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How and Why to Increase Yang Energy Activity During Energetic Summer and the Fire Element

May 30, 2023 phyto5.us
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One of the foundational tenets of traditional Chinese medicine is that of adjusting our lifestyle habits to align with the seasons. These lifestyle habits include how we eat, move, and live throughout the year as we experience the changes of each of the five seasons of traditional Chinese medicine. This is a mindful practice and a rhythmic approach to living where we learn to adapt, flow and enjoy life more. We ease into ways of living that work very well in support of body, mind, and soul. This type of rhythmic living helps us avoid stress and its harmful effects and it elevates our well-being.

According to traditional Chinese medicine, energetic Summer which begins May 6 and runs until July 19 every year is the season of the Fire element. Summer is the most yang period of the year—a time of expansion, peak vitality, and outward and upward movement.

At the Summer Solstice is when this Summer yang energy peaks. Yang represents the day while yin represents the night and at the Summer Solstice we mark the longest day and the shortest night of the year. On the Summer Solstice we have the most yang day of the year and the peak of yang Fire energy.

Balance of Yin and Yang
In traditional Chinese medicine, balance is always sought in order to achieve and maintain wellness. The ancient Chinese recognized the duality of our universe and saw that all things were composed of energy and that energy was composed of two complementary yet opposing actions. These two forces are yin and yang and they're interdependent and interconnected.

The ancient Chinese and we today can see that a natural ebb and flow of yin and yang energies is constantly occurring throughout all of life. We must acknowledge and embrace this ebb and flow as part of the cycle of life if we wish to live harmonious lives as part of the natural world. Balancing yin and yang energies is essential for balance of body, mind and spirit.

Summer Is Yang
The five seasons of the year each represent either a yin or yang energy primarily and for Summer, its energy is primarily yang—the energy associated with action, movement and change. Yang is the moving, dynamic, warming aspect within nature and our bodies.

Even if we don’t have background in traditional Chinese medicine, we sense all this, because we feel this expansion of energy in different ways during energetic Summer. The days become longer. We enjoy more sunlight and energy. We feel like engaging in more activities and we find it easier to gain momentum. We even feel more outwardly social and instinctively look for ways to engage with the world.

Both yin and yang principles play an important role in how active we are at any point in the year. There are types of exercise or movement that will best suit each season’s yin or yang expression. 

In Summer, since the Fire energy is very yang and all about action, movement and change, we’ll want to align the movement of our physical bodies with a similar kind of energy and action. Activity and exercise are especially important at this time to keep the pores open and chi flowing smoothly throughout the body. 

“To increase yang, spend more time in active, ambitious pursuits. Cultivate your outer expression, physical strength, firmness and personal interactions. Initiate projects. In your home, use warm colors - yellow-green, yellows, oranges, and reds.”
— Hope Karan Gerecht in Healing Design: Practical Feng Shui for Healthy and Gracious Living

Our bodies’ chi and energy are at their peaks during the season of Fire so we can take advantage of the window of opportunity the season provides for getting projects we were planning all Winter and Spring finally done.

Yang Tissues and Exercise
The body itself has yin and yang tissues. Yang tissues are the ones we are most familiar with—our muscles. It’s no coincidence that Summer yang activities and exercise target the muscles and involve rhythmic repetitive movements. Our Summer exercise should tend to push us a little more, needing to use more force to achieve our health and fitness goals. An aligned fitness goal for Summer would be to build strength or endurance in our muscular tissue.

Activating our yang tissues by exercising will definitely provide a plethora of health benefits, however if we solely focus on yang activities during Summer, this can wear our bodies down and heighten the fight-or-flight response in our nervous systems. A yin practice like walking to balance a gym workout invites us to slow down, be more present in our bodies and relax into the moment.

How to Work with and Benefit from Summer Yang

  • Cultivate your yang chi energy by sunbathing, but be sure to use sun protection.

  • Avoid prolonged stays in air conditioned cold rooms. This causes chi and blood stagnation.

  • Avoid excessive sweating when exercising.

  • Get sufficient sleep. You can go to sleep late but by 11 p.m. is best. Get up early. Do not be tempted to sleep too long in the morning. A midday nap is also very beneficial during Summer.

  • Augment your regular exercise schedule with a short period of morning exercise when your yang is rising. This practice also nourishes the mind. Do not exercise immediately on rising. First, drink a cup of warm water and then do not too strenuous morning exercises for about 20 to 30 minutes. Qi gong, yoga and tai chi are perfect for this.

Types of Summer Yang Exercise

Exercise every day enough to just break a sweat, but do not overexert and drink a good deal of water when you’re finished.

  • Enjoy any sort of outdoor activity.

  • Practice strength training, muscle building, core exercises and short high-intensity training(HIIT) sessions.

  • Make sure you include cardiovascular/aerobic exercise:

“Cardiovascular fitness goes a long way in maintaining adaptation for the Fire Type. At the least, a brisk walk every day of at least thirty minutes can make a huge impact. If health and age allow for it, jogging or other aerobic exercises should be part of a daily routine. Many of my patients state they don’t have the time to set aside for this type of commitment, to which I reply that they don’t have any choice. Studies have shown that walking for shorter periods twice a day accomplishes the same training effect as one longer session. For the Fire Type especially, caring for the Heart is the first priority.”
— Charles A. Moss, MD in Power of the Five Elements: The Chinese Medicine Path to Healthy Aging and Stress Resistance
  • The more active practice of yang yoga works on the yang muscles and blood flow while building strength, stamina and flexibility. These types of yoga include power vinyasa (provides rhythm and repetition), ashtanga, and Bikram.

  • For the really athletic, there’s high jumping, running, and sprinting.

  • Take an evening walk. The mind can become easily distracted in Summer and an evening walk can help nourish the mind with quiet and tranquility not to mention it will help balance your more strenuous activities of the day.

  • Do some Summer evening stretching to loosen muscles and movement. This can help promote systemic blood circulation, thereby reducing your cardiac burden and improving your quality of sleep.

#####

Sources:

Yin and Yang: Unlocking the Power of Harmony. N.p., Xspurts.com.

A TCM Way to be Healthy, Inside and Out. N.p., FriesenPress, 2017.

Moss, Charles A. Power of the Five Elements: The Chinese Medicine Path to Healthy Aging and Stress Resistance. United States, North Atlantic Books, 2011.

Gerecht, Hope Karan. HealingDesign: Practical Feng Shui for Healthy and Gracious Living. United States, Journey Editions, 1999.

In Holistic Lifestyle Tips Tags Summer Season, Summer Solstice, Summer harmony practices

Foods for Hot Weather: What to Eat and What Not to Eat

May 28, 2019 phyto5.us
Best Practices for Living an Optimal Life During Hot Summer According to Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda

Summer is not the best time for an internal cleanse. But it is a time to really hydrate and nourish the body. Always consume the naturally growing foods of the season. And particularly in Summer, eat light, nutrient-rich, easily digestible foods and beverages. Stay away from cold and icy and use just a touch of spice.

Both Ayurveda and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) similarly view the effects of hot Summer and its corresponding element of Fire on our overall well-being. They find consuming various foods for hot weather a primary way the body feels either great or lethargic.

Dry longer, bright sunshiny days combined with Summertime lifestyle changes can wreak havoc on our energy levels. We get more prone to restless sleep and insomnia, digestive complaints, and even dryness depending on where we live.

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Foods for hot weather don’t include cold and icy food and drinks.

We know that sounds counter-intuitive but TCM has proven these diminish your necessary inner fire. Cold and icy are not foods for hot weather. Ayurveda says the same thing too.

If you reduce the icy cold food and drink and stick to regular mealtimes with smaller portions you can keep your inner fire balanced.

And because we celebrate more during Summer, many of us increase our alcohol and/or caffeine intake and eat less nutritious food while eating more erratically in general. These too diminish inner fire. So make sure you’re not overdoing anywhere.

Foods for hot weather don’t include bitter foods and drinks.

Bitters can drain heat the body requires.

Consume more pungent foods for hot weather. They support your internal heat and energy. Garlic, onion and chilies are examples of pungent foods. They will come out through your pores and even aid in repelling pesky insects.

Favor foods for hot weather that make you feel lighter and you find easy to digest. If you feel like you want to take a nap after eating during Summer, it’s a sign you’ve eaten food that’s a little too heavy for the season.

Foods for hot weather mean water rich produce.

Most of us sweat more during Summer. At the same time we lower our overall water consumption replacing them with Summer drinks.

Some people purposely drink less water so they don’t have to urinate as often while they’re enjoying Summer outdoor activities.

Hot weather is when we need to focus on keeping up adequate water consumption. 

In addition to drinking lots and lots of pure water, each water rich produce of the season: melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, peaches, nectarines, plums, mangos, lettuces. It’s an excellent way to supplement your diet with nature’s next most perfect source of water your body needs.

Summer’s a season of hot weather and thus natural dehydration. Serious dehydration can lead serious sicknesses like heat stroke and sun poisoning.

Sweat is the fluid of the heart and heart’s vitality. If you sweat too much without replacing your water fluid, you can deplete your heart’s vitality.

Exercising in the sun provokes heart fire and depletes the body of fluids.

All this said, don’t be rigid with these guidelines. Feel your way through them and determine for yourself if your choices are healthy or if they’re cravings coming from emotional neediness.

If you identify a craving, satisfy it briefly and then move on. Don’t make a big deal out of it and judge yourself. Ayurveda says the greatest imbalance is to have knowledge and then go against it.

Simply strive to make your foods for hot weather choices healthy ones.

…

Endnotes:

Shea, Bridgette. Handbook of Chinese Medicine and Ayurveda: An Integrated Practice of Ancient Healing Traditions. Healing Arts Press, 2018.



Photo by Tamara Bellis on Unsplash

In Holistic Lifestyle Tips Tags Summer Season, Summer harmony practices
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How to Live In Harmony with Summer for Maximum Enjoyment

July 12, 2018 phyto5.us
Woman wakes up early with the sun during Summer

“The three months of Summer are called the period of luxurious growth. Everything is in bloom and begins to bear fruit.

After a night of sleep people should get up early (in the morning). They should not weary during daytime and they should not allow their minds to become angry.

They should enable the best parts (of their body and spirit) to develop; they should enable their breath to communicate with the outside world; and they should act as though they loved everything outside.

All this is in harmony with the atmosphere of Summer and all this is the method for the protection of one’s development.”

— from the Neijing Suwen (The Yellow Emporer’s Classic of Internal Medicine)

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The time honored and proven Yellow Emperor’s Classic, an ancient Chinese medical text that has been treated as the fundamental doctrinal source for Chinese medicine for more than two millennia, tells us that we can continue to harmonize ourselves with Summer all season long and achieve the highest level of vitality possible for each one us in a number of ways. We should:

  1. Go to bed most nights at a decent hour. 

  2. Wake up with the sun early in the morning. Trade room darkening shades and draperies for sheer white curtains and let the sun wake you up naturally.

  3. Forego taking a nap during the day. If we synchronize with the Summer sun’s rising and setting, we may not have a need for an afternoon nap.

  4. Pause and breathe when anger bubbles to the surface. Let some space of time spent on focusing on taking some deep breaths help to dissipate the negative emotion we feel. Allow the events which we reacted to to become less and less important in our world. Visualize it fading away slowly into a mist.

  5. Be physically active. Engage in the opportunities for outdoor activity, athleticism, sports, fun and pleasure that Summer so readily provides. Take in the healing nourishing rays of the sun, while maintaining proper sun protection. Emulate the activity of growth and blooming of Summer’s flora. Be like a radiant vibrant flower yourself.

  6. Combine physical activity whether indoors or outdoors with spiritual practices like meditation or reciting any inspiring mantra or spiritual passage you’ve committed to memory over and over. Sing or chant a hymn, prayer or song that holds particular meaning for you while you’re taking a walk, riding your bike or watering your flowers.

  7. Practice pranayama, the yogic practice of conscious breathing. Take this time to learn to slow down the breath to a maximum of six breaths per minute to achieve ultimate longevity and vitality. Be sure to do some of your breathing practice outdoors if at all possible.

  8. Have fun and appreciate all the nature display that Summer brings. Appreciate the vibrant colors, lush greenery, the warm and brilliant sun, the cooling showers, the warm breezes and the sound of them blowing through the leaves and trees, and the sounds of other people having fun outdoors. Hopefully, you are one of them!

Photo by Sarah Diniz Outeiro at Unsplash

In Holistic Lifestyle Tips Tags Summer harmony practices
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