H&H Acupunks Fall Season Tips
As much as we’d like to ignore it, summer has gradually been winding down with shorter days, chillier evenings and leaves start to show their fall colours. This is also a time to begin the process of nesting, winding down from the warm, expansive, social season of summer as well as reaping the abundance of harvest.
Fall within TCM is the season of dryness, contraction and moving inward. It corresponds to the Lungs and Large Intestine and is associated with the Metal element. During this season, our lungs are more susceptible to “external pathogens” (viral, bacterial infections) and they need additional support to weather this seasonal transition.
The large intestine unsurprisingly is associated with “letting go” and, just as trees shed their old, we may find ourselves needing to let go of things that no longer serve us, despite their former utility. Emotionally, the season is associated with sadness and grief and, as the season shifts, we might find ourselves feeling these feelings more readily and forcefully.
To maintain balance during the gradual transition to cooler, windier, damper and darker months of the Metal season, here are some tips:
Letting go emotionally
The Fall season is associated with metal in the wǔ xíng (five phases – sometimes translated as elements) concept utilized by Chinese Medicine. Under this theory, metal governs (to name a few) the emotions of sadness and grief, the nose sense organ, the sound of crying, as well as the flow of Qi in the Lung (yin) and Large Intestine (yang) channels/organs systems. Those of us who follow this set of concepts and practices look to the five phases to understand how to approach each season of the year, and each season of life. For one, we can look to the function of the organ systems associated with each phase for guidance, extrapolating these specific functions into broader concepts.
Through this line of thought we can come to one of the important approaches to metal season – letting go. If the Large Intestine organ system is in balance it is keeping what we need and letting go of what we don’t, as the final point of decision in our digestive process.
Holding on to too much leads to emotional constipation, and getting rid of too much is equally harmful to us in this time. Metal season wants us to recognize what we value and hold on to only that, shedding whatever is no longer of use to us. This can be an important approach as the light, and our bountiful summer energy, gives way to the quieter, colder, darker parts of the year. Letting go is also an important part of the grieving process, which many of us find ourselves feeling at the waning of the summer heat.
Grief asks us to celebrate the value that something or someone brought us, while allowing the cycles and flows of life to continue to move on, as they must.
Focusing on seasonal foods & eating with the season!
In the fall, as the weather begins to turn cooler, it is important for us to shift our diet to support our bodies through the seasonal change. This includes eating more fruits and veggies that are local during this fall harvest season in your area like squash, apple, pears, beets, carrots, potatoes and yams and less raw foods, salads and juices.
Pungent, aromatic foods like garlic, horseradish, watercress, cabbage and ginger are the flavours of the Metal element and help us to support our immune function and keep our defensive Qi circulating during this dip in cooler temperatures.
It is also time to start incorporating soups, broths, stews, congees and warm porridges back into our diet. These foods will help our digestive fire grow to support Qi building and immune support through the winter season. Start to slow down your routine with longer cooking times and heartier ingredients to help nourish the body. Autumn is a season associated with wind and dryness so it is important to eat moistening yin foods to help moisten the lungs. This can include steaming our foods and having more warm broth and soups. It is also important to limit sugar, fruit juices, dairy, cold foods and drinks as these foods can cause dampness and produce phlegm and mucus production in the body, especially if you are sick or experiencing nasal or lung congestion
Protect your Wei Qi
As the summer heat wanes and the nights get colder, especially closer to the shores, we need to start thinking about covering some of our most vulnerable spots to keep the first rounds of seasonal illness at bay. Our Wei Qi circulates in the most superficial channels of the body, acting as a defensive barrier against external pathogenic invasions (EPIs), the Chinese medicine concept we could – in-part – equate with the bacteria and viruses that cause colds and flus. In Chinese medicine these EPIs are represented by environmental pathogens rather than microbiological pathogens: wind, cold, damp, dryness, heat (and its more extreme forms fire and heat-toxin), and summer-heat. If these pathogens are able to invade deeper levels of our bodies, in turn our disease becomes more severe and more difficult to heal.
As the summer heat wanes and the nights get colder, especially closer to the shores, we need to start thinking about covering some of our most vulnerable spots to keep the first rounds of seasonal illness at bay. Our Wei Qi circulates in the most superficial channels of the body, acting as a defensive barrier against external pathogenic invasions (EPIs), the Chinese medicine concept we could – in-part – equate with the bacteria and viruses that cause colds and flus. In Chinese medicine these EPIs are represented by environmental pathogens rather than microbiological pathogens: wind, cold, damp, dryness, heat (and its more extreme forms fire and heat-toxin), and summer-heat. If these pathogens are able to invade deeper levels of our bodies, in turn our disease becomes more severe and more difficult to heal.
In addition to acupuncture and dietary therapies to bolster our Wei Qi, one way we can keep ourselves protected from seasonal illness is by improving our physical barriers with hats, scarves, socks, tights/pants, and jackets! The areas where these superficial channels tend to be most prone to invasion are the head and neck, the ankles, and the feet, so don’t hesitate to bundle up when out on your walks taking in the beautiful slow shift to Fall we are starting to see all around us.
Use moxabustion!
Chinese style moxabustion or “moxa” consists of mugwort (Artemesia vulgaris) rolled into a cigar-like stick. This stick is ignited and the heat from the stick is indirectly applied over regions of the body or specific acupuncture points. Moxa has properties to warm the acupuncture meridians (heat can often be felt traveling along channels), stimulate circulation of qi and blood, boosts vitality and opens pores or collaterals. It has been traditionally used on specific acupuncture points during the changes of season to boost immunity and prevent illnesses such as the common cold and flu.
It’s during this seasonal transition that our ancestors traditionally to prepare for the change of season through stockpiling the harvest, changes in diet and wardrobe, but also boosting our resistance to illness using tools such as moxabustion! Late summer and into early fall is moxa time. And since we are still living in a pandemic world, it is of the utmost importance that we protect and support our immune systems as we enter another school year.
In case you weren’t aware, we have smokeless moxa sticks and post-COVID/viral recovery kits, complete with detailed instructions in our lobby.
Get Gua Sha!
Gua sha, is a simple and safe technique used to restore energy flow in areas of the body blocked by the invasion of external pathogens. It is a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practice ultilizing a smooth-edged tool to stroke your skin while they press on it. This motion raises small, red/purple dots that show under your skin called petechiae.
Practitioners believe that gua sha recirculates stagnant, unhealthy bodily matter from blood stasis within sore, tired, stiff, or injured muscle areas to stimulate new oxygenated blood flow to the areas, thus promoting metabolic cell repair, regeneration, healing, and recovery.
We can use gua sha to ‘release the exterior’ – open up the superficial channels that circulate our defensive (Wei) Qi around the body. These are the sites where external pathogenic invasions (EPI; the TCM concept roughly analogous to bacteria and viruses in Western medicine) occur, resulting in that nasty Fall cold or flu. When we release the exterior we can drive out the early stages of EPI and prevent the virus from taking hold, making us sick. Gua sha can also be preventative, shoring up the circulation of Wei Qi so you are better protected from illness going around your work, school, or home.
If you’re curious about how Gua Sha can boost your immunity (and more), book a session with Jaay (Jade) Kulhawy-Bartlett, R.Ac.!
