Autumn and Chinese Medicine- Wisdom for immunity and emotional wellbeing
According to Chinese Medicine wisdom if a person is sick, or has a condition, the practitioner will look at one’s environment instead of treating the symptoms alone. Diet, exercise, mood, energy levels, relationships and social interactions are some important factors that contribute to our health.
The best way to stay healthy according to Chinese medicine, is learning about the nature of each season and living in harmony with its spirit. If we are living in harmony with the world around us, we see that changes in nature call for changes in how we live our lives.
We are transitioning into Autumn. The hot summer days gradually become shorter and the leaves begin to change. They grace us with their beautiful colours before they fall off the tress to prepare for the coming winter. It is the time of the year that we go from the relaxed and carefree attitudes of summer to the more serious and introspective energies associated with autumn. It is a time of turning inward and storing only what is required for winter.
Autumn is associated with metal and metal is the energy of the lung (yin) and large intestine (yang) meridians. The Lung meridian is associated with ‘grief and loss’, of attachment, organisation, and setting limits and protecting boundaries – breathe in the new to clear and cleanse. The Large Intestine Meridian is associated with ‘letting go’ of waste (physically and emotionally).
Emotions that particularly have a negative effect on the metal element are grief, guilt, regret, longing and the inability to let go. A heightened awareness of these emotions can coincide with the change of season.
For example, grief or attachment issues can be associated with the loss of summer which affects some people greatly due to less light and warmth.
Since Autumn is a natural time of letting go and getting organized (think of trees dropping their leaves and animals getting organized for hibernation), a lack of awareness in this regard can lead to feelings of stagnation and a lack of harmony with life’s flow. All of which can affect the health of your Lungs and Large Intestine channels.
Thus, emotionally, Autumn is the perfect time to let go of what we are holding onto that doesn’t serve us anymore. Autumn is a time to slow down and replenish.
Tips to prepare for Autumn and move through the metal emotions:
- Acupressure: great to help circulate qi in the lungs and Large intestine channels. Large intestine 4 is a great all round point and easy to find. It lies in the fleshy depression at the base of the thumb and index finger. This point is used in Traditional Chinese medicine to strengthen immunity, decrease pain, to help with allergies, cold and flu symptoms, to regulation digestion, and to calm the mind. Hold for 10 breaths on both sides.
- Breathe! More attention to breath this season. Breathing in your intentions and exhaling all that no longer serves you.
- De clutter: practice letting go of material things. Go through your closet and donate everything that you no longer use. Be thorough, create space in your life for new opportunities.
- Resolve old hurts: let go of negativity, towards yourself and others. Sometimes just bringing awareness to those mind patterns helps to create change. Forgiveness allows us to release what we are holding onto, whether forgiving others or forgiving ourselves.
- Sleep! Make sure you are getting good quality restful sleep, aim for 8 hours! sleep facilitates the cleansing and organization of your brain
- Incorporate Yin yoga or restorative yoga to your practice. It is the ultimate form of self-healing therapy. We hold onto so much past hurts, traumas, experiences in our tissues and our fascia. The calm nature of the practice and the long holds help in letting go of both mind and body and creating space for new experiences/ emotions to take place.
The nature of kinesiology is paying attention to how are emotions are being stored in our bodies. Every fluctuation in aches, digestion, mood, menstrual cycle, energy levels is our bodies way of telling us to pay attention and adjust how we are living. It is beautiful to be in synch with nature and a gift to be so invested in our well-being.