Late Summer Tips & The Earth Element
Welcome Late Summer, Spleen Time, and an invitation to share your “harvest” with your community…
Late Summer, the time from about the third week of August through the Fall Equinox, is a special time of year in TCM…
Traditional Chinese Medicine looks at this time of year as the time for intention-setting and having the Qi to see it through to the end of the year. The Spleen represents the elusive fifth element, the Earth element, and the center of the Qi cycle, where all Qi originates because we extract our energy from our food and drink.
Just as we digest our food, we also have to digest our emotions, our environment, and the relationships we choose to keep. Every organ is associated with an emotional aspect. The Spleen is associated with Yi (eee), emotional intelligence, commitment, and perseverance.
According to Five Spirits, written by Lorie Eve Dechar:
“When the Yi is fulfilling its function, we fully commit ourselves to manifesting our destiny and bringing the light of our spirits into the world around us. The Yi is the soul aspect that lets the world know that we mean to stand by our dreams . . .
The Yi endows us with the power to stand behind our words through committed, persevering action. Throughout them, we stay with our task and stay on our path. And through them we gain the capacity to digest experiences and impressions and turn them into usable ideas that empower our action into the world.”
—> Symptoms of a weakened or out-of-balance Spleen include:
tendency to worry or obsess
cyclical-style thinking that you can’t break
digestive distress, like diarrhea, bloating, gas, nausea, or stomach ache
fatigue
sluggish metabolism or feeling tired after eating or exercising
increased food sensitivities
brain fog
—> What to focus on to help restore the balance in the Spleen:
First off, Spleen likes to be warm, so all food should be eaten warm or brought up to room temperature before consuming.
If you follow me on Instagram, you know that this is a hill I will die on - energetically cooling foods (ie cucumber, melon, mint, coconut, etc) and room temp/warm water will cool you down faster than any icy beverage or cold treat. Your Spleen has to work extra hard to warm up your food and, over time, this will weaken it’s function!
The color of the Spleen is yellow/orange - so focus on sweet potatoes, carrots, pumpkins, and squashes. This is the perfect time of year as all of these veggies are coming into season. Perhaps you’ve even grown some in your garden!
Nourishing spices like ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom help a tired Spleen to function better. Add some to your tea!
Warm and cooked food also includes fermented foods, so add a tablespoon of kimchi, yogurt, kraut, or kefir to your meals for added Spleen nourishing!
Need a little more encouragement for a healthier Spleen? Let’s do some acupressure on the point STOMACH-36, on the outer side of the lower leg:
To find ST-36, measure about four finger-widths from the lower kneecap, and one finger-width lateral to the shin bone.
Your finger might drop right into a little hollow there. Go ahead and massage, firmly, in a clockwise motion for about a minute. Then move to counterclockwise. You can do both legs at once or one at a time, but make sure to do both! See if you can notice energy shifting in your stomach area.
Why are we acupressuring a point on the Stomach channel and not the Spleen channel?
Spleen and Stomach are paired Yin & Yang organs. The Stomach receives our food and drink and the Spleen extracts nutrients and Qi and transforms and transports them where they need to go.
This point also gives your immune system a big boost, which is controlled by your Spleen and Stomach organ system. This is a great time of year to start focusing on our immune systems as the seasons prepare to majorly downshift and lead into Fall and Winter.
The name of this point is “Leg Three Miles,” which not only strengthens our knee joint, but propels us to move forward in our lives with momentum and intention. This point allows you to “walk three more miles,” both in distance and in emotional work.
This point is also the strongest point on the body to help nourish and build Qi and Blood. It’s kind of like “THE” acupuncture point. I’m sure all of you have had this point needled! This is also a majorly popular point for moxa or moxibustion, the burning of mugwort, or Ai Ye, over the skin to add warmth (Yang) to the body when experiencing weak immunity, anemia, digestive upset of a cold type, infertility of a cold type, or muscle weakness.
Late Summer is also a time of major transition.
The intense Yang energy of Summer is starting to wane and we are preparing to go back to school, ramp back up at work, establish new routines, and say goodbye to those fun summer trips.
The Earth Element invites us to set healthy boundaries. What can you do to set yourself up? What dreams do you want to see come true? What goals do you have for the rest of the year?
What can you “harvest” from all your hard work this summer to share with your partner, friends, family, and community? Just as we harvest the last of our fruits and vegetables in the frenzy of the Late Summer heat, what lessons can you take with you to share with your community and loved ones? We learn from each other and the Earth element encourages us to embrace community, listen, share, and contribute in meaningful, empathetic ways. What is there for you to learn? What is there for you to teach?
How can you “mother” yourself with the spirit of Earth energy?
Looking forward to Fall and helping you transition as this time of year encourages us to downshift. It can be brutal going from 100mph to 30mph. Some discomfort may pop up. I’m here for you when it does.