Yahoo!! Spring is coming (or rather here). At least that is what OUR calendar is saying.
However the Chinese have both a solar and lunar calendar that they use to mark the passage of time. Their seasons have ‘nodes’ which are about 6 weeks in length so a normal season which is 12 weeks is broken into two. There are further divisions in each of these but this is getting confusing so I will stop here.
Right now this is actually the second month in spring with the first month starting shortly after the Chinese New Year which was Jan 22 (pretty early).
We look at the Yang energy movement for marking the beginning of spring. Yang energy is moves upwards and outwards and this begins to rise after the shortest day of the year back in December. If you have noticed we usually have a number of trees and plants sprouting their shots and buds starting in January. Even with all the storms across the country wreaking havoc and looking nothing like spring, Yang energy is rising.
We humans have certainly done a number on what’s going on outside in our environment and that activity impacts us on our insides also.
As we say in Asian medicine – as outside, so inside. As above, so below.
We feel that everything is connected. Even though we can go inside our climate controlled homes, the outside can still impact us.
We just moved our clocks ahead one hour. It is said it can take a week to completely recover from that maneuver – outside is impacting inside on a very subtle but strong way.
With all this movement, not necessarily to our advantage, we need to remember to continue to nourish our bodies and minds.
Liver is the energy of spring and it wants to get moving. We want to get out of the house after being locked in from the storms. It makes us angry when we can’t move, get our way, do what we want. Remember how angry we got when Covid hit and we were locked down from moving and connecting with others? The planet is still recovering from that anger. We see it is the divisiveness between each other, we don’t like being told what to do, and we’re tired of being isolated. We go through this every year to some degree but I think this year is particularly difficult because we are really coming out from under the last Covid mandates. (I’m as happy about this as you are). But we need to protect the Liver from becoming too warm and active too fast.
Every Spring we want to nourish the Liver. Keep it from having hissy-fits and guide it to smooth movement into the seasons of more movement and connection with others.
This is the perfect time for some Chinese herbal formulas and set up an appointment with your acupuncturist. Energy movement and balance are what we are all about. Think of the time before the seasons change as the time you begin to pack for a trip to another climate. You don’t carry your winter boots around with you all summer. You have to find your flip flops and get your toes used to wearing them again.
And remember spring allergies? I have a great allergy treatment program and great herbs to help clear those clogged sinuses.
So call the office and set up an appointment. You can also go to my website: www.oregoncityacupuncture.com
and open the Connect tab. Fill in the info and I can connect with you faster.
Please share this email or Facebook post with all your friends. Anyone can sign up for the newsletter on the website.
If you got this at an address you don’t want me to use, please unsubscribe. But I’d love to stay connected so just sign up again with your preferred email on my website.
To celebrate a little of the spring “Greeness” which is the color of spring in the Asian medicine and the color we associate with St. Patrick’s Day I included a pdf you can download and color.
If you missed the Valentine’s day pages, please go back to that blog Share the Love and get those below.
Also stay tuned in for another email announcing my Easter / Spring coloring book which I will be releasing very shortly.
Thanks for taking the time to read all this. Please stay connected.
