Heart Drawing by me :) Pencil + graphite on paper.
Connecting With Summer
Every change of season presents the opportunity to observe the gifts of the natural world and our relationship to them. How we intentionally live during transitional periods is greatly affected by factors such as: temperature, light exposure, constitution, attitude, nourishment, education, and past conditioning. We must be aware of our influences and how to take care of ourselves during seasonal changes so that we can live well and contribute to the ripple effect for our community and loved ones. I hope this post can give further insight in regards to how you can fully engage with the summer season and what it has to offer so that you may thrive with it and carry its harvest into darker months. This post will focus mainly on the Chinese Medicine (CM) heart organ and the fire element in regards to well-being.
BEFORE WE BEGIN: Clarifying the Chinese Medicine term ‘Organ’
When acupuncturists refer to a specific organ we are describing a system of interrelated physiological functions and senses, meridian and paired organ processes, mind-body-spirit aspects, and cosmic-seasonal resonances that collectively refer to one’s inner-external state of balance and patterns. This is unlike western medicine, which focuses on physiological functions related to anatomical structures in health and disease.
THE HEART [Hand Shao Yin]
The heart is the supreme ruler of the body-mind-spirit as its functioning is essential to life; it ultimately coordinates all other organs akin to an emperor.
Characteristics
Governs blood and blood vessels.
Controls blood vessels with the lung.
Manifests in complexion.
Opens to the tongue.
Controls sweat with the lung.
Sense: speech
Smell: burnt/scorched
Flavour: bitter
Element: fire
Emotion: joy
Circadian rhythm peak: 11am – 1 pm
Spirit: the Shen (mind-heart); Reflects inner vibrancy through the eyes; the ability to be aware of one’s role in creating his/her own destiny through conscious living and inquiry as attuned to core beliefs, truths, and values.
Organ interior/exterior relationship: Small Intestine foot tai yang.
Six channel theory pairing: Kidney shao yin.
In Balance
Physically fit.
Good circulation.
Free flow of sweat.
Clear communication and focus.
Wise attention or consciousness of one’s
actions, habits, thoughts, and attitudes.Expression of authentic feelings and ideas.
General sense of well-being.
ImbalanceInsomnia
Intense dreams.
Heart palpitations.
Discomfort around the heart.
Anxiety
Depression
Restlessness, agitation, easily startled.
Panic, hyper-arousal.
PTSD
Addiction
Bipolar disorder or mania.
Excessive and spontaneous sweating.
Speech impairment.
Inappropriate or incongruent laughter.
Affected by any chronic emotions, shock, and trauma.
With excessive joy and excitement, energy rises and scatters heart qi and affects ability to concentrate.
Small intestine pathologies.
Attuning to Summer
To attune to summer, meaning to attract more of its energy into our lives and feel the benefits, we can get up earlier than darker months and get outside. Exposure to light first thing in the morning is important for circadian rhythm balancing as it signals hormones that help with mood, appetite, and sleep regulation. Increased activity during warmer and lighter months helps to get qi (energy) moving, blood and lymph flow, which in turn supports temperature, mood, and blood sugar regulation. During summer months we can also make more visits to the farmer’s market to buy local foods that have increased qi due to short travel distances from farm to plate and healthy soils that carry beneficial microorganisms for digestive health.
Since the sun is out for longer periods of time and with greater intensity, this increases our digestive fire within so that we can more easily digest foods that have not been pre-digested with cooking methods. We may naturally crave more raw foods during warmer months, as they are more cooling; some raw food consumption is okay until early afternoon (when the sun is at it’s peak). Keep in mind that it is still important to use light cooking methods such as steaming and pan-frying during this season to maintain healthy digestive energy. If you are struggling with digestive symptoms it’s advised to eat cooked and warm foods throughout warmer months as well since it’s important to balance the body first before considering cool, raw summer foods such as smoothies and salads.
The Fire Element + Wellbeing
Summer resonates with the energetic qualities of the fire element. The quality of fire is brought to light during this time and increasingly relates within our body-mind as it expresses its seasonal power from summer solstice to late summer. In the northern hemisphere here in North America, summer solstice marks the longest day of the year and the celebration of the unfolding season, which usually falls somewhere within June 20th – 22nd. In the southern hemisphere December 22nd marks the date.
When we contain the energy of healthy fire our body-mind-spirit radiates outward as a warm glow. This warmth stokes compassion that spreads and creates connections, the blossoming of one’s true expressions, and peak inspiration for creative flow state. Healthy fire has the ability to produce joy, which when felt authentically can burn away the mental junk that dampens our ability to blaze forward with purpose, service, nourishment, and re-growth. In balance, the fire element encourages gratitude, satisfaction, connection, belonging, playfulness, and love. When its associated heart protector, the pericardium, is in balance, it helps to protect our intimacy related boundaries so that we may discern when we can safely express vulnerability and openness with courage, versus when to hold back. With deficient fire we can feel sad, cold, unmotivated, angry, and either unable or afraid to feel, express, and communicate authentically. With too much fire, states of extremes such as over-working or doing, mania, and hyper-stimulation can drain one’s nourishing reserves, leading to burnout. See below, “8 Ways to Increase Joy”, for a guide on how to navigate one’s fire energy.
8 Ways to Increase Joy for Heart Centred Nourishment
The heart contains the largest electro-magnetic radiance in the body and requires great physical, mental, and emotional care. When we tend to our heart we nurture happiness, health, and our ability to attract positive experiences while buffering our response to difficult ones. One of the ways we nourish the heart is through experiencing joy. Here are some ways to increase its presence in your life.
1) Practice mindfulness meditation. With practice, meditation allows for inner truths and guidance to unfold naturally, eases worry and doubts, and therefore creates space for joy to naturally spring forth from within. Over time an increased state of inner presence is cultivated as opposed to dominating mental patterns of living in the past or future. A part of your meditation can occasionally reflect on heart-centered questions such as “Who am I?, What is important to me?, What are my core truths and values? How do I want to live my life?, and, What legacy do I want to leave behind?”
2) Make a love list of things that you authentically enjoy, do one of them every day, and occasionally set aside time to plan something to look forward to. Celebrate the milestones, anniversaries, seasonal transitions, and birthdays along the way. Do playful things without focusing on outcome or rationalizing why you should or shouldn’t relax into it. Dance, sing in the shower, paint, write, create a new recipe, or skip stones. . play, whatever this means to you.
“It takes courage to say yes to rest and play in a culture where exhaustion is seen as a status symbol.” – Brene Brown
3) Practice positive thoughts and actions. Did you know that human transgression is natural? We are wired as humans to not only think positive thoughts but negative too. If we didn’t think negatively, stumble, and make mistakes along our way we wouldn’t have the opportunity to learn and grow into our truest selves. Research shows that the pathways of thought processes can get wired into negative or positive brain circuits, amplifying in strength the more they are practiced of ‘fed’. The good news is that the science of neuroplasticity, the ability of the brain to change, explains that with focus and effort we can redirect our attention and actions to create the results we want. One example would be practicing positive self talk, which nurtures healthy Shen. This is the akin to the law of attraction or focused attention, in terms of what you focus on will thrive.
4) What are your joy depleters? Write a list of actions, habits, thoughts, beliefs, relationships, foods, and environments that drain your energy and peace. Ask yourself what changes and wise confidants (family, friends, counsellors) can help you through the process of letting go of that which no longer serves you towards the life you deserve and are evolving toward.
5) Allow joy in. One reason for not feeling joy is being afraid that once you obtain it, you will have to experience its loss. Other subconscious blocks may stem from past traumatic experiences, which condition false truths such as not feeling as though one is deserving of joy and happiness. Working with a counsellor and doing energy work such as acupuncture can help you work through your ability to open up to joy.
6) Savour joy. Constant pleasure-seeking can cause burnout by causing over-stimulation and the draining of fire energy. Ask yourself, what triggers the need for constant stimulation? Is it due to a lack of nourishment as a result of one’s past conditioning or experiences, poor nutrition, habit, or boredom? Explore what moderation means for you and use mindfulness meditation as an anchor and guide. Pleasure-seeking may be a matter of dose or frequency, which can often be solved by reflecting on limits and boundaries; in other words, being okay with saying no to others and sometimes even to yourself.
7) Practice Gratitude. This is one of the most important and effective ways to increase feelings of contentment and happiness. Keep a daily journal, such as the 5 Minute Journal, to record gratitude for the little and big things with the hand-heart connection. As you write try to feel where and how it feels in your body to initiate cell to soul wellness. Over time you will actively start to notice and feel more moments of joy so that you can feel it both presently and with recall during difficult times.
8) Impermanence. The reality is that as humans we last for only a limited period of time; life is too short to be dwelling on old hurts and unhappiness. Sometimes the reminder that we just don’t know when it is our time to pass onto the other side can bring forth appreciation into the now.
Nourishing The Heart With Food
The bitter flavour and red foods carry therapeutic action to the heart energetically. Bitter foods also benefits the upper respiratory tract, digestive system, and liver. The bitter flavour dries and drains, as it travels downwards through the body. It improves appetite, stimulates digestion, and draws out dampness and heat; therefore, should not be used in conditions of cold, dryness, or deficiency. A moderate quantity the bitter flavour benefits its related organ, however too much bitter can deplete qi and moisture. My favourite resource for food energetics information is from the book Helping Ourselves by Daverick Leggett.
The following list includes foods that energetically and physiologically benefit the heart, thereby intertwining both eastern and western medicine nutritional guidelines. In western nutrition a Mediterranean diet is most often recommended for cardiovascular health, one that is high in vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, legumes, nuts, and olive oil. Aside food as nutrition, perhaps the most nourishing way of eating for the heart is with mindful preparation, gratitude, savouring, and in the sharing with others.
Vegetables: beetroot, endive, scallion, tomato, red bell pepper, and all other non-starchy vegetables
Fruits: apple, avocado, berries, cherry, crabapple, longan fruit, persimmon, watermelon
Fungus: reishi
Meat: heart organ meat, fish, chicken, turkey
Dairy: free range egg, raw whole milk
Beans: aduki, chickpea, lentil, mung, pea
Grains: quinoa, oats
Nuts and seeds: almonds, coconut, hemp hearts, walnuts
Culinary herbs & spices: cayenne, chilli, cinnamon, garlic, ginger, oregano, black pepper, rosemary, saffron, sage, thyme
Medicinal herbs & spices: hawthorne, angelica root, arnica, borage, celandine, chamomile, chickweed, cramp bark, frankincesnse, ginseng, hops, dogwood, lavender, lemon rind, licorice, lobelia, melissa, microalgae, mistletoe, motherwort, myrrh, passionflower, rhubarb root, rose, safflower, sandalwood, skullcap, solomon seal, st johns wort, valerian, yarrow
Culinary oils: extra virgin olive oil, cold pressed macadamia nut oil, cold pressed walnut oil
Drinks: decaf coffee, lemon balm, black and green tea, red wine
Essential oils: clary sage, frankincense, lavender, neroli, rose
I hope my post has given you insight today. If you’re interested in nutrition and acupuncture I’d be happy to guide you along. Please visit www.vcaspa.com to book online or call 250-590-4341. To learn more about my acupuncture practice, follow @hayley_stobbs on Instagram.
Wishing you love & healthy Shen,
Hayley Stobbs R.Ac, CNC
Disclaimer
Hayley Stobbs shares general Chinese medicine, nutrition, and health information solely for informational purposes of the reader. The contents displayed are not intended to offer individual medical advise, diagnosis or treatment. Information by the blog author is not a substitute for medical care and if you have any specific questions about any medical matter you should consult your doctor or other professional healthcare provider first and foremost.