Gather What’s Ripe & Prepare To
Release What’s Ready To Fall
“Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet."
-Thich Nhat Hanh
Hello, Everyone!
I hope that you’re all well, relishing in the transition between the golden colors and harvest that come with late summer and this rapid movement into crispness and letting go of the fall season.
September always seems to carry a unique rhythm. During this month, life often feels full—new beginnings, packed calendars, quick shifts, and that overall feeling of busyness that comes after summer. It’s also harvest season. Apples and pumpkins arrive, late summer sunflowers lean toward the light, and the air is starting to grow crisp.
Right now, we’re in this beautiful transition that invites us to stand within this golden season of abundance and notice what’s here now—what’s here to be gathered, enjoyed and celebrated—while also preparing to turn inward.
Autumn invites us to notice what can be released, so that we create room for rest and renewal in the months ahead. Trees show us that letting go creates space, as they’re also preparing to rest and renew. When leaves drop, more light comes through. We see the sky again. We see the structure of the branches. And, we’re reminded that impermanence is about the beautiful cycle of transitions—one season folding itself into the next—and the gloriousness of the change itself.
How MBCT Help Us Meets This Season
Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) pairs well with the “both/and” of this time of year. We gather what’s here—the thoughts, emotions, and body sensations that are present—and we practice letting go of what we don’t need to carry. As leaves come down and more light comes through, we learn that we, too, can set down unhelpful habits of mind (rumination, worry) so that attention, breath and presence have more space.
Mindfulness isn’t a static state. There is moment-to-moment ongoingness, in which we get to remember to choose our intention, where our attention goes, and the attitude we want to bring into each moment. Instead of getting pulled into mental storms, we return to what’s directly here—the contact of the feet on the ground, the feel of air on the skin, the soundscape around us, and our breath as an alive experience. This multisensory attention gives less fuel to the loops that keep us stuck and offers us a bit more spaciousness to respond to what we’re with in this moment with steadiness and kindness.
In practice, this might look like:
Welcoming what’s here without clinging or pushing away. Simply notice and name (“sadness,” “ease,” “tightness,” “cool air”) without judgement or expectation.
Remembering to remember (Sati). Gently and mindfully coming back, again and again, to the present moment.
Allowing space for what’s changing. Celebrate and harvest what has ripened, and prepare to let go of what’s ready to fall.
Turning the attention inward as we move from summer’s yang into the quieter months, placing your focus on what supports wellbeing.
The Practice
A Golden Season Walking Meditation
Take a short, unhurried walk (or sit by a window if walking isn’t possible).
Slow your pace enough to feel each step—heel, arch, toes. Feel into the Thich Nhat Hanh quote above and “Walk as if you are kissing the Earth with your feet.”
Open your senses. What do you see, hear, smell, and feel on your skin right now?
Quietly name what’s present (one or two words): “gold light,” “cool air,” “leaf underfoot,” “sadness,” “ease.” Welcome all of it.
Notice any clinging (longing for what was) or resisting (pushing away what is). Meet both with kindness and return to taking your next step.
If possible, repeat the same route several times this month. Let the small daily shifts you notice teach you about impermanence and the beauty of change. And, remember that mindfulness means “to remember.” Taking the same daily walk helps us remember to notice and to return to this present moment—again and again.
This month, this invitation is to take a gentle inventory. What in your life has ripened and can be received? And, what is ready to be set down so that more space and more light can reach the places that are calling for it?
I want to express my deepest appreciation and love to each of you.
Thank you for your presence—I’m so happy that you are here!
May you be filled with warmth and kindness.
May you be happy, healthy and safe.
May your heart know peace.
Wishing you presence, softness and clarity as this busy season unfolds.
With warmth,
Karen
NEW MONTLY MBCT & MINDFULNESS MEDITATION GROUP!
This group, geared toward those who have completed the the 8-week MBCT course, as well as anyone interested in deepening their mindfulness/meditation practices, especially to help with with low mood, stress or worry, will be offered once a month. Our 75-minute session will include a dharma talk, a 30-minute guided meditation and a group discussion on a mindfulness topic that is relevant to our modern lives.
Please join us if you're interested!
The schedule through the end of the year will be as follows:
Thursday October 2 from 7 - 8:15 pm EST
Tuesday November 6 from 7 - 8:15 pm EST
Thursday December 4 from 7 - 8:15 pm EST
You can find more details and register for the group on my Mindfulness Meditations Sessions webpage. Also, please feel free to reach out to me directly with questions at: karen@drkarenwalant.com.
Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)
8-Week Online Course for Anxiety, Depression & Stress
October 1 - November 19, 2025
My 8-week online Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) course is designed to help you tap into your heart, body and mind and listen deeply to your inner experience. You’ll gain insight and skills that give you a choice as to how to respond to life’s difficulties while learning how to cultivate a new and gentler relationship with anxiety, depression and stress—and a more compassionate way of being within yourself.
Integrating current developments in neuroplasticity with ancient wisdom, this course, based in the work of Jon Kabat- Zinn, offers you the structure to practice meditations designed to assist you in becoming your own inner healer. Along with meditation, you will be offered additional mindfulness-based tools and techniques to break free from habitual patterns and automatic reactions, enabling you to turn your mind-heart-body into a skilled ally that supports you in both long-term health and healing and in managing the ups-and-downs of everyday life.
The next online MBCT course will begin on October 1 and conclude on November 19, with a 2-hr orientation on September 17th, 7-9pm EST. (For those observing Yom Kippur, an alternate date will be offered for the Oct 1 class).
Beginning on October 1, we'll meet every Wednesday evening 7-9 pm EST for eight weeks, and there will be a half-day retreat on November 2, 11:30-5 EST.
More information about the course can be found on the 8-Week MBCT Course page of my website.
Please contact me directly at karen@drkarenwalant.com for more information and pricing.
If you know of anyone interested in deepening their mindfulness and meditation practices, please forward this email along and invite them to join as well! All are welcome and can sign up for the newsletter on my website.
Dr. Karen Walant has been a practicing psychotherapist for almost three decades and holds a MSW and PhD in Clinical Social Work from New York University. Karen supervises other clinicians in private practice and has given lectures around the country on issues related to attachment, mindfulness, meditation, addiction and recovery, deepening the therapeutic relationship, parenting with kindness, and fostering compassionate relationships. She is the author of Creating the Capacity for Attachment: Treating Addictions and the Alienated Self. A long-time meditator and teacher, Karen is a 2021 graduate of the 2-year Mindfulness Meditation Teacher Training Program (taught by meditation experts Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield), is certified as a Mindfulness Meditation Mentor, and is certified as a Level I Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT) Teacher through Brown University, and completed her Certificate in Mindfulness and Psychotherapy from the Institute for Mindfulness and Psychotherapy in 2022.