Feeling the Fall
The season of harvest is a good time to finish the projects that started in the spring and summer and to launch projects more oriented towards the house and ourselves. Autumn is the driest season of the year. The leaves of trees wise up and therefore dry, apart from chlorophyll and pass from green to yellow so typical of this season. It is preparing the rest of winter to the rebirth of spring.
Fall in Chinese medicine corresponds to the metallic element, which is related to the lung and large intestine. A poor or superficial breathing coupled with improper disposal, would augur ill for this time of year.
After the expansion, the energy of summer is beginning to gather. It is the time that what grow are not the aerial parts of the plant, but the roots.
It's time for the organization, the rate of regular hours of work home … ultimately the internalization.
On September 23rd is the day of equinox, when the darkness of night matches daylight. Since then the darkness of the night progresses until the winter solstice on December 21st where we have the longest night.
It is great to start the fall with a internal and external cleansing.
After cleansing the body, in my opinion with a one-week diet of cream of rice is enough, you should continue with a diet with soups daily, dressed with non-pasteurized barley miso, drinking and chewing little liquid as you can.
Exercise with conscious breathing helps you relax and sleep better.
Habits as late dinner with food and concentrated on the type of meat, eggs, nuts, bread, baked… punish the liver and then a cause slow functioning of the intestine, thus allowing an increase of toxins in the body. This situation can lead to some problems, like getting up in the morning crowded with nasal mucous, or stiffness in the back, veing more prone to colds and flu.
If your ability to handle and eliminate waste is weak, or if it takes more than you need, you can store garbage in the large intestine. Often this results in intestinal accumulation cause catarrh and nasal mucus.
The most balanced Fall diet would be
- Cereals: rice, food with good energy of contraction. It is very useful for people to prevent the spread or expansion of various diseases.
- Pulses: Lentils.
- Vegetables: All those that are root as turnips, radishes, carrots, radish, parsnips and salsify. And the round as onions, cabbage and the like.
- Alga: The Hizikia.
- Fruit: pear.
- Condiments: Kombu alga powder with ginger.
- Fish: Sardines.
- Drinks: Lotus Tea
- In ways of cooking we have dry and shrink foods: sautéed, stews… and all those which use fire long time and little water. Raw foods are not therapeutic in cases of lung disorders, large bowel or skin problems: eczema, redness
- Flavor: The spicy, it dilates the respiratory system (ginger, pepper)
- Color: white (rice, turnip, kuzu)
- Time: The twilight. This will indicate that it is the time where the lung and large intestine have the highest energy, so it's time to work with them on their improvement, taking walks or riding bike.
- Weather: Dry. Moisture and the cold go right to the lung.
- Hole: The nose.
- Sense: The smell.
- Fabric: leather. Hence the great respect for medicine for lung problems and skin.
- External manifestation: strong hair means strong lung.
- Secretions: The mucus and sputum.
The most lopsided for the fall would be
- Eggs, sausages, strong cheeses, grilled meats…
- Fats: are enemies of the lungs, as fill the alveoli, reducing its ability to absorb oxygen. In fact the more harmful is snuff with a fat diet.
- Abuse of excess fluids and fruit: the excess liquid by hand soak the kidney and lungs, hindering the process of getting oxygen, so necessary especially for our brains. To understand this we can imagine that the lung is a sponge to absorb air and water that has less control over air absorbed. When a person has boogers is a way of drying the lung, so important in the fall.
- Finally, abuse of refined sugar or other sugars as favoring rapid ponding of the lungs, as well as abuse of fruit or fruit juice. In case you have option to choose the whole fruit is better to juice.
Lung-Large bowel Meridian
It is born of the thumb (lung) and index (large intestine) and arms to the shoulder, throat and nose.
Exercises for the Lung meridian, large intestine:
(according to Professor W. Ohashi)
- To stimulate these meridians at home press the thumb and index finger, a hand against the other like a clamp, pressing on various points of the finger.
- Stand up, hands crossed behind, left to right on the time you take your thumbs.
- We're going to lean forward while lifting up our arms as much as we can.
- In this position, do two deep breaths.
- Repeat as many times as we want, taking care not to harm us.
The practice of this exercise gives us strength and flexibility, we allow the inner energy flow easily facilitating healing, not least because the disease is a stagnation of energy.
Since ancient times, the flexibility of the body corresponds with the flexibility of mind and spiritual attitude towards life.
In sum, greater flexibility will provide a more manageable life, becoming grateful.
Being aware of your breathing can help you understand and then eliminate the bodily tensions, in turn opening the mind to get solutions to the problems. Breathing is the foundation of a healthy life.