Hello, I’m
Daniel Sannito (they/them)

We’re faced, every day, with stress, anxiety, and an overwhelming amount of stimuli. Our bodies, our minds, and our spirits absorb each of our experiences and store all of them in some capacity. With so much tension being held in our space, the commitment to engage in daily practices rooted in compassion, love, tenderness, and gratitude can be pivotal parts of our healing.

In the same way that we see leaves fall away from the trees, this season is the time for us to shed some of the clutter we’ve picked up over the course of this past year. We’re well into Vata season by now and this airy energy tends to leave us feeling as if we are a part of the fallen leaves, drifting in the wind. Both fortunately and unfortunately, this feeling is completely normal. If you’re experiencing anything that feels overwhelming or ungrounding, you are not alone.

As we come up on nearly 20 months of existing with a global pandemic, the holiday season approaching, and demands of everyday work and life persisting, navigating mental health can feel impossible. All of us are low on capacity, the reality is we all need more than any one of us can give. Because of these fluctuations in capacity, building a network and finding supportive practices might look a lot different this season than they have in the past.

As the brisk air of autumn arrives, we are reminded that vata season is approaching. The cycles of nature move in different forms and at different times depending on where you are located. Vata season is present during the time of year that most embodies the qualities of the vata dosha: dry, airy, light, cold, changeable, and mobile.

I grew up in New York and one of the things I distinctly remember is the smell of autumn, my favorite time of year. I remember the crunching of the leaves under my feet as the trees shed their layers and the cool air in the mornings indicating the seasons were indeed changing.

We live in a world that is largely created using straight lines, boxes, and sharp angles. We see it in the steel frame of a new building being built, in the grid structure of big city streets, even on our highways, outlined in colors and dashed lines. It’s no wonder we crave routine in our daily lives, the world we live in guides us towards structure at every turn. When we get caught up in structure and hard lines it’s easy to forget the natural ebb and flow that we embody.

Humans have an undeniable connection to nature and the environments around us. As the seasons change, you might notice mood changes or a craving for certain foods. Our bodies have this internal knowledge and are attuned deeply to our surroundings because we are part of them and they are a part of us.

“To know that you do not know is the best. To think you know when you do not is a disease. Recognizing this disease as a disease is to be free of it. - Lao Tzu”

If we learn anything over the course of our lives it’s that we are adaptable beings, capable of changing at a moment's notice. As we navigate the many transitions that life has to offer us, our ability to be flexible and move with, as opposed to against, is challenged. Though it may be uncomfortable at times, we all have the capacity for these types of shifts.

The world is full of potential and infinite possibility, when we are guided by curiosity we feel it in every action and interaction. Think of the wonderment in a child’s eyes, they show us that even what we might view as mundane is an opportunity to create something new. Everything they do, see, and interact with is exciting because there’s mystery and untold knowledge waiting to be uncovered. It’s a lesson in exploration to watch a child learn and experience the world for the very first time. They aren’t tied to expectation or outcome because they don’t have a reference for how they think things might turn out.