Late Summer - when transition is transformation

Have you noticed that the end of Summer brings on a particular kind of heaviness? Some attribute it to the conclusion of the holidays and the return to routine and the monotony of daily life. However, it’s all about the energy around us. Since early February, the energy has been building, but it began to diminish around mid-August. By early September, we find ourselves in the midst of a transition period leading us into the more Yin phase of the year. Yin is characterized by being more hidden, darker, slower, and less vibrant, balancing out the high vibe months we've just experienced.

Each seasonal change involves a transition period between the conclusion of one season and the start of the next. However, the transition at the end of Summer is unique. It is more than just a transition; it is a period of transformation. Transformation refers to altering form, nature, or appearance. Alternatively, it can be described as a metamorphosis, conversion, or transmutation.

Let's observe Nature; it's the last chance to transform flowers into fruits. This is the peak time for Nature to ripen its fruits before energy diminishes. Plants that have already borne fruit start to wither, undergoing their further transformation. It is truly the time of abundance, both of quantity and variety. This sense of satiety is one of the reasons for the heaviness left in Late Summer.

A close-up of the zucchini flower's vibrant center highlights its detailed textures and golden tones.

Just as changes occur in nature, similar shifts happen within human beings; we can also sense these transitions affecting our bodies. After following a quick "on-the-go" Summer diet, our bodies might signal a need for proper nutrition. The signs your body may exhibit in Late Summer can include digestive issues, slower digestion, fatigue, bloating, swollen legs and general swelling, headaches, difficulty falling asleep, exacerbation of some chronic conditions, and the return of candida and other fungal issues. These examples indicate that your body is struggling to transform food into nourishing blood. The organs involved are the Stomach and Spleen, and the symptoms appear when their energies are weak and in need of strengthening.

To enhance Stomach and Spleen health during this time, modify your diet to include more cooked foods (such as porridge for breakfast instead of cold yogurt), eliminate ice cream, and incorporate honey and warm water to support your Stomach and Spleen. Begin your day with a glass of warm water. If you experience digestive issues, consume some ginger after meals. Go to bed an hour or half an hour earlier than during holidays to adjust to gradually shorter days and ensure sufficient rest. If you are struggling with symptoms and a feeling of heaviness, eliminate gluten, dairy, and processed sugars from your diet until you feel better.

The Spleen and Stomach are two organs that will assist you in adapting to the approaching Autumn and also play a role in your current mental and psychological transformation.

We are experiencing a truly transformative period in September. It's an ideal time to mentally organize your life and transform the burden of new post-holiday responsibilities into a fresh routine. With the start of a new academic year, our daily habits can be reshaped. It's not about cramming your schedule, but rather creating a sustainable and nourishing rhythm. Let your days unfold like a dance routine—smooth, creative, expressive, and fulfilling. Analyze how you spend your time during the day: how much is dedicated to self-care versus house-care, how much time is spent working and commuting compared to being in nature, and how much time do you spend in front of a screen versus nurturing a hobby or relationship?

What thoughts fill your mind throughout the day? Engaging in conscious reflection, particularly during meditation, can help identify which thoughts should be transformed from repetitive or negative into more productive and positive ones. This practice of mental hygiene can release a significant amount of energy that might otherwise remain trapped.

This period offers your soul a chance to return to its origins after the erratic, vibrant, and social energy of summer. It's an ideal moment to reflect, find your center, and ground yourself to process everything that has occurred. Don't feel guilty if you're not up for hosting another dinner party! This feeling aligns with the present energy. Focus on your needs and nurture yourself with rest and beauty; for instance, enjoy a massage or another pampering experience. Receiving is crucial for transformation of the soul's nourishment.

In certain respects, it's another journey around the Sun since you last had the chance to re-center. What transformation have you already undergone and what aspects within you have matured for metamorphosis? Maybe you're prepared to take on new responsibilities that bring fulfillment and let go of those that are merely burdensome. Perhaps that is part of the heaviness you are feeling this month.

If you find yourself needing help during the transition period of September, schedule a seasonal treatment to support the transformation of food, thoughts, and experiences into nourishment for your body, mind, and soul.

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Winter and the Water Element - the Inner Explorations

How to Stay Healthy and Balanced During the Winter Season with the Five Element Energies?

Have you noticed the clouds in the sky have become dark blue? Have you noticed the cold humid air penetrating your skin and getting deep into your bones? The energy is that of inward direction and of inner explorations, both for us and for all the Nature around. Even the energy pulses I sense on my patients have now been withdrawing and going deeper than in summer months. All this inner activity requires us to slow down and reflect more.

Connecting with the Water Element in Winter

Spirit focus

The penetrating energy of Winter is allowing us to dive deep into our Soul and see the bare bones of our essence, that is of who we really are. Winter is a perfect time for reflection on our identity, on the incarnation of our Spirit in this life. Knowing yourself is knowing your path in life, the Tao. The illness comes when we stray away from our path, from our essence and moving further away from the completion of that for which we were born. Hence, self-reflection is the time well spent for our health and wellbeing.

Apart from the downtime spent in self-reflection, it is useful to reconnect with your tribe too, the people who root your Soul into the society. So, family and long-time friends can be a mirror of your current existance; realising that you and them are one as the drops of water in the ocean. The only difference is that each human has an individual Soul, incarnated on Earth for his/her specific purpose. That implies you also need to recognise the boundaries between you and your tribe in order to direct your essence at your will. Otherwise, you become ill.

So, take time in Winter season to, first self-reflect and recognise your own essence, both individual and colletive, and then take notice of where your boundaries must lie. By the way, "the boundaries" does not mean erecting the walls, but recognising when you allow your essence to be compromised to the point you cannot will who you are into being.

Mind focus

It may not be easy to reflect on your essence and your place in the world. With such tumoulous energies in the worlds right now, one can find that the mind is easily dispersed by the social media, fast developing technology, constant availability to asnwer a phone or messages. Sleeplessness or emotional tribulations can result from such restless mind.

Winter energy in itself can be still but can be rough too, just as the sea, depending on the winds. In fact, the conscious mind can navigate those rough winds. Mind control comes particularly strong in Winter. Some of you may know that the mind is closely linked with the Heart in Chinese Medicine, fewer of you may know the brain is also related to the Kidneys. Kidneys, with their will power, determine what your mind focuses on. That's why we need to realise that "the mind over matter" does matter sometimes and disciplining of the mind is an act of our own will power.

I encourage you to try out one simple exercise of willing your mind. If you have thoughts that are negative and/or repetitive, try to say to yourself three time (more potent): "(your name) stop thinking about it, now". Sometimes willing your mind that way does work. There can be other ways and methods of training your mind.

Meditation practices are aimed at focusing your mind. I remind you of my weekly meditation sessions I hold live on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/DoroTao.ClassicalChineseMedicine

and soon to be available also on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/dorotao.kowal/

Body focus

Kidneys and Bladder are related to the Winter season and the Water Element. These organs take care of our waterway systems in our body, including distribution of warmth. Just like the central heating system, the thorough distribution of warm water around assures the right temperature is maintained in every parts of the body.

How to maintain our good circulation when it is freezing or nearly freezing outside?

First of all, the diet. Absolutely avoid ice-cold foods and drinks. They will not only slow down your circulation but also digestion, creating more phlegm and in turn lower your overall energy. There are also foods that are cold or cooling in nature, such as cucumbers, lettuce, mint and most fruits and raw vegetables. It is best to avoid or reduce cooling foods, selecting the seasonal ones and cooked preferably. If you are consistently feeling too hot in winter you may be having toxic heat inside and should seek treatment to adjust your energy rather than eat or drink ice cold foods to cool down in winter.

Secondly, I suggest hot and cold showers (with gradual application) to stimulate the circulation. Thirdly, do regular brisk walking or better: running. Yes, Winter is actually a good time to do some running. Since we are not totally hibernating species, we need to keep the circulation going well. Running awakes in us the primordial memory of flight from the danger, which stimulates the life preserving energy of Kidneys and the Water element in us.

And if you are feeling pulled down by long and dark winter days, remember to drink tea from the flowers of St. John's Wort plant. It's flowers have enclosed in them the peak summer sunshine and now you can boost your mood by drinking its infusion.

Generally, the Winter season is the time to eat more root vegetables and herbs based on roots, tubers or rhisomes. They give us sustenance necessary to keep the body going but simultaneously sustaining our Winter Yin energy. If you would need a consultation for diet and herbs best fitted for you in Winter months, contact me here https://www.dorotao.com/clinic-contact.

How do you live through the winter season yourself? Do you know that depending on our energetic make-up we approach each season differently? Leave your comment about your particular challenges or tips for living through the Winter season.

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