ENRICHING OURSELVES FROM WINTER INTO SPRING: THE FIVE ELEMENTS PERSPECTIVE
03/07/2010 - By Margit Galanter
Spring on the Roof!
This article offers a way to enrich your vitality as you transition from winter into spring, from the traditional Chinese Five Elements perspective. This will inform how to nourish your vitality as we enter into the creative energy the spring brings
If you take stock in your vitality these days, could you use some help to prepare for the vibrant energy of spring? What if just a few small actions in your daily life could nurture your creative movement? Read below to learn how you can align with the seasons and move through the transition from winter to spring, five elements style!
In the middle of March, I attended a seminar with Keith Stetson, who gave great insight into this powerful time. This article summarizes some of what I learned there, as well as including my own experiences with 5 Elements and qigong research.
Currently, we are in a time of year that is dynamic; it is the transition from winter into spring. From the Chinese Five Elements perspective, this is a critical moment for the vitality of an individual, and in fact this time of year is considered the beginning of the annual cycle: out of the darkness of winter springs spring. There was just a two-week celebration of Chinese New Year that auspiciously kicked off on Valentines Day this year, inviting double happiness for the year ahead. Gong Hay Fat Choy! Happy New Year!
The season is an important factor in evaluating our vitality at a given moment.
If we are to follow the natural environmental cycles that we reflect in our habits and body, winter is a time for slowing down, for building up resources, and for a kind of hibernation. Often people are more sluggish in the wintertime. Even here in the sunny Bay Area, people may be experiencing wanting more sleep than usual. The season is followed by spring, which is a shift into the beginning of the exuberance of growth. Spring is seen in the expansion of plant life, physical energy, and creative action.
From the Five Elements perspective, winter is associated with the water element, with the deep dark blue, and is connected to the Zang/Fu of the Kidneys and Bladder (best translated as organs/meridians). The kidney is the storehouse of jing (innate qi), and water is the element of potential. Spring is associated with the wood element, with fresh green of growth, and the Liver and Gall Bladder Zang/Fu. Winter, if all goes according to plan, nurtures spring: it is the water and the cultivation of the soil that moistens the plants to start sprouting.
Because of this shift in seasons, it is often a time where people can experience physical challenges. It is a big leap for our systems.
Oftentimes, we do not have the wherewithal to follow the signs of our body, or are hard-pressed to know what our own intelligent organism is saying to us. For others still, we hear the signs, but do not have the capability to shift the patterns of a full, busy, and hopefully rich life. In the end of winter, you may experience water imbalances, such as shifts in sleeping patterns, exhaustion, wired or anxious energy, an overly driven attitude, or even fleeing your responsibilities. Wood disharmonies may come in the form of allergies, frustration, anger, headaches, stiff groin, sprains or strains, and digestive issues (to name a few!).
Fortunately, there are a whole host of things we can do to support ourselves in this time of great change.
For one, we can nurture our water element. In the end of winter, or any time to support the water element within us, we can take time to be still, make less plans, stay out of the cold, and spend time nourishing our internal life that rebuilds our Kidney and Bladder qi. Here is one practice: take the time to breath into your kidneys and imagine dark cool blue filling them up along with your lower back, even for a few minutes per day. It could result in a more general sense of wellbeing and actual ability to rest. A healing sound associated with kidneys is “whhhhhhooooooooooooooo,” a quiet sound you can make on the out-breath of your meditation. It is great to do this right before bedtime, and is welcome throughout the day.
Secondly, to nurture the transition, we can foster our wood element. As a way to invite the spring, in your meditation you could then after filling your kidneys imagine your liver on your right side filling with green bright energy. With each breathing cycle, bring a clear vision to your creative growth; if you hiss into your liver with the sound “shshshshshshiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii,” the resonance of this will support movement through the meridian and organ.
This transitional time is also an ideal moment to tonify and purify through dietary changes. With any large shifts, it is of course useful to work with a health practitioner. To support the transition, cleanse with care, giving a break to your liver and kidneys that filter for you so much! I like to take three days to eat solely grains and greens (and rare eggs for protein as needed), while drinking generous water throughout the day. To give myself a break from oils and salts at this key moment is a true gift. Of course there are many other liver cleansers, but to name a few: lemon juice, apple cider vinegar, dandelion greens and milk thistle.
There are also some very basic acu-points and qigong exercises that specifically address nurturing the water element and strengthening the wood. It is a great time to start or pick up a relationship with a Five Elements healer, such as an acupressurist, qigong practitioner or acupuncturist in your area.
The correct movement of wood is the spring of movement in your joints, of being ready to face the exciting challenges of a new cycle. By being conscious and supporting your vital nourishment, you can catch the wave!
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Margit Galanter’s practice Physical Intelligence offers tailor-made sessions to promote your vitality and power. She is an acupressurist, Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner, qigong practitioner, and movement artist. For more information about sessions with Margit in the Bay Area, you can contact her at (510) 761 – 6097, or at margit@physicalintelligence.org. This article was greatly influenced by a seminar with Keith Stetson, L.Ac, M.Ac. at the Acupressure Institute.
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Margit Galanter, investigator of physical intelligence
Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitionercm, MA in Movement Research and Practice
(510) 761-6097 * margit@physicalintelligence.org
www.physicalintelligence.org (PI practice)
www.margitg.wordpress.com (Arts Site)
