Wild Rose - for finding a sparkle in life

Each time I eat rose hip fruits I feel that amazing sensation of being fully alive; be it for the physical energy and clarity it gives me, be it for the energy it gives me. That zesty taste of its fruits gives me just that: the zest for life.

Wild Rose is captivating both when flowering: with most beautiful, delicate and pastel-coloured rose flowers, and when bearing fruits: bright red shiny fruits in the grey of Winter's background. Despite its apparent fragile beauty of its flowers, it is a robust and resistant plant growing in windy fields or cold mountains. Simply, out of all the roses, this one is the toughest one.

Hence Dr.Bach had studied it and used as one of his flower essences for "those who without apparently sufficient reason become resigned to all that happens, and just glide through life, take it as it is, without any effort to improve things and find some joy. They have surrendered to the struggle of life without complaint."

So, Dr. Bach has indicated the flower essence of Wild Rose for a lack of enthusiasm, saying that "the remedy helps reawaken our interest in life. In a positive Wild Rose state we are happy-go-lucky. But instead of apathy we feel a sense of purpose that brings increased happiness and enjoyment."

It does sound like a perfect pick-me-up for the Winter blues.

I can confirm that such energy is not only contained in the flower essence but also in the fruits of this particular rose. Be mindful of this when you go to harvest fruits of the Wild Rose and even when you consume a rose hip jam or rose hip powder.

Although Chinese Medicine uses a similar Rose, Rosa laevigata variety in its herbal medicine, it has been studied as genetically very closely related to Rosa Canina (Wild Rose)*. In Classical Chinese Materia Medica the rose hips are used more than other parts of the plant. They are considered a tonic. They are neutral in temperature, hence we can eat them in Winter without the worry of cooling our body too much or drying it by overheating. Their taste is sweet and sour but sour taste dominates giving it astringent quality. Astringent holds onto the essence and the slight sweetness nourishes.

It is from its strongly astringent quality that most of its benefits derive: it prevents all kinds of leakage: of energy, fluids and substances. Hence it is suggested when a person is not able to hold onto essence: seminal or vaginal, blood: emorragie uterine, bleedings, fluids: urine or feces (giving rise to diarrhoea) due to Kidney and Spleen weakness. Even when you notice undigested food in your feces or in your child's, that can be a sign of Kidney and/or Spleen deficiency. So, a very good Winter remedy for that is a rose hip jam or rose hip powder. As you would have gathered by now, rose hips are related to organs of Bladder, Kidneys, Spleen and Large Intestine in their capacity to regulate how much to hold onto.

The way to observe its capacity to hold essence is to note the size of its fruits in Autumn and then in December. As more rain comes in November its fruits grow substantially in size and become more juicy just before ripening in Winter.

Further, its astringent quality can reverse prolapsed muscles of uterus and bladder. So, the pulling up effect of rose hips is not only on the mood but also on the muscles in the lower part of the body.

In Winter you can use it even if in good health, as a Winter tonic. If you had read my December blog you would have found out by now that Winter is the season of accumulation of our essence and energy https://www.dorotao.com/post/december-withdrawing-and-accumulating. Last but not least, as most of you know, rose hips contain loads of Vitamin C: 426 mg in 100 g of fruits, protecting us from the seasonal influenza.

So, when out for a Winter walk in Nature, pick some of its fruits. You can eat them raw, especially if soft, squeese out the pulp leaving out the seeds. You can also bring them home, cut in half, clean out the seeds and dry in low heat (up to 40-50°C). Then, you can chew the pieces or pulverise it into a powder and take a spoonful a day.

* https://cmjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13020-020-0298-x

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December - withdrawing and accumulating

So, here's the Winter season! According to the Classics, 7th December marks the beginning of the second month of Winter. This middle month of Winter represents to us the festive season in which we celebrate light (December being the darkest month of the year) and our humanity. It comes from our innate need to come together on dark and cold evenings to create and share heat and light. We withdraw from much outdoor activities to rest and recover after many busy months. We are supposed to accumulate energy during the next couple of months or so. So, avoid doing harsh eliminations or energy wastage, i.e. detox or rushing around without stopping, in the next couple of months.

In some ways, we have adopted that innate need to withdraw and accumulate energy into acquisition of goods as presents and foods for the festive season. But remember that this is really our instinctual urge to accumulate and recharge our batteries. Look at trees, all their energy is withdrawing from the external parts (branches) into trunks and roots. Hence they lose their leaves. Look at animals; they either hibernate or look for warm shelter and sleep a lot.

In Chinese Medicine this energy, our batteries, is called Jing and it is placed in our Kidneys. We have two Kidneys, one is related to our pre-natal energy and the other to our post-natal energy. This means that the Kidneys are a kind of a bridge between our living energy and the energy we had brought in with us: ancestral or reincarnated. So, this month we reconnect with our roots, our families, to renew the connection to who we are and where we have come from. I encourage you to take time off to yourself to reflect on what you feel your human identity is here on Earth.

The next two months will give us this possibility to dive deep into our essence and identity. If, in that process, you rediscover or re-identify some aspects of yourself you have, but you have not realised you have had, it has the potential to give you a new shot of life, a renewed will to live. Sometimes it is simply a family connection, going back to your roots and feeling that connection can reignite life. Whether you feel part of the family or not (you feel more of an outcast), facing them up still reinforces the message about who you feel you are. Other times, it is slowing down and reflecting that gives us more clarity on your identity. In any case, make time to reconnect and reflect.

In Winter we should be like the stormy waters which calm down and reveal their transparency all the way to the bottom of the sea. You will benefit immensely on the mental level too! Physically, it will give you tranquil sleep, good body circulation, physical strength (especially in the lumbar back) and improved immunity to cold-borne diseases (such as viruses).

The post-natal Kidney "batteries" are further renewed during these Winter months by taking care of our "renewable" physical energy. The best way to renew it is to keep the body warm, circulation stable and resting sufficiently. If you suffer from cold, do warm up with hot coarse salt compresses and warming herbal teas (ginger, cinnamon, etc) and soups (especially with winter root vegetables). Brisk walking or jogging and winter sports are also indicated in this season to keep the circulation going and building up the body's strength and determination.

To keep you warm, nourished and sustained during this Winter I have prepared special herbal teas, meticulously made from personally harvested herbs and according to the principles of Classical Chinese Medicine. If you are interested in getting this special herbal tea edition, please contact me below:

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October - Acceptance

According to the classic Su Wen text the 8th of October marks the beginning of the third month of Autumn. We have just been through the Autumn Equinox, which is the celebration of the equality of Yin and Yang in Nature. From now on, for the next six months in the northern hemisphere, we will be surrounded by the dominance of Yin in Nature. Of course, it is progressively increasing until the Winter Solstice and will be progressively diminishing after that.

Yin is that which is passive, receiving, slow, closed in, dark and cold, etc. Hence, the Equinox is a prelude to all those qualities. What is helping in the process is the element of Metal - the Element of Autumn. Metal is associated with Lungs and Large Intestines. Metal element is introducing us into the Yin phase of the year by its Lung-related quality of acceptance. Acceptance is what keeps our Metal element in balance. If you think of the air you breathe, you take in and accept all that enters your Lungs without a filter (except some large particles filtered by nasal hair). With the very first breath, you accept coming here to Earth at birth and you continue accepting this life with each breath you take. The air that falls into your abdomen is like the leaves falling down to the ground in Autumn.

If you are in conflict with the life around you, you may develop Lung problems as your breath becomes short and shallow with habitual rejection of the present life. Many of you would have gone through major life changes in the last couple of years which have asked of you a great deal of acceptance. Big and fast changes can create resistance to accept everything, inflicting on your breath and Lungs.

Accepting is not the same as assimilating. Once the passive act of breathing is complete the Metal element inside of you judges what is valuable to hold and what is not. That which you consider unworthy, you will eliminate through Large Intestine. The Colon clears all that you subjectively consider simply "rubbish". Hence, some well placed judgement will help your guts work smoothly.

Imagine when this natural physiology and balance between the Lungs-Colon is infringed. Do you know what happens? You either feel emptiness in your life, leading to melancholy and depression, or you are full of debris held and not eliminated.

You will feel emptiness if you cannot accept things as they are, since you do not breathe with full Lungs. That habitual rejection a priori makes you disconnected from as-it-happens life. Further, it does not give you the essential material from which to extract your precious gemstones, leading to a lack of meaning in life, in what you do, at work, or perhaps in relationships, and eventually leads to a lack of meaning in your existence. That could make you feel empty inside. As a result we reach for substitutes that make us feel "alive" or "connected", such as cigarettes, alcohol, gambling, etc.

At the other end, literally, in Chinese Medicine we say that in order to take things in we must empty first. Ancients would say that we should have a bowel movement after each meal. However, our sedentary lifestyles have already changed that. It is acceptable as a healthy rhythm to empty once a day. If you consume regular meals and do not empty once a day, you mostly probably hold onto stuff you should eliminate. My master teacher would vow that if we wake up at 6am each morning we would not have emptying issues as we stimulate the Colon movement by getting up and about. The 5am to 7am correspond to Colon time in the Chinese Medical Clock.

Even my singing teacher used to say: empty completely your Lungs of all the air and then the next breath will come automatically and will be deeper. In fact, to sustain the health of Autumn related organs, we can help ourselves with breathing exercises (including singing!) and movement: stretching, yoga, Qi Gong, walking and bike-rides in the Nature, will stimulate our Lungs and Colon to extract more meaning from our existence and regularly get rid of trash.

If you nevertheless experience problems with elimination on physical, mental or emotional level, or feel depressed not finding meaning and value in life, there couldn't be a better time to get some acupuncture treatment and Chinese Medical diagnosis to help you with the process of accepting and letting go.

You can book your session here:

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