Spring

Seasonal changes affect everyone on some level. Our responses to the shift, thanks to being an individual, can be varied, subtle or frustrating. Some of us know the seasons are shifting by our allergies and others by a change in sleep patterns or changes in energy or moods.

Wood is the element associated with spring. We are the reflection of nature, we are emerging from winter's hibernation, the seed's vital energy is awakening, and will soon emerge from the ground. With that emergence comes a renewal of energy which sometimes sputters and spurts as it starts or surges or becomes a little unruly. The energy of the Liver is part of the Wood element and controls the free flow of energy throughout the body. That irregularity of movement of energy at this season's start is due in part to the strength and awakening of the Liver energy.

I see Spring coming a little earlier than most. At the start of February, my flower bulbs have fully emerged into new growth and while walking throughout the densest areas of the city I see robins, rabbits, and other creatures that should hiding away. I feel like I am usually a few weeks ahead of the shift. This year I was annoyingly restless between one and three am, wide awake between three and five in the morning, and ready to crash again just as the clock turned to 5:01 am. Some people are unluckier and are wide awake until 3 or 4 am or later. Clients have been coming in with sleep issues for a few weeks, annual exacerbation of shoulder pain, and a few are just starting to arrive with sinus aggravation.

It is at these times that I figure the Liver needs a little love and support. It is time for castor oil packs. If you don't think you have time for this, you are wrong. If you are surfing the web, losing time on facebook, or watching tv, you could be doing that with a castor oil pack. I suggest avoiding using castor oil packs while pregnant, breastfeeding or during menstruation. If none of those applies to you go out and buy some castor oil and tea towels. Ideally "they" would like you to use undyed wool or cotton flannel, but I just use old white tshirts or tea towels. I run hot water over the cloth, wring it out, apply a thin layer of oil to one side and slap it over the Liver region - the right upper abdomen and rib cage. You can place a large piece of plastic wrap on the towel to insulate it and protect your clothes from the oil and dampness. "They" also suggest soaking the cloth in castor oil and keeping the cloth warm with a hot water bottle. You can improvise. You can reuse the pack multiple times. Store covered in the refrigerator.

I also use herbs and essential oils in conjunction with the castor oil packs and will concoct a combination that will also support the Liver energy.

Essential Oils

Spearmint or Peppermint – to vent heat

Fennel, Lime, Spikenard – to mildly detox

Juniper, Lemon, Oregano – to tonify and calm

Geranium or Rose – to quell mood shifts

Herbs

Herbal recommendations from a consultation with a practitioner are ideal, but the most accessible mildest supporting herbs are dandelion leaf, milk thistle, turmeric.

You could just drink a packaged herbal tea – Everyday Detox tea or dandelion tea. You want to avoid any detox or weight loss tea that contains rhubarb or da huang if you don't have issues with constipation. Reduce the caffeine and alcohol, and increase the water, green veggies, and green tea. Increase cardio to assist the consistency in energy flow. Just a short walk through your neighborhood will help or a yoga class.

Happy Shifting into Spring!

Response to Anxiety

Anxiety is a combination of fear and worry. Our central nervous system mobilizes us to respond to danger by setting in motion a complex sequence of biochemical and physiological events. The sympathetic fight-or-flight response should trigger action, but many times we experience the sweating, racing heart, and acute awareness and possibly other physical symptoms yet remain still. Remaining still without action can deeply affect the body's overall function. The adaptive side of worry allows us to take preventative action to perceived or anticipated danger. Some types of fear and certain amounts of worry are healthy. Persistent and escalating sensations with no actual threat are the maladaptive side of worry. And this can have physical and emotional effects.

• Impaired judgment
  
• Increased irritability
  
• Reduced overall function
  
• Depressed immune system
  
• Heart disease
  
• GI disorders
  
• Fatigue
  
• Muscle tension and pain
  

Scientists find a genetic predisposition in some individuals and environmental conditioning in others. From the perspective of Chinese Medicine we have a host of ways anxiety can manifest and how the person will respond based on their particular pattern of energetic imbalance. A Kidney yin imbalance anxiety will manifest differently than a Liver Yang imbalance and the way to adapt the imbalance is also different. Since that will be too lengthy to discuss, I will stick to some general information on coping with anxiety.

First, rule out any medical condition with your primary care physician.

If an anxiety disorder deeply affects the physical body, medications (even for the short term) to reduce the sympathetic stress on organs coupled with a multidisciplinary approach to quell and understand the emotional imbalance and triggers is highly beneficial.

Notice the people who surround you. Individuals who thrive on drama and chaos will trigger a sensitive central nervous system. Distance yourself from either the person or situation and surround yourself with grounded individuals. The Dalai Lama emphasized cultivating compassion and deepening connection with others while maintaining boundaries. His cognitive intervention to overcome anxiety and worry is to replace them with well-reasoned positive thoughts and attitudes. No easy task!

We experience anxiety and fears - fears of suffering or consequences of our negative actions - that bring us closer to being a "good person" and to our right path. Most of the fears we experience are projections of our own feelings onto someone else, a mental projection, and our creative mind manifesting childish fears. Genuine fears of violence are not generally part of our daily lives.

Even the Dalai Lama is prone to performance anxiety. In the book The Art of Happiness, he was asked why he accepts to teach if it elicits anxiety in him. Proper motivation to be of service or to be of some benefit to those attending is the antidote to reduce fear and anxiety. Ego-motivation or showing off knowledge will benefit no one.

I, personally, don't feel the anxiety until just hours before speaking; I acknowledge to the audience that I am anxious or nervous and encourage dialogue both of which breaks the ice and takes the edge off the presentation.

When asked about fear of appearing foolish, a failure or incompetent the Dalai Lama came back to the same response sincere intent, compassion and being of the best service. If you did not succeed and had pure intent then the situation was beyond your best abilities and there is no regret. Also, knowing that even the Dalai Lama will reply "I don't know" to a question is comforting. If the motivation is ego-driven or to cheat someone, you will be nervous if you fail and unhappy if you succeed.

So the Dalai Lama's two remedies

Constant rumination and worry: If there is a solution to the problem, there is no need to worry. If there is no solution, there is no sense in worrying either.

Either it will work out or it is out of your control.

Broad-spectrum remedy: Transform the underlying motivation

Stand back and make sure that your mean no harm and that your motivation is sincere can help reduce anxiety in daily situations.

Two techniques that have helped me when I am anxious or just a bit off, I learned from Aleya Dao.

One technique that helps reduce my low level worries, fears and anxieties is to unplug and reconnect. Let me explain. We reach out energetically on a horizontal plane to those around us (our social field), bring your energy vertical off the horizontal plane, and focus on an internal vertical axis of your energy (spiritual axis). I see it as a column of light and energy that flows through the spinal column from the top of your head to your sacrum. Then I imagine a plug in the socket of an electric outlet, I remove the plug from the electric outlet of mass consciousness where we pick up the sensations and stresses of those around us. I insert the plug into a different electric outlet of enlightened consciousness and the sensations reduce. Enlightened consciousness brings us our resources. Nature and the universe are the enlightened realms – the whales, the dolphins, the magnetic of the earth and the electricity of the atmosphere. See the column of light on the vertical access extending beyond your crown and sacrum to the atmosphere and the earth's core. Stay connected on the vertical, focused on that enlightened consciousness outlet until the calm returns.

Also to reduce the level of stress hormones circulating throughout your body at those anxious times, you can say "I choose to believe that everything will work out". Actively acknowledge, own and accept your current state of lack or unease; don't hold on to a negative outcome; and truly believe that all will work out as it should.

Another technique when I can't make a decision or others are on my mind is to imagine a tiny sphere just a few inches above my head. It should be self-contained, not reaching itself out to anyone or anything on a horizontal plane. Sometimes others and ourselves project out and perceive reality from someone else. I get in organizing mode and bring all my points of perceiving reality back onto myself and energetically give back those that aren't mine. I don't know whose perceptions are on my sphere, I just visualize it going back. Like with paddleballs , the elastic that attaches the paddle to the ball pulls it back to its source. That is theirs and this is mine.

I've learned other techniques from Aleya but work with these and the ideas of the Dalai Lama for now and find your calm.

Self-imposed happiness

I have many days free this time of the year. Easily sucked into the anxiety surrounding me and within me, I am not enjoying the free time. Logically, realistic reasons exist, but, as with anything, getting caught in that frenzy of what is not, what I do not have, what I need is keeping me out of the present moment. Yes, I can say at this present moment I need to pay rent, but this very second I do not. I don't need to pay it for another week. Not that I am going to shirk paying it, but a clear anxiety-free mind and spirit is more likely to attract what I need. I am not observed as anxious and wouldn't consider what I am feeling fear, but it is. Any time there's number crunching, hiding away, ruminative thoughts, lots of planning on paper without a result, the person's mind is effectively "closed for business", is stuck, and energy is stagnating. Really the only "cure" is going out or going in and connecting. I am unproductive in attaining my goals when stagnated in rumination and long-term daydream-like planning. I had side-work which would have brought in a little money, but I can do it tomorrow. Clearing my mind with this exercise seemed important plus I was dying for a chunk of time to absorb a book.

So I tried it for a day. Friday.

I rolled out of bed at 7, smiling, no, smirking. No reason, but I guess I was giving permission for the day to unfold. I reheated yesterday's coffee since I was out of coffee beans. I observed my sunny neighborhood from the window over the stove while I breathed in the coffee aroma and steam from the coffee wisped my chin. I took a deep breath. I prepared the living room for a morning of loungy reading; curtains wide open, Sam's bed on her chair and my blanket, coffee, notebook and book ready. I actually started with a meditation which got the happiness rolling with its focus on interconnecting with nature to reconnect to the joy point. I could hear kids start piling into the schoolyard across the street as I finished the meditation. I was able to read the Book of Ruth (all three pages of it -yep, the Bible) and the heady TCM book for a few hours, ate my lunch for breakfast, and headed out to find some nature with no view of the city. Leaving the jumble of city energy is strong medicine for me but that was not possible today. I could feel all this bound energy just unravel from my chest as I watched the animals, water and every-so-slightly budding trees around me as well as absorbed everything I read at home. I breathed easily and deeply.

The cold finally numbing me, I went home to eat my breakfast for lunch, and crack open the books. This time, I looked for some good quotes from Beat-era authors. I only found a couple, both from Joyce Johnson, "I believe in the curative powers of love as the English believe in tea or Catholics believe in the Miracle of Lourdes" and "He took extraordinary pleasure in small things like that". I think those are the themes for my day though I felt myself physically scoffing the first quote. I was searching for joy in the little things and waiting for it to cure what ails me.

I returned to reading my TCM book for a few hours and I broke for tea and toast, a little French cafe music, and playtime with Sam. Now hearing the kids running out of the schoolyard to the streets, I realized I spent an entire day without anxious thoughts and feelings, without chest tightness, without number crunching, just reading and being in the moment.

I now have the task, nay opportunity, of maintaining this feeling moment after moment after moment. Watch out, it might be catching!

 

PS friends asked what were my reverse meals. Nothing exciting. Lunch-for-breakfast was grilled almond cheese on gluten free bread with hummus and breakfast-for lunch was a granny smith apple with sunflower seed butter.

 

 

Videos

Two very talented friends came to Allyu Spa this Fall and spent a day filming us demonstrate services. Here are the results. The clips are beautifully done!

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