Harvest Meditation Questions

This is the time of first harvest. Whether we are gardeners or not, we all have a harvest, and now is a good time to consider what you are harvesting. You can use seasonal meditation questions to help you look back over the past year and consider where you have been putting your energy and whether this has been fruitful or not. Below are some meditation questions around the theme of recognising and celebrating your own personal harvest:

• This is the season of harvest. What is my own personal harvest?
• Who has helped me realise my harvest and how will I thank them?
•  How will I celebrate my harvest and how will I share my abundance with others?

​The pandemic has laid waste many projects and put on hold many dreams. Consequently it's likely that this year your harvest might be different to what you were expecting. So, as well as celebrating achievements, it's also important to acknowledge any losses or disappointments that you have experienced during this turbulent time, and remember to give yourself the space to feel and process whatever feelings are arising. 

This year, under such trying circumstances, it's more important than ever to acknowledge your achievements and not to play them down. During lock-down maybe you've acquired new technological skills, managed to juggle work and child care, or cared for a vulnerable person. Your harvest may (or may not) be the fruition of a project that is dear to your heart. Or perhaps it's the blossoming of a relationship that you've been nurturing. It might be the peacefulness that you have felt since you have established a regular home yoga practice. Or perhaps it is literally vegetables and fruit that you’ve grown in your garden. Give yourself credit for whatever you've managed to achieve, however small. Be generous and be kind to yourself. Tough times require tender care- so give yourself a hug and say well done! 

The reaping of the harvest is associated with the theme of sacrifice. The grain harvest, in its passage from sheaf of corn to loaf of bread, is threshed, sifted, grounded, kneaded, and then assigned to the “sacred fire.” In many traditions there are variations on the story of the God of Fire and Light being sacrificed to Mother Harvest. This is a good time to consider what needs to be sacrificed to ensure the success of your harvest. Sometimes to say yes to your passion, you must say no to something else that is less important to you.

Understandably many of us feel fear and anxiety around the future and how the virus will impact upon our lives. We can offset some of that by taking some time to envision the future we want to create. Now is a good time to consider how we can make the new "normal" better than before. At this harvest time let us gather up seeds of hope for the future and build a better world. With this in mind, here are some meditation questions that will help you to consider what  you wish to preserve from your harvest, and which seeds you wish to store over the autumn and winter, ready for planting out next spring. The autumn and winter aren’t the best time for action, but they are the perfect time to dream and make plans about what you wish to make manifest during next year’s growing season.

• What are the seeds inherent in my harvest?
• Which seeds will I be incubating over the autumn-to-winter season, ready to plant out next spring?
• Which of my outer achievements need to be taken inside to be processed, the wheat sorted from the chaff?

At harvest our yoga practice helps us draw inward and uncover within ourselves the beauty and potential that lies at our centre. As the Earth spins its way around the wheel of the year, we stay connected to that kind, compassionate heart within. In this way we weather happiness and heartache, the gains and loss, and the ups and downs that the turning of the year brings us. Though the seasons may bring wind, rain, sunshine, or showers, we remain connected to ourselves, to each other, and to the earth.

The seasonal meditation questions are a key component of the Seasonal Yoga approach. They help you to learn how to align your own energy with the prevalent energy of the season.The above meditation questions come from chapter 5 of the Yoga Through the Year book.

​See also: First Harvest Yoga Practice
Bow to the Earth Sequence
Summer to Autumn Page
Lammas Page