Traditional Chinese Medicine is a two thousand year old medicine that looks to nature as its teacher. In the Fall, imagine the leaves changing colors, falling from trees, and eventually drying. Like fragile leaves, our Lungs are most susceptible to the wind and dryness in the Fall. Acupuncture and other Traditional Chinese Medicine modalities help prepare Lungs for the cold winter months ahead. Fall is also the time to harvest, a time when nature transforms and transitions towards an ending. In Fall, nature shifts from activity to rest, letting the the earth lie fallow through the winter.
Just as the seasons cycle, so do our energies, emotions and bodies. Fall and the Lungs are also associated with grief and with letting go. It’s not unusual to feel these shifts emotionally or physically. Old pains (physical or emotional) might reemerge and ache with the appearance of gusting cold winds rustling them from their trees.
Ancient wisdom teaches us not to avoid, but to lean in and listen to what the season is teaching us. This season ask yourself:
- Is it time to slow down & reap my harvest?
- Do I really want to resort to allergy meds that make me drowsy or should I try a natural alternative?
- Are old injuries reappearing and aching suddenly?
- Do I have something that I need to let go?
- Am I grieving and need support along the way?
- Am I prepared to slow down and turn inward?