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SEASONAL NOTES
- Summer and Health
There are five
seasons recognised by practitioners of oriental medicine. Each
has a close affinity and intimate connection with the human body.
For acupuncturists and herbalists and those working with Eastern
systems of massage and body-work such as Shiatsu and Tui Na,
each season has its own special significance in terms of diagnosis
and treatment. Summer, is for many a favourite period of
the year. Warmth, sunshine, lots of wonderful foliage, flowers,
and wild-life - it is a great time for nature to mature and celebrate
its own splendour and colour. We naturally tend to react to Summer
in a positive way by undertaking more projects, journeys, vacations
and so on. It is a time for doing, and for enjoying life to the
full.
The warm weather is also a time to engage in sports and recreational activities, movement and exercise, and therefore for developing our overall level of cardiovascular fitness. Our heart and lungs can take a big boost from what we do at this time and how we develop our fitness and health.
As regular visitors to these seasonal pages will know by now, that there are five elements, just as there are five seasons in oriental culture and medicine. Summer is associated with the Fire element - which is concerned with circulation and with blood supply. Fire warms, stimulates, invigorates and inspires us. It's energy pushes upwards, illuminates the darkness and promotes feelings of joy and euphoria.
The organs that have the most affinity with these qualities and functions in oriental medicine are the Heart and Small Intestine. These coupled organs seem strange bed-fellows, but they are in fact intimately related in many ways. We all know how the heart works to pump blood around the body, and in this way it transports all the necessary oxygen and nutrients to the cells. But the nutrients themselves have to be firstly absorbed through the Small Intestine and enter the blood stream from there. So the two organs work very closely to provide us with nourishment through the process of circulation.
The connections to the Blood in oriental medicine are very interesting here. Blood is said to house the spirit - called the Shen in Chinese culture. The spirit - you can think of it as consciousness if you like, though it is much more than just that - is responsible for our thought process, of how we remember, reason and also how we shut down our thoughts to enable us to sleep at nights. All these processes are related to the state of the Blood and so to the Fire element.
When the spirit or Shen is not sitting well within the body, we can become depressed, absent-minded or lacking in drive and confidence. There can be sleep disorders, especially dream-disturbed sleep or the kind of sleep that only lasts a short while and leads to waking up in the early hours.
Regarding emotions, it won't come as a
great surprise to learn that the emotion most associated with
Summer and the Fire element is Joy. We tend, quite rightly, to
think of joy as a positive sensation, and its presence in life
is a sign of vigour and health. But in excess, and especially
when combined with over-stimulation and excitement, joy can lead
to health problems in the long term, and difficulties with the
Heart. Palpitations, insomnia, abnormal blood pressure, confusion
and forgetfulness - all these can occur where there has been
an overabundance of joy, stimulation and mental excitement for
any prolonged length of time.
The organs of the body, along with their numerous associations, are central to the understanding of human physiology and health. In the Eastern view, these organs are linked together by numerous internal energetic pathways or channels. Here are the acupuncture channels of the Heart and Small Intestine, along with their deeper pathways. You can see the connections.
Summer is, of course, a hot season. Heat predominates - which is usually a welcome event. But Heat is also considered a pathogenic factor that can affect the body adversely. The Blood, when overheated, can engender all manner of skin complaints, mouth ulcers and even menstrual abnormalities. It can be implicated in dizziness, headaches and digestive complaints including constipation. Extremes of heat, then, should always be avoided. Just as we should be cautious about over-exposure of our skin to sunlight, so too should we be aware that heat can also lead to imbalances deeper within our system.
The Fire element also relates to many at-first seemingly unrelated things - to the colour red, the direction south (where we find the Sun at noon, of course - that greatest of Fire phenomenon), and also to the bitter taste. The tongue and the chest, the inside of the arms, and the blood circulation generally are all associated with the Fire element.
Enjoy your Summer - and let your spirit
soar! But avoid extremes - it's good for your health.
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