🍂 AI, Ayurveda, and the Art of Intentional Transition

Fall has always felt like a gentle nudge from the universe: a reminder that everything beautiful eventually changes. The mornings grow crisp. The sun lingers less. Even the trees, in their surrender, glow with grace.

For years, I resisted this season. The shorter days made me restless, as if something precious were slipping away. But over time, I began to see autumn differently—not as an ending, but a time for recalibration.

In Ayurveda, seasonal shifts invite cleansing and renewal. Panchakarma is a ritual of preparing, releasing, and rejuvenating. When I do my own fall cleanse, I notice how it mirrors my inner life: the discomfort of letting go, the fog of the in-between, and the peaceful lightness that follows.

William Bridges, who studied change from a psychological lens, said: “Change is external. Transition is internal.”

He too spoke of endings, the messy middle, and new beginnings — a cycle that aligns with Ayurveda’s rhythm perfectly.

Whether through cleansing or reflection, both frameworks remind us that transformation isn’t about rushing through it. It’s about learning to sit inside the messy and confusing middle.

This isn’t just true for the seasons or our inner work; it’s also true for the world we’re living in right now.

We are in the midst of a great reorganization - one of systems, minds, and meaning itself.

Artificial Intelligence is not just a technological shift; it’s an inner one as well. It’s changing how we think, create, make decisions, organize our attention, and even redefining what it means to be human.

Like any reorganization, this one asks us to examine our systems — both technical and personal:

So, perhaps that’s the invitation of this moment — to pause long enough to notice what’s running on autopilot — inside and out — and to choose, consciously, what remains.

My own exploration of AI has unfolded through three stages: Hesitation, Necessity, and Possibility.

At first — Hesitation.

AI felt too fast, too mechanical, too soulless. I worried it would diminish human creativity — strip away the thought processes, the imperfections, and the soul that make our work human.

Then came Necessity.

As my friend Andrew says, “You can’t not ride this wave — you’re already in it.” So, the question isn’t whether to ride the wave, but how to surf it.

The world was moving forward whether I was ready or not. So I began to engage. Slowly. Intentionally.

Now — Possibility.

AI has become less of a threat and more of a mirror.

It doesn’t replace human intelligence; it reflects it and expands it. Every prompt shows me how I’m thinking.

If you bring haste to the prompt, AI mirrors haste.

If you bring intention, it leans into insights.

If you bring compassion, it mirrors humanity.

But the mirror is only as clear as the consciousness that looks into it.

AI doesn’t give us wisdom; it gives us feedback on the clarity of our own vision.

It reflects not just what we know, but how we know — the quality of our attention, the subtlety of our questions, the care in our creation.

So the invitation is not to fear the machine, or to worship it.

The invitation is to stay awake — to meet each output with curiosity and discernment.

As the leaves turn and begin to drift, I remember: everything that falls is simply returning home.

Seasons teach us that letting go is not loss. It’s just a part of the rhythm of life. It’s renewal.

AI is not the story of machines learning to think; it’s the story of humans remembering to feel, to question, to create with care.

Anu Arora interviews Anna Liotta on the release of her insightful book Vagus Nerve Reset, Decoded. Anna discusses the importance of understanding and managing stress with nervous system regulation, emphasizing the vagus nerve's role in communication between the brain and body.

She shares personal experiences and practical techniques like humming and the "butterfly tap" to help calm and regulate the nervous system. Check it out for practical and insightful takeaways that will improve the way you respond to environmental stressors.