Lammas is usually celebrated on or around the 1st of August and it marks the cutting of the first corn or wheat. It’s a cross-quarter festival on the Wheel of the Year and whereas the solstices and equinoxes are precise astronomical events, the cross-quarter festivals are affected by climate and weather and vary considerably from place to place and from year to year.
Lammas is more of a feeling in the air that the season is shifting. I’m already noticing the sun is waking up a bit later and going to bed a little earlier (like me!). The morning and evening air is a little fresher, even though the days are often the hottest of the year (hold that thought… they are coming!!).
If we look to nature, we see the ripening of the harvest in the fields and on the trees. The birds all but disappear in August (just like me!). They’re exhausted from rearing their broods and as they moult their feathers they hide away and rest.
We can do that too. Lammas is a perfect moment to rest and reflect on the year so far. Lie back in the sunshine and take stock and replenish your energy before things begin to get busy again. This is only the start of the harvest season and soon enough we’ll launch into the ‘beginning again’ energy of September.
There is a well-used phrase in gardening – “Have the right plant in the right place” – meaning that you need to have the correct individual conditions for life to really thrive and flourish. It’s the same for us. We have to work out what we personally need at each point in the cycle of the seasons. We need to learn what gives us energy at different times of year, and what depletes us. And focus on the first!
Some good ‘summer stock-take’ questions to ask are:
~ What have I learned so far this year about taking good care of myself?
~ What’s worked well?
~ What hasn’t?
~ What can I change now, in order to have an even better harvest?
~ What do I need to graciously let go of? …have any plans ‘failed’ to grow well?
Have fun with these musings. They’re best contemplated on a lazy day at the beach, or under the shade of your favourite tree. Be like the birds… chill out, it’s holiday time!
I stop teaching in August and I relish letting go of that routine. It’s my time to replenish my own yoga practice and let new inspirations bubble up whilst I’m not really thinking about it.
I want to recapture the feeling of being eight years old at the start of the six-week summer holiday. Back then, August was endless and September may as well have been a different country. You remember it too! Let’s conjure it up again and let August’s magic melt us into timeless relaxation, playfulness and pleasure.
Then we’ll be ready and raring to go again in September. (you’ll find dates and details for the autumn restart here.)
I wish you the best of the season and I will see you on the other side!
Tracey Roberts 