The laws of nature are: Sow and grow in spring, grow in summer, harvest in autumn, store in winter. And our human bodies should follow the laws of nature to prevent illness and enhance Physical and Mental Health.
“To go with it will bring health; to go against it will bring illness”.
The law of spring is: As the yang energy goes up, the yin energy goes down. Yang energy creeps in after the winter solstice (the shortest days of the year). Because it is still cold, people still think we are in winter, but the energy of spring starts from there. Winter is the time for storing yang energy, when we stay indoors more than during other seasons. Eat warm food, have warm drinks, wear more, and use heaters to stay warm to store and preserve energy.
It is not just humans that do this – animals hibernate during winter to store their energy. Plants are the same. When spring comes, the temperature rises and the yang energy increases; all things on earth start to grow. Soil starts to become loose; bugs and animals start to emerge; birds return. This is nature helping us store in winter, waiting for spring, so everything can grow.
For human bodies, the stored energy needs to be released in spring. If we don’t, we might become sick during spring because of the increased inner heat in the body. If we didn’t store enough energy in winter, or damaged the energy in winter, we will have not enough energy to release and become more deficient leading to becoming unwell.
That is why there are some people getting colds, sore throat, phlegm, coughs, allergies, itchiness, there is an increase in strokes, and chronic hepatitis can play up during this season.
How do we preserve health in spring?
1. Refresh the spirit: springtime connects liver’s energy in Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). One of the functions of the liver is that it releases emotions to maintain peace of mind, happiness and control anger. When our Qi flows freely we can help prevent depression and anxiety. So walk in nature, look at greens and exercise.
2. Ensure you get enough sleep: we often feel sleepy during spring because the temperature goes up; the blood vessels, sweat glands and pores are diastole; the circulation is exuberant, and getting enough sleep is especially important for pregnant women, children, and for the elderly.
3. Get up earlier: because sunrise is yang energy rising, getting up when the sun rises will assist your yang energy in growing. Because spring time is liver time, and in TCM the liver nourishes the ligaments, this is the season to stretch it and exercise the body, improve circulation, and remove stagnation and toxins to make the body more flexible and healthier.
4. Clear the heat: after hibernation, we may store some heat. The temperature increases during spring and germs become more active, which is why there are more contagious viruses, germs, sore throats, flu, itchiness and allergies. Clear the heat in the body the following ways:
Drink more warm water and tea
Eat a lot of green vegetables and less red meat
Eat less spicy food
Drink less alcohol.
Nourish the liver: Liver stores blood, Helps Qi flow freely and its indicators are the eyes. We can nourish the liver in the following ways:
1. Appropriate exercise such as Tai chi, Qi gong, walking, dancing etc. to ensure there is enough fresh air, moderate sweating.
2. Eat less sour and oily food.
3. Maintain peace of mind to avoid getting over angry witch can damage energy (Qi) of the liver.
4.The liver connects to green colour – go into nature and look at green colours to help the liver’s energy to feel calm.
5. Avoid draft: Spring is a windy season; nature is very wise in using wind to blow away coldness, on the other hand people can catch the wind, which causes colds, coughs, asthma and arthritis. Also wind makes us feel emotionally unsettled.
6. For people with winter depression: spring is a good season to recover from it. Do appropriate morning exercise and have healthy diet to combat depression.
“Traditional Qi ” has two concepts : prevention and wisdom
Written by Angela Tian Zhu (Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioner)
Over the last few days lots of patients have been telling me they have more phlegm, coughs, runny nose and uncomfortable stomachs, heavy head, fuzzy head, less appetite, sore and tight joints, tiredness and low mood. All of these symptoms are indicative of dampness in the body.
What is dampness?
Dampness comes from our external environment or internally in the body. It may be due to Qi (Energy) deficiency preventing us from moving fluid from the inside to the outside of the body, or the external dampness from the weather or living conditions. Or eating and drinking excessively. It can stay in our body to make us unwell.
Apart from the symptoms listed above, how do we know more if we have dampness in the body?
1. Difficult to wake up in the morning and or puffy eyes and face
2. The tongue is bigger and has teeth marks. The coating on the tongue is thick and creamy.
3. Coughing with phlegm, heaviness in the head, sleepiness, poor memory, feeling depressed or anxiety and sometimes a heavy feeling on the chest.
What can we do?
Lifestyle:
Exercise daily.
Make yourself sweat lightly by having a warm soup or hot tea.
Eat light food, with less salt.
Have a nap if you can.
Do not sleep or sit in a damp place. Keep your clothing and linen dry.
Make sure clean the mould in the house and have indoor ventilation.
Food tips
Food tips:
Have pumpkin soup with ginger.
Barley with mung bean soup – add 1 handful each of barley and mung beans, simmer in 1 litre of water or more for half an hour.
Drink ginger tea, use more ginger in cooking, eat a bit more onion and garlic.
Make sure to go to toilet every day.
Drink less cold icy drinks, eat less sweet, fat and creamy foods, and drink less alcohol.
Qi Gong tips:
Reverse breathing – breathe in and expand your stomach out, breathe out hold your stomach in. Do this a few times in a row, and a few times each day.
Massage your stomach and ribs in a circular motion.
Being healthier makes you happier and being happier makes you healthier.
Traditional Qi’s two concepts are prevention and wisdom.
Often my patients tell me that whenever the weather is humid and hot, they feel depressed and pessimistic. These feelings are worse on rainy days. Sometimes they can feel heavy in their body, tired and have digestive problems.
Why does the humidity affect us?
Nature’s effect
Nature is the big universe, and the body is the small universe therefore we are part of nature. When the weather is humid and damp, the dampness from the external environment will cause dampness inside our body. Healthy people have enough Qi (vital energy) to eliminate and adjust the heavy dampness inside their body. But for those whose Qi is deficient or for those who may already have some fluid stored in their bodies, the dampness cannot be eliminated easily. When too much dampness stays in the body, it will make feel people tired and sometimes generate phlegm. When dampness is trapped in the stomach, it can block Qi movement, which may make you feel depressed or anxious.
Too much cold drink and food
Human bodies are supposed to decrease dampness and reduce heat by sweating. In our modern society people prefer to stay in an air-conditioned room or have icy cold drinks but this will keep heat and dampness in the body. With all the heat and dampness kept inside the body it can lead to fatigue, indigestion, and feelings of depression and anxiety. Also, we may catch a cold easily. (Special attention should be given to children)
External dampness plus internal dampness
Women’s health Special attention should be paid during menstrual period. The external dampness may cause abnormal menstruation, period pain and PMT with feeling more depressed and anxious.
Catching chill at night
In the hot weather, we enjoy having icy cold drinks during the day and keeping the air-conditioning on while we sleep at night. When we are asleep, it’s easy to catch a night chill. It can cause fatigue, headaches, make us feel tired, nauseous, and mentally disturbed.
How to look after ourselves in the summer days:
Appropriate amount of sweat every day is necessary. But too much sweat can damage Qi (vital energy)
Exercise properly and gently. Exercise accelerates blood circulation and sweat, which will benefit Qi (vital energy)
Try to cut back on icy drinks and food
Make sure to have a bowel movement every day. It helps with the elimination of waste and dampness.
Drink a lot of water. Urinate frequently.
Fresh ginger has the effect of dispelling cold, clearing damp, eliminating phlegm, and warming the stomach. Drinking ginger tea or using ginger in cooking helps achieve these effects.
Barley has the effect of clearing damp and eliminating phlegm. Put some barley together with rice when cooking rice or put some in when cooking soup.
Watermelon has the effect of removing heat and clearing damp, it accelerates urination.
Mung beans have the effect of clearing dampness and heat. Mung bean soup and mung bean sprouts are perfect food for summer.
Tofu has the effect of clearing heat.
Preserving health in humid summer days has a direct effect on our health in autumn. It also helps our mental and physical health.
Nourish our energy. When you take a drink of cold water you need to spend extra energy to warm up the water before your body can absorb it.
Strengthen the energy of your organs blood circulation. When cold water passes your chest, it may cool your heart, lungs and bronchi and effect breathing.
Protect your Stomach energy. Cold water can make your stomach contract, weaken the energy of the stomach consequently effect your digestion.
Help gynecological health. Cold water can give you period pain, irregular periods.
Help to reduce allergies. So, the energy can flow better in your body.
Help mental energy and enables us to be happier.
I suggest that people with depression, anxiety, tiredness and digestion problems, drink warm water.
Get up with the sun. The Rising Energy in nature helps our growing energy.
Avoid wind and keep warm. Spring wind blows away the cold winter energy and the weather changes very often and dramatically. So, avoid wind and keep warm to help the growing energy and prevent disease.
Eat more green vegetables and less red meat, spicy food and alcohol.
