need it. And full transparency. I'm not always great at doing this. In fact, I'm pretty rotten at it. But it's one of my intentions this year to get better at it. And that means I want to grow this community of health, harmony and happiness followers so that no one does have to go it alone or feel alone in the process of uncovering what health harmony and happiness looks like to them. So please, I encourage you to invite even just one other person to come along for the ride. As we set out to start a health harmony happiness movement that changes lives for generations to come. I'm Cathy Struecker and you've been listening to health, harmony and happiness with Cathy. Cheers to cultivating a global impact through health, harmony, and happiness.