18/11/2025
🍂How would you describe the season?
The landscape is changing almost daily, not just the turning of the leaves but the light of the sun lower in the sky, the seed heads intricate & delicate, and this morning the first frost. In a book chosen to inspire a small cut flower bed next year, I read that in the traditions of ancient Japan there are not 4 seasons but 72. Sitting within 24 broader seasonal periods (sekki), the year is divided into 72 kō, (micro-seasons) with each kō lasting just five days. These micro-seasons are poetically defined by moments in nature, the return of migrating birds, the blooming of a particular flower, the snow melting. At the time of writing we are in the Japanese season of rittō (beginning of winter) and the micro-season Kinsenka saku (marigold blooms) How wonderful not to blanket a 3-month period with a solitary word but to notice and honour all its subtle changes. How would you define a micro-season for the next 5 days?
While the landscape is everchanging it is always good to come back to routine and habit to keep us grounded. An hour on the mat to enjoy a moment of quiet and stillness followed by flowing movement to energise and free the body.
Look forward to seeing you in class.