Lunar New Year - your health with the energy of the Green Dragon in 2024

On the 10th of February there will be a New Moon that will mark the beginning of the Chinese New Lunar Year, the year of the Green Dragon. The Green is associated with the Wood Element, therefore with the Spring, and all that which this represents. The Dragon itself is associated with the Fire Element.

It will be a truly different year from the past several years as we are moving out of a two year period in the Water Element, and out of a five year period of the Yin energy. It is like flipping a coin, there is a sudden move into a full Yang energy of Wood and Fire elements.

What are all these changes in the energy going to mean for your health? Read on below.

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The Green Dragon and your physical health

Even though we have had a year of a peaceful Rabbit in the Water Element, the energies have been pretty active despite that. So, it does not require much imagination to work out that entering into the year of a ferocious creature such as the Dragon and into the very active, rising Yang energy of Wood Element, is going to be very fast and full on. It can be compared to having a new born baby or to having school age kids around the house, all the time. You are going to be kept on your toes.

Wood Element is linked with Spring, with growth, childhood, creativity, overstepping the boundaries in order to find new experiences to learn from. Wood element is associated with Liver and Gallbladder, so these two organs will get an extra energetic support and, beware, could overheat. Hence it will be an excellent year to detox your Liver! It is best to start in early Spring to prepare your body for a busy year ahead. Follow my other blog for a Balanced-6-Week-Detox programme.

Detoxing your body systems all around will help you feel rejuvenated and ready to face a busy year ahead. Wood element is linked to Liver, and Liver detox is key especially if your emotions are hard to keep at bay. After the detox you will find it easier to contain them. It may be a difficult year, in fact, for containing anything, be warned! On the positive side, you will feel more energised and hopeful for the future, despite all.

In the same time, it is the Dragon year, which will add the pressure on your Heart. Be mindful of it and take times off to rest, spend time in Nature and open-air spaces, which will give your Heart the calm it requires. You may also like to join me in weekly live meditations to practice Heartfulness. It will be necessary to take care of your inner peace for maintaining deep sleep at night. Develop regular sleeping habits and rituals to assure adequate amount and sleep quality.

The Green Dragon and your mental health

Getting enough of good sleep will be essential for your mental health this year as your mind, during the day, will be kept occupied with many activities, projects and all unexpected events.

In the Green Dragon year we will have a greater need and capacity to learn new skills and acquire knowledge, start new activities or projects. So, do take advantage of it, be courageous and sign yourself up for a course and learn a new skill or finish a diploma you've dreamed of for a while. The key to success will be to choose well and stick to it! Particularly now, the tendency will be to be swayed by the winds and be unstable and easily distracted in your mind. Therefore, at the beginning of the year, set yourself a plan for attaining your objective. That will help you keep focused and peaceful mind.

The result of choosing too many studies, projects, jobs, etc may lead to mental "overheating" or confusion. So, prune out the actives that are not essential for driving you to your final goal or destination. The Dragon energy will help you eliminate all that is not necessary for you, if you have the mental will to command your mind.

You will need a conscious, concerted effort to will your mind when necessary as the energy of the Green Dragon can also be rather immature and scattered at the same time as being courageous and determined.

The Green Dragon and your spiritual wellbeing

Equally scattered may be your psycho-spiritual wellbeing during the Wood-Fire year, if you are not attentive. It is with no doubt a year marked for change and growth. We will be challenged, in one area of life or another, so being elastic and adaptable will be an essential trait for your wellbeing and personal growth. It will come easier and more helpful to take your life changes with the openness and curiosity of a child.

There are two ways in which to approach changes as explained by Confucius:

On one hand he says:

"It is only the very wisest and the very stupidest who never change."

Instead in all other cases, Confucius says:

"They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom."

Before we all think that it is our inner voice of wisdom that murmurs us to never change, check out that such state is in line with your life realisation, in Chinese Medical terminology Ming Men. If not, Lao Tzu warns:

"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading."

And where you are heading may not be your Ming Men, realisation of your life purpose.

The change may actually come as an unexpected falling in love! The Dragon energy is capable of inciting a lot of passion in us, however, fuelled by the argumentative and assertive Wood element, we need to be aware of not getting into huge fights whilst being transformed by the fires of passion.

In fact, we will be surrounded by news about conflicts and wars around the world. It is crucial to maintain the innocent vision of the world in peace, despite all.

As Lao Tzu has taught:

"If there is to be peace in the world, There must be peace in the nations.

If there is to be peace in the nations, There must be peace in the cities.

If there is to be peace in the cities, There must be peace between neighbors.

If there is to be peace between neighbors, There must be peace in the home.

If there is to be peace in the home, There must be peace in the heart."

On that note, I wish you a peaceful, passionate, fortunate but most of all healthy year of the Green Dragon! (Dragon is a symbol of fortune).

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February - sprouting time

With some delay, I provide you with a new format of my monthly energy updates starting from this month.

With February 5th started off the first month of Spring according to the ancient cinese classics. It is a time of great expectations, of awaiting for the potential to take form, the period of being an embryo "in the womb". The ground is getting ready, the seeds and buds swell by longer days and warmer waether. But the potential is still enclosed inside of them. It is a potential to which we need to tender and care for correctly, according to the Nature's pace, to make it develop into a whole new being.

So accordingly, for us, it is time for each human being to renew himself /herself, a chance to conceive a part of us that has not yet been formed but yearns to become. This month it is all about preparing the ground. How best to flow with these energies in February?

I outline some simple but effective ideas that anyone can follow. They are focused on Body, Mind and Spirit.

BODY FOCUS: FIRST STEPS IN DETOX

If you'd have read my energy updates for December and January, you would remember I do not advocate doing detox during those Winter months. February is the first month after the Winter break when we can and should take the first steps in detoxing our bodies. The increasing energies in the Nature will assist you with shifting some accumulations and habits.

Take a look at my plan for February:

1. Gradual elimination of heavier foods

- from today take one thing out of your diet which you know you need a break from (e.g. wine, coffee, cigarettes, chocolate, fried foods, red meat, etc). Anything you have recently overdone on or food that is considered "heavier" to digest;

- after one week take a second food out of your diet (the more you are attached to some food the more your body will need a break from it now);

- following another week take out the third food and then the week after the fourth food. By the end of the month you will be in a much better shape and your body will hardly notice you cutting out all those foods.

Breaking off physical habits helps us breaking free from mental and behavioural ones as well. Plus, we give our senses a pause so that they have a heightened perception and help us awake from the winter lethargy.

2. Gradual addition of lighter foods

- from today drink at least 1L of herbal tea/decoction a day. Make it into a thermos and drink throughout the day (the body needs hydration and warmth to sprout this month);

- the next week, continue with at least 1L of herbal tea a day and start your days with a glass of warm water and a half of a lemon juice on an empty stomach (lemon is an alcaline acid but it is related to Wood/Spring element and moves the energy);

- the third week, continue with the previous and add just one raw vegetable (saying "one" as too much raw in cold whether is still too cooling) a day to your diet

- the fourth week, continue with the herbal tea, water with lemon juice, a raw veg a day and add fresh sprouts once a day to your diet. Sprouts are easily done at home and gives you just the right affinity to the season.

By the end of the month you will feel so much lighter and the passage of the change in season will be a smooth ride for you.

The herbal decoction I have prepared for myself for February consists of: Nettle, Horsetail, Parsley seeds, Fern root and Ginger root. It is a perfect start for the prep ground in February: gently detoxing but still warming and nourishing.

This month is good for giving your body some stretches, especially reaching up and bending the lumbar back.

MIND FOCUS: OUT WITH THE OLD, IN WITH THE NEW

February is probably the last chance to review the previous year cycle before the energy moves full on into a new life cycle.

Set yourself this month for reviewing the last year. What have you actually done during the last year, month by month? Was it time well spent? Do you feel completed, satisfied? Are there any issues, projects, relationships needing closing off. Put the dots on the "i's" and crosses on "t's" on the last year projects or those that are near their completion.

Once you've dealt with your review and closures, take some seeds (e.g. tomato, beans, sun flowers, calendula flowers, etc) and sow the seeds in a pot by the indoor window with the intention to grow one new specific project or intention. Each time you water it, look and care for it, remember the project/intention in mind. Are you giving it the right amount of attention? Before the end of the month speak about this project with at least one person. Speaking about the ideas and plans is like exchanging seeds, one can grow a more abundant garden.

SPIRIT FOCUS: RECONNECT TO YOUR ESSENCE

"When five organs are able to submit to the heart without resistance, then however powerful the rising of the will, the behaviour does not deviate. (...) the vital spirits thrive and the Qi are not scattered. (...) then there is perfect order. (...) then the spirits. With the spirits (...) in doing there is nothing that is not accomplished." (Huainanzi ch.7)

In other words, if your body follows the Hearts/Spirits it will lead you to accomplishment.

Coming out of Winter lethargy in February we are loaded with the will power to go forward. Let's be mindful of the Heart and Spirit connection in conceiving plans for the new life cycle. Check that your plans and intentions find a resonance with your Heart.

There may be some emotions or states of being that cloud the "music" of the Heart. Identify at least one such emotion/state during this month. It can be worry, anxiety, anger, frustration, procrastination, it can be chronic tiredness, poor health, depression, victimhood, state of poverty, or the so called "sacred cows" in your life. Challenge them. Why do these states repeat? Repeated emotional states are energies imprisoned by that emotion. Acupuncture can assist you in changing your emotional state by working with the body's energy points and liberating by that a lot of vital energy.

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One way to settle the emotional turmoil and hear your Heart is to join me in weekly on-line meditations on Mondays at 9.30pm (CET). Click below to register for a link:

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November - last orders for letting go

The 7th of November will mark the beginning of Winter according to the classic Su Wen text. Depending on where you live in the northern hemisphere you may feel it more or less wintery around you. Here in the central Italy it definitely does not feel wintery yet; feeling yet that autumnal stillness, the leaves have just began to turn yellow and the air is still smelling of fungus. All that seems like a little extension to Autumn energy as in reality, the beginnings and endings of seasons are never clear cut.

If you remember my October update, Autumn is related to Lungs and Large Intestine. Being at the far end of the Autumn there is more emphasis on Colon and clearing out activity. Think about your garden or a park near you or a tree growing near your house. It is at the end of Autumn that we need to clear out lots of dead leaves fallen to the ground.

Analogically, the end side of Autumn season is the best time to consider what we still want, or better, need to let go of before the Wintery withdrawal and accumulation season initiates. At least here in Italy we seem to have those last chances to clear out things or energy from our homes, bodies, minds and emotions.

So let's start with your body. Is your body moving smoothly or have you had your rheumatisms, headaches, constipations, extra-weight, swellings, candida in your body recently? If those symptoms have come up in the Autumn months that is clearly an indication that cleansing is necessary. It is the best time to help your Colon in clearing out by cutting down or cutting out the foods that slow down your peristalsis: glutinous grains and meat in particular. Adding, however, extra fibre from fruits, veggies and pulses. It is ideal time to help your Colon with probiotics too, remembering that you can get it from fermented foods too!

How about your mind? Are you able to get clarity at work and in other activities? If you struggle with too many thoughts that keep you awake at night you need to sit still more often and teach your mind to let go of habitual mental unrest. In the morning, plan your day consciously according to your priorities. Focusing on what is necessary to do at hand and sweep away cluttering and unproductive thoughts. Make a conscious effort to address that which is necessary. Face head on your obligations, including bills or payments, handle and resolve difficult issues with friends and family, etc. Putting things aside will hold and block the energy so resolving them will release a lot of energy which you will notice in your affairs moving ahead.

Or perhaps you have noticed that after relaxing Summer months you got back into the stressful whirl of work and life that has by now created in you feelings of anger, frustration, withdrawal, lack of enthusiasm, even fear of not not making it. Although we all have our own dynamics to work on, this period of late Autumn is a perfect time to just let go of painful feelings irrespectively of where they originate from. The energy that is out there right now is so helpful in doing just that: detach from all those destructive emotions that only stop you from experiencing life fully.

To add to this Autumnal energy we are astrologically in between two Eclipses (the Solar and the Lunar between the 25th October and 7th November), the energy of which will continue afterwards for a while. It powers the energy of introspection and reset, which is perfect for clearing the old and setting the new, clean plate for time to come; be it in your life or in your habits that ultimately create your health and wellbeing.

To start with take one habit, physical, mental or emotional that has been around for too long or you got rather tired of. Make a conscious effort to change your attitude towards it; let go of the need to repeat it. All along remember: habits cannot make who you are, put yourself in charge of your habits!

If you don't know where to start, you can book an appointment to get some help from ancient traditional diagnosis and treatment; click on the button below to proceed.

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