Quarantine Digital Care Package #22
Here’s to longer, brighter days and the first exciting signs of spring as our seasonal cherry blossoms and spring snowdrops and hyacinths start to crack open. This is also an important time to continue be steadfast about protecting your immunity! Despite milder conditions, we’re still in the midst of unpredictable Pacific NorthWest weather changes, which leave it susceptible to colds, flu or…worse…
In TCM, the Lung plays an important role of keeping your Wei Qi, your defensive layer of energy circulating just below the skin, but this function is disrupted when we are ill. Furthermore, viral infections in TCM, are considered to be transmitted into the body by external pathogens in our environment such as wind, cold and damp. These external pathogens tend to invade the body through vulnerable areas, commonly the back of the head and neck. Once in the body, these pathogens wreak havoc by blocking energy flow and clogging up organs like the lung, which is when you start feeling those familiar symptoms of scratchy throat, runny nose, achy muscles and fatigue. In light of pandemic, this is still an important time to support your immunity + tender Lungs as well as protecting that all important Wei Qi by keeping your feet warm and your neck and head covered.
This month’s package contains some simple suggestions of slightly improving your life, immune supportive advice both from a Medical Herbalism and TCM standpoint, thought-provoking podcasts shedding light on some of our Ancestors of Liberation Acupuncture, an Indigenous soundtrack and some nourishing seasonal recipes to support your digestive fire and indulge your culinary curiosity.
We’ll leave you with an affirmation from the Christian tradition, enfleshed:
darling one—
you precious mess—
you exhausted, grieving, hollowed, hallowed, hallelujah of a human—
today, if even for a moment, may you feel:
your own beating heart
your own courageous coeur
your chest rising and falling with breath
which is spirit
which is life force
keeping pulse
marking time
finding space—
regardless of how you are feeling
no matter what you are capable of
or not—
and, for just for a moment
may you find rest
a bit of ease, held
in that sacred rhythm
that cannot be
without you
because you, you precious mess,
have breath and heart and life force
pulsing through you, yet.
– rev. anna blaedel
