04-Sep / 0 COMMENTS

The peak of summer is behind us now even as we slog through the last days of heat and humidity here in Maryland. This time of transition in late August through September, between summer and fall is a separate and distinct season in Chinese medicine and is referred to as late summer. This is harvesting season, literally and metaphorically – a time when the crops are done growing and are ripe and bountiful for the gathering.  This is also a time when many of us are sun kissed, happy and healthy having managed to take a holiday by the shore or simply able to enjoy the longer day light.

 

 

Around the world, customs of celebrations are practiced to mark this time of harvesting after summer’s diligent labor.  I have memory of being a child in South Korea receiving the gift of a new outfit each harvest season as part of harvest celebration that includes parades, feasts of special harvest foods, ceremony to honor the ancestors, and the festivities that allowed children to stay up late into the night to enjoy the fireworks – empty soup cans filled with flame and rigged with a rope, the end of which one grasps while swooshing it around and around in circular motion as wide as your arm would allow.  These cans lit up like mad fireflies against the indigo country sky.

 

 

In Five Element Acupuncture, the late summer is associated with the earth element.  This element is attributed to how raw materials ingested transform and transport in nature and in our body to where they are needed to serve life.  Observe how fields of earth allow seeds to take root and sprout; the warmth of sun and rain infused with the goodness of the soil engender growth to maturity.  The human body parallels this natural process as the stomach takes in food as well as thoughts, sounds, ideas and experience, the immaterial – in their raw form.  The phrase, “You eat with your eyes first.” is true as the opening point of the Stomach meridian begins at the bottom orbital ridge of the eye. The Officials of Earth Element, the stomach and spleen are charged with taking the material and immaterial substance of life and changing it to something for others and the self.  The spleen is charged with keeping things moving by transformation and transportation.

 

 

The earth element out of balance may show up in your body mind and spirit as excessive rumination, circular thinking, churning, excessive worrying, feeling overwhelmed or over-full, overly nurturing behavior (smothering), inability to take in nurturing or sympathy rejection, poor concentration, poor memory, lack of motivation and couch potato-y behavior.  Physical symptoms may include lack of ease in the gastrointestinal region such as indigestion, diarrhea, abdominal bloating, heartburn, chronic tiredness or weakness, constipation, thyroid problems, respiratory difficulties to name a few.  And these are all symptoms that can be addressed through gentle insertion of few needles in the appropriate points of the body.

 

 

Be mindful of what you are taking in – there is awful lot of negativity in the news and the media. Avail yourself to positive and uplifting messages.  Surround yourself with friends in whose company you know life as kind and encouraging.  As you energetically balance your mind and outlook in life, take time also to choose foods that are vibrant and nourishing.  Allow yourself the time to mindfully prepare and savor the goodness from nature… choose whole foods; grains, fruits and vegetables cooked with herbs and spices that complement the flavors. Eating too much raw vegetables creates extra work for the digestive system – celebrate slow food.

 

 

This is the season to take in the bounty and fullness of life.  Gifts of devotion and service are associated with the sweetness of life in late summer.  When you are living in harmony with the Earth element, you are able to receive and ask for help.  You listen more closely to your innate body wisdom to know when it’s time to pause and to catch a breath.  One whose earth element is in balance is able to give and receive support, and therein lies the essence of the earth element – the cycle of giving and receiving, thoughtfully engendering and nourishing others while also taking in and transforming the substances of life to engender your own transformation.  What are You harvesting this late summer?  To whom have you shown appreciation?  How are you nourishing yourself?  Could you take some time now to Simply fill yourself with Gratitude?