How to have a stellar Fall
Get the most out of the season
Chinese medicine puts a lot of stock in living in tune with the seasons.
It's late Autumn now, and only a few weeks remain of the expanding night hours. This is the perfect chance to attend to yourself in a quiet, inward way --a way that doesn't look like a lot on the surface but can be the fundament of the vitality and energy you'll have going forward.
As the season associated with the lungs, fall encourages us to examine what we take in, and that we let go. The go go go of summer and the gathering of goodies of harvest time are past, and we enter nature's slower tempo. Emotionally, it evokes both grief (the loss of all that fizz) and gratitude (look at all we still have). How fitting that Thanksgiving is now.
The first secret of this season of the lungs is to breath deeply. One type of breathwork that is easy to do, excellent for relaxing, and improves your lung capacity is the box breath:
Inhale to the count of four.
Hold for the count of four.
Exhale to the count of four.
Repeat at least 5 times. (I practice this in the car to and from work).
Second, it's the best season for sleep. The nights are long! Going to bed early and rising late will give you the needed time to repair from the demands of the year. Yes, it's hard to rest during the year-end holidays. But even if you are in bed with head down only 15 minutes earlier than usual, (and preferably asleep!), you will improve your wellbeing. Deep sleep, we now know, clears waste from the brain and strengthens muscles and bones.
Here's what one patient says about being in the fall groove: "I'm trying to be boring." She is naturally gregarious, but now limits her social life and to-dos to conserve her vital resources for bearing a child. "It's odd for me, but it feels great!"
Nature is happily getting boring too. It's been letting go of its cloak for months now. Soon, with no leaves, the skeleton of winter will reveal itself. Restore yourself now, before winter, "the season of survival," arrives.
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Feel as though you are not replenishing? Come in for a few sessions, including a powerful lung/immune restoration series that will clean and recharge you on multiple levels. Book anytime through this link: http://www.acupuncturedc.com/book-now.
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I wish to thank all of you who have come to me feel better and repair more quickly. My 24 years years of practice have been a joy because of you. May you have all the health and wellbeing you merit and long for.
