March - the courage to change

“Master, I am afraid of change. How do I welcome him?”

“There is a person who can show you the way. Go to the blacksmith and stop and observe his work!"

“What can a blacksmith teach me?”

“The art of transformation. He uses fire to shape metals. He shapes them according to his will. He is the father of creation. Like the blacksmith, you too can shape your life, give your days the shape you want. You are the father of change. How can you be afraid of your creation?”

“I'm afraid of the change that comes from outside…”

“If you are afraid of fire, you burn yourself. If you learn to dominate it, you become the creator of wonderful masterpieces. Just like the blacksmith who with his millenary art manages to melt metal and bind it to give life to a new object, you too grasp the change that comes from outside, burn it with your inner fire and bring out new life, new ideas, new thoughts.”

“I'm not sure I can…”

“Your problem is not the fear of change but of the fire that is inside you. It's burning a lot, at very high temperatures, because it wants to accomplish its assignment. But you are turning it off. With fear, worry, fatigue. Don't be afraid of seeing new parts of you born: the blacksmith is an artist and what he creates is only a work of art."

Elena Bernabè

Spirit Focus: grasp the change

From the Classical Chinese Medical point of view, the above story talks about three Elements: Fire, Water and Wood. The Fire and Water elements are the heat and cold used by an iron maker to melt and solidify but his hammer is a vector of creation, that is the Wood element - the element of Spring. Whereas the Fire and Water elements are the basis for any existence, they also maintain each other in equilibrium by their interplay. The Wood element is the courage with which the iron maker raises his hammer and decides on his next move in accordance with his vision of what he intends to create.

The passion of Fire although essential for creating, is not enough without an act of doing. Spring is just about that: taking the steps, raise your hammer and change the shape according to your vision. Those who burn inside but do not apply the hammer (here meaning: direction, decisions, moving ahead, etc) will produce certain psycho-somatic symptoms, especially so in Spring.

Mind Focus: resistance is in the mind

The Nature does not resists that which is inevitable. The realisation of self is a natural result of us being born and alive. Not accomplishing our destiny (called Ming by cinese) is when the disease sets in. The only obstacle on your way is your mind, precisely the resistances you have created in your mind.

What are your beliefs about not doing, having or being who you burn inside to be? There isn't a better month in a year than March to challenge what you think about yourself and the world. The winds of change blowing in Spring will help you be more creative and flexible with your thoughts.

The resistance is also in our daily habits, daily actions we take to go about accomplishing tasks. We are still at the beginning of Spring feeling so much potential ahead. It is a perfect time to address all your self-sabotaging behaviours, be it health-wise, relationship-wise or work-wise.

Body Focus: Marching like the Liver

There are two seasons in the year when the energy helps us to detox: the Autumn and the Spring. In Autumn we let go to create space. In Spring the release happens as the byproduct of the propelling force which must move ahead and leaves behind the unnecessary. It is thanks to Liver, known as the General of our body.

Liver is so strongly energised in Spring that even slightest support you give it, will help it cleanse your body of the Winter accumulations. If you followed my February advice to start gently on detox (https://www.dorotao.com/post/february-sprouting-time), this month you can boldly get into it.

Continue, if you have not done it yet, withdrawing heavier foods from your diet (check out my February blog) and add lighter foods instead. This month add daily one of these seasonal liver "friendly" vegetables:

- chicories

- artichokes

- red beets (root and leaves)

- radishes

- wild greens (dandelion leaves, nettle leaves, foraging greens).

As a supplement, I have prepared and used daily a hydro-alcoholic extract of Milk Thistle seeds. If there is one Liver herb I would use this month it is Milk Thistle. Apart from its known function in western herbalism of protecting and tonifying the Liver; in Chinese herbal medicine it moves the stagnation of Qi and Blood - aiding that propelling force of Liver to move ahead. Additionally, it helps removing the toxins out of the body via urine and intestines.

Exercise wise, this month you are bound to feel like doing much more than just gentle stretches suggested the past month. Do get out and walk to stretch your ligaments and include some exercises to strengthen your muscles. Otherwise, how are you going to sustain this month's work of forging the iron?

If there are any symptoms that arise at this season or get worse in Spring, do contact me for a thorough personal diagnosis.

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Spring Creation

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.

Book an appointment

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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Lunar New Year - improving your health with Yin Water Hare in 2023

This year the Chinese New Year is unusually early beginning with the new moon on the 21/22 January. Soon after that, 4th February marks the beginning of the first month of Spring and a change into the energy of Water Rabbit.

Being born in the year of Rabbit myself I associate myself much more with a Hare than a Rabbit. Hares seem more independent, wild and stronger. On the other hand, many other qualities these two animals do share.

Hares and Rabbits are calm and peace loving animals therefore they are associated with diplomacy. They symbolise luck, probably due to their fertile predisposition. They symbolise good health probably due to their bodily agility. They are also associated with patience and dedication. They are intuitive and decisive. They are also said to be intelligent and vigilant. The combination of all these qualities make them a symbol of success in achieving goals and plans, especially the long term ones. In fact, this year we may feel like making some long-term plans, despite the recent unpredictability of life.

This year will be Yin Water element. Yin Water relates to "lesser" water such as rain, lakes and rivers. Yin Water is of black colour so this coming year in China is also called the year of the Female Black Rabbit. Water element magnifies the Rabbit qualities of intuition, diplomacy, creativity, decisiveness, agility, charm. So, these qualities will come particularly easily to us in the coming year. It will be easier to get into a flow of things.

2023 will be the second Water year (after the Water Tiger 2022, about which you can read here https://www.dorotao.com/post/lunar-new-year-improving-your-health-with-the-energy-of-water-tiger) and then 2024 will change into Wood element. In the cycle of Five Elements Water corresponds to Winter energy and precedes Wood, which is Spring. As you imagine Water and Winter time is a time for preparation before the great "resurrection" of the Nature from dead into life. This year will be a step before that, a great preparation for "all go" the next year.

This preparation is gathering the strength, recharging, getting our firmly founded health and identity, which will be so necessary the next year when much wind will blow in all directions (Wood Dragon year).

However, Rabbit itself in Chinese Medicine is associated with Wood element, the Spring and Yin energy. So, it is associated with Liver (Wood element) but also with Large Intestine (Metal element). According to the Five Element cycle Metal controls Wood. This trend continues from the last year, only this year there will be much more emphasis on the Wood (growth) than on Metal (contraction). Rabbits are not ferocious nor potent animals (such as Tiger) and their strength lies in Yin qualities.

Rabbit is legendarily linked to the Moon, therefore emotions and menstrual cycle, the cycle of life and renewal. The origin of Chinese word for rabbit means "spit babies", so it is an auspicious year for the fertility. The Yin Water element adds to it by nourishing further the semen and egg energy.

Although the nature of Rabbits is akin to the qualities of Water, Water and Winter is not a particularly accommodating element to the warmth and grass loving Hares.

Body-wise, we will need to watch out for cold and humidity which will give rise to more conditions such as arthritis, rheumatisms, damp-related headaches, influenza, common cold and stomach congestion in summer, swellings, water retention and funghi conditions may get worse. Pay a lot of attention to the organs related to the Rabbit: Liver and Large Intestine. They are two very important organs for detoxification (Liver of blood and Fatty Intestine of liquids). The more scraps you eliminate this year the more ready you will be for next year.

Persons with general Yang deficiency (so especially women) will need to watch their Yin/Yang balance by keeping warm, doing regular physical activity and avoid excessive amounts of Yin foods (sugar, dairy and raw foods in winter). There will be a tendency for damp-cold accumulation which will lead to phlegm and further complications. Kidney Yang and Spleen will need to be top notch to cope with the damp-cold conducive energy.

But importantly, black Female Water Rabbit is healing, so it is a chance to heal new and old emotional wounds, if you are ready. The Lunar energy of Rabbit will definitely help you connect with your emotions, understand them and transform them better in 2023 than any other year. Practice moon-gazing and tree-hugging for easier connection to own emotions.

For the mental health, Rabbit year will instill more hope, provided you take care of the Yin/Yang balance as the excess Yin may make some people predisposed to depression.

All these conditions (physical, mental or emotional) are successfully treated and prevented by the Classical Chinese Medicine. To book yourself for a in-person appointment or an on-line consultation, just click on the appropriate button below:

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2023 Chinese New Year - Female Black Hare