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Lighten
Up--It’s Spring!
Deborah Barr©
Spring is the first season of the year and represents birth,
beginnings, and rapid growth in nature and in ourselves. Nature
is more active and expansive; its energy is ascending. In spring
we awaken from the confinement of winter and are restored as
nature is. As you emerge from the quiet, inward energy of
winter, nature too is awakening from its slumber. It’s time to
clear out the old, and for planting seeds, literally and
metaphorically.
We associate getting rid of the old stuff and spring house
cleaning with this time of year. Cleansing your body of toxins
and residues of food excesses and purifying your mind and
emotions are fitting at this time of the year. Cycles of
rejuvenation and purification are at their height in the
spring.
It’s time to rise earlier and awaken with the sun, and to have
more contact with nature. Brisk outdoor walks will invigorate
your body and mind. Spring can open you to a fresh, bright
perspective on your life and cause you to blossom as nature
does.
Perhaps you’ve noticed a relationship between the seasons and
your personal health. Your mental outlook, emotional state and
physical health flow with the cycles of nature. Learning to flow
your energy as nature does through the seasons can insure
vibrant physical health and emotional harmony. How well you
transition through the seasons is a good indicator of how
balanced your health is.
The Chinese health philosophy and its theory of the Five
Elements provide a good understanding of how nature and your
body mirror each other. Man and nature are intimately
connected. According to the wisdom of Traditional Chinese
Medicine, each season relates to specific organs in the body and
corresponding emotions. Seasonal changes are transitions and in
spring we shift from the quieter, more inward, descending energy
of winter to the more active, expansive and ascending energy
that is reflected in the environment. Smooth seasonal
transitions are crucial to our wellness and tend to be times
when many experience more intensity in chronic health
conditions, greater stress, and physical difficulty.
The TCM corresponding organ to the spring season is the liver
and its complementary organ, the gall bladder. Following
nutritional practices that improve the health of these organs
will help you flow healthfully into this season with the
vibrancy of nature.
The Liver stores and distributes nourishment for the
entire body, is involved in the formation and breakdown of
blood, and filters unusable materials (toxins) from the blood.
Liver cells make bile which aids digestion, and stores bile in
the gall bladder to be used in the intestines for the breakdown
of fats, and enhancing the ability of small intestines to absorb
fatty acids. Gall Bladder is the complementary organ to
the liver.
Conditions
related to spring
The liver regulates the emotions and some indicators of liver
stagnation include: excessive anger, impatience, frustration,
resentment, edginess, arrogance, stubbornness, aggression, and
an impulsive or explosive personality. When these states are
repressed and not transformed, they cause depression. Mood
swings are liver related. Emotions are an expression of qi
(pronounced chee). When the liver is overloaded its energy
becomes stagnant. That energy seeks release and is often
expressed through extreme emotional states.
A healthy liver is reflected in patient, calm, orderly,
creative, self-expressive, confident, direct, clear-minded,
passionate, and decisive behavior.
The liver rules the tendons and eyes. Related disharmonies
include tendon and ligament problems, and eye problems,
including cataracts, glaucoma, inflamed, red or dry eyes, night
blindness, excessive tearing. These and other visual
abnormalities all mirror the energetic health of the liver.
Swellings and lumps in the body, and migraine headaches are
other symptoms of a stagnant liver.
The liver stores and purifies blood, and when the liver is
stagnant, blood purification can be inadequate, leading to the
release of toxins through the skin. Impure blood is a cause of
acne, eczema, carbuncles, boils, acidosis and allergies. Toxic
blood feeds all degenerative conditions, including arthritis and
cancer. Hormonal balance is regulated by the Liver, and many
menstrual and menopausal difficulties are rooted in a stagnant
liver.
Some of the causes of liver imbalances are excesses of many
types, including rich, fatty, greasy food, chemicals,
intoxicants, denatured food, and unexpressed and repressed
emotions. Spring is a good time to lighten up these excesses.
Your eating habits of one season are reflected in your health
during the next season. You can flourish in spring as nature
does by incorporating foods and practices that are harmonious
with the season.
Foods for
Spring
While cooking food helps to maintain digestive balance, it’s
time to incorporate lighter and simpler food preparation;
shorter cooking times at higher heat to thoroughly cook the
food; light steaming, quick sautéing, and simmering. Baking,
broiling and pressure cooking create more heat in the food and
are more suitable for the winter months.
The color of spring is green. Incorporating green plants in the
diet will put you in harmony with the season and with balanced
health. Choosing foods with the expansive qualities of
spring--fresh greens, sprouts, and young plants--will help to
eliminate any excesses from the heavier eating and cooking of
winter.
Include fresh dandelions, watercress, nettles, and other hard,
dark, leafy greens, lightly steamed. Use leeks, scallions,
chives, parsley, and asparagus. You may want to include high
chlorophyll products such as chlorella, algae, wheatgrass or
spirulina. Green foods with an upward rising energy are
beneficial because they clear stagnancy and cool heat in the
liver. They offset stress from alcohol and drugs, reduce
cholesterol, cleanse the arteries, detoxify the liver, and have
antioxidant properties.
Include some sprouts and other raw foods to encourage outward
activity, and for their cleansing and cooling properties. Daikon
and red radishes are also helpful for clearing liver stagnation
as are peppermint tea and small amounts of sassafras tea.
It’s also useful to include some pungent cooking herbs for their
expansive quality. Include bay leaf, dill, caraway, marjoram,
basil, fennel and rosemary.
The whole grains barley and Job’s Tears are cooling and
cleansing for the liver and should be emphasized during this
season.
The sour flavor is most active in the liver where it counteracts
the effects of rich, greasy food, and the heavier foods of
winter. It functions as a solvent by breaking down fats and
protein. Sour helps in digestion to dissolve minerals for
improved assimilation and can help strengthen weakened lungs. In
spring it’s appropriate to emphasize some sour foods such as
lemon, lime, grapefruit, leeks, sauerkraut, vinegar, pickles,
plums, strawberries, tart apples, rhubarb, raspberries,
blackberries, huckleberries, sourdough bread, sprouted grains
and sprouted grain bread. Black and green tea and blackberry
leaves are also classified as sour.
Increasing these foods can help correct physical and emotional
imbalances of this element. Of course it’s equally important to
minimize fatty, heavy, congesting foods and to eliminate
intoxicants and chemicals. Doing so will give you the vitality
to enjoy all the activities of the warmer seasons.
Eating less food, having the bigger meal earlier in the day, and
avoiding late night meals will reduce excesses, improve
digestion, and cause you to feel lighter and more energetic as
you move from winter to spring.
Spring
Cleaning for the Body
We associate this season with spring cleaning and clearing out
the old. We purge our homes of clutter, dirt, dust, and toxins,
and it’s time to do the same for our body and mind. Because of
environmental factors, spring and fall are the most auspicious
times to embark on a cleanse, and there are many approaches.
Their appropriateness is based on individual patterns, and
extreme detoxification is not recommended.
Cleansing and detoxification are
neither appropriate nor recommended for pregnant and lactating
women; those with serious physical and mental degenerations; or
those who are deficient, frail, weak, or underweight.
One of the simplest approaches is to eat only vegetables and
fruits for a 3-10 day period. For the 10 days prior to the
cleanse you can prepare yourself by eliminating coffee, alcohol,
processed foods, chemicals and food additives, sugar, butter,
margarine, and dairy. Then, for the designated time period of
the cleanse, start your day with warm water with lemon or lime.
For breakfast have a bowl of lightly cooked vegetable soup. Use
lots of greens, shiitake mushrooms, leeks and other vegetables
of your choice. You can use some of the pungent culinary herbs
suggested above to season the soup.
Mid-morning have some fruit, especially tart apples, berries,
grapefruit and pears.
For lunch and dinner, eat 2-4 cups of a variety of vegetables,
some lightly steamed and some raw. You can toss the vegetables
with sprouts and sauerkraut for added benefit, or drizzle them
with good quality vinegar, cold pressed flax oil, or fresh lemon
or lime juice.
Beverages are best drunk between meals rather than with meals.
You can include spring or filtered water with a splash of lemon
or lime; unsweetened grapefruit juice diluted with water, herbal
teas such as peppermint, spearmint, dandelion, and chamomile.
Pau d’arco tea, green tea, and kukicha or bancha tea are
beneficial as well. Fresh vegetable juice from carrot, celery,
apple, parsley and other greens is gently cleansing and a
healthy addition to a spring cleanse.
How you eat improves your results. Sit down, relax, and chew
your food until liquid. This alkalizes the food and improves
digestion by mixing the food with enzymes found in saliva. Do
not eat after 7 p.m.
Take a 30 minute walk outdoors daily to increase oxygen and
harmonize with nature.
Get enough sleep. You may need more while going through a
cleanse. During sleep your body restores and renews itself.
Important
Considerations
For a cleanse to be successful, it’s important to identify your
personal reasons for doing so. Your goal may be to rid your body
of excess fats and toxins; to restore and improve your health;
to jumpstart weight loss; improve mental clarity and focus; for
spiritual development; or simply to initiate better habits. You
may have other reasons. The power of your clarity and intention
will contribute to your positive results.
Toxic
Thoughts and Emotions
The energy of spring encourages and supports letting go and
clearing out the old. This may mean habits, personal truths that
have been guiding your life, ways of being in the world, and
work and relationships that are not supporting your highest
good. Purging yourself of outdated beliefs, attitudes, and toxic
emotions that are not supporting your health and happiness
clears stagnant energy that may be keeping you heavy and stuck.
What would you like to give birth to in your life? It may be a
creative project, a new relationship, a more challenging and
fulfilling profession, a nourishing lifestyle, or a healthier,
fit body. Creating a vision statement is akin to planting seeds
in the garden. Plant the mental seeds now by writing your goals,
feeding and nurturing your dreams, and taking action toward
them. Watch them blossom and come to fruition as nature does in
the warmer months.
It is helpful while embarking on a physical cleanse to work on
mental/emotional
clearing. This is a favorable time to journal
your thoughts and feelings. Include those that you want to clear
out of your life. Emotions are often a metaphor for what you’re
holding onto in your physical body. The process of writing can
bring to your awareness thoughts and emotions that are keeping
you where you are. As these negative states surface, stop and
pay attention to them and find ways to release them. Reflect on
their positive purpose in your life—how they’ve caused you to
grow, mature, become more forgiving, and change in other
positive ways. Negative emotional states can cause you to make
poor food choices and eventually lead to health problems.
Include in your journaling all the positive aspects of you, your
life and all the good things you what you want to bring into
your life and health. Renew your relationship with yourself by
making a decision to love and respect yourself by eliminating
negative self-judgment, perfectionism, and living in the past.
In doing so, the miracles that are occurring in nature will be
reflected in your life. A more radiant, vital you will soon
emerge.
Your body, mind, emotions and the environment are not separate
and are mimicking each other. Seasonal changes are an opportune
time to strengthen your whole health. Take your cues from the
natural environment. When you adapt yourself to spring
transitions with appropriate foods and practices, you will
maintain good health, and flourish as nature does.
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Deborah Barr
founded Whole Health Resources in 1985 and works with national
clientele to help them realize radiant health of body,
mind/emotions and spirit, as well as joyful, abundant living. WHR provides a wide range of services including Holistic Health
Counseling, Natural Weight Loss Services, Whole Health Coaching,
Shiatsu Therapy and Yogatherapy, and a wide range of workshops
and seminars. Deborah is a sought after speaker and writer
sharing her Holistic message to audiences of regional and
national scope. She can be reached by calling 412.421.7760, or
by email at 
