It’s spring and newness and freshness is in the air! This is the time when you may choose to do the ever popular spring cleaning of your home. Well, why not clean something that is even more important? You. That’s right, you. Many times we are so concerned with our house that we can overlook own body. Well, no more! Let’s get ready to help our bodies be even healthier and happier!
From a traditional Asian medicine standpoint, after the period of winter when the energy is dormant, the energy begins to rise. Along with this lightening of qi (or energy), we literally receive more lightness with increased daylight hours.
Each season has an associated element (one of the five elements, a key tenet in traditional Asian medicine) and organ energies. The element that correlates with spring is wood and the organ energies are the liver and the gallbladder. Here are 3 key things you can do to use the energy of spring to optimize your wellness:
Eat lots of fresh greens. Nature gives us a clue as to what we should be eating. Look around and what do we see more of? Greens. Incorporating plenty of lightly cooked greens like dandelion and collard are beneficial to the energy of the liver. What else do you see coming up? Sprouts! So sprout it up, by adding sprouts like alfalfa and broccoli to your salads
Go with the flow. In traditional Asian medicine one of the things that the liver is in charge of is what we call the “free flow of qi”. This can be accomplished through things like regular exercise, internal martial arts such as Qi Gong, wearing loose clothing and getting regular body work like acupuncture and massage.
Take a cleansing bath. Add a cup each of Epsom salts and baking soda to your bath. Also, consider using a few drops of an essential oil like juniper or lavender can be relaxing and gently detoxifying.
Happy Spring!
Love being a woman,
Dr. Danett
