Aligning body with season
Late Summer care for your Stomach and Spleen Qi
Traditional East Asian Medicine identifies Late Summer from about the 3rd week of August to the fall Equinox. Energetically resonant with Spleen and Stomach Qi, this season reflects Harvest, transition to fall and reminds us that Earth is our centre.
A small and mighty season, we can work with Late Summer to improve digestion, muscles, mind and overall Qi / Life Force Energy.
The Stomach and Spleen are responsible for rotting and ripening our food, transforming Dampness, holding us together and are emotionally connected to worry, pensiveness and contemplation
What does it mean to attune to a season?
Attuning to a season means to adjust your food, clothing, practices and life activities with the physical and energetic temperature to align and resonate at a higher vibration so that your body, mind and spirit have the opportunity to function optimally. We seasonally attune when the temperature cools and alignment with the weather has you wearing warmer clothes to preserve your Qi.
Seasonal attunement can boost your Qi / Life Force, leaving you feeling more whole, grounded and ready to engage with life as it is.
Practically this looks like ...
- Eating foods that nourish Spleen Qi
- Easing worry intentionally
(practices, services, what is available to relax?)
- Changing the foods you eat to meet the season
(in cooler weather eat warmer food, in Spleen season eat root veggies)
- Movement practice that flows Qi through your Stomach and Spleen Meridians
- Take the opportunity of season change to check out what you want for your health and make decisions to contribute to getting there.
- Whatever it is that you do that supports you to align with the here and now
Checking in each season with your wants for your health can be a great way to actually get what you want! If you don't know what you want, it's a pretty hard road ahead to getting there.
What do you want for your health & well being?
Spleen Qi loves warm, lightly cooked, whole foods. As we move from the Yang seasons of Spring and Summer into the Yin seasons of Fall and Winter the body attunes by eating foods that nourish Qi & Yang, preparing us for the greater work of staying warm in cooler or cold climates. Attuning to Late Summer means bringing harmony to our digestive system in the form of easy to digest foods plus cultivating awareness of worry and doing the things that support you to worry less, even for a minute.
Included here are the foods that nourish Qi & Yang, cooking habits that support Spleen Qi and the life habits that meet this sweet season of Late Summer
Foods to Nourish Qi & Yang
Grains: cooked whole grains, rice, congee, oats, roasted barley, sweet rice, spelt, millet, mochi Vegetables: pumpkin, sweet potatoes, winter squash, carrots, rutabaga, corn, parsnips, yams, peas, onions, leeks, garlic, turnip, mushrooms including oyster & shitake Fruit: stewed fruit, figs, small amounts of cherries and dates Beans: chickpeas, black beans, kidney beans, fava beans Nuts/seeds: walnuts Fish: mackerel, tuna, anchovy, perch, eel, catfish, halibut Meat: small amounts of ... chicken, beef, beef liver or kidney, turkey, lamb, Chinese black chicken, quail, goose, rabbit, frog Dairy: minimal to none, pref goat dairy Herbs: black pepper, fresh ginger, cinnamon, garlic, nutmeg, fennel Beverages: lukewarm or warm drinks Other: small amounts of barley malt, sugar cane, molasses, rice syrup
Cooking tips for Spleen Qi abundance
Spleen Qi LOVES a crock pot! Making soup or stew in a crock pot or instant pot is handy cuz you can just throw the food in and leave it. Of course, you can do this with a pot on the stove too, you just have to tend to it while you slow cook. Cooking food lightly on low heat preserves more of the viable nutrients while also softening the cell walls within each food, making it easier for Spleen Qi to access Qi inside the food without over cooking and lowering the nutrient value.
Less is more, keep your stew simple to treat your Spleen Qi to an easily digestible meal!
Life Habits for Spleen Qi
Connected to worry and over thinking, practices that allow for the thinking mind to take a break and hold an expansive focus will nourish Spleen Qi.
Contemplation can happen in so many ways, and while meditation is one of my main practices, it may not be yours. If you are curious about formal or informal meditation I encourage you to check out mediations from my youTube channel and others from renowned Meditation facilitators.
Metta meditation resources (2)
.pdf
Download PDF • 32KB
What is your favourite way to suspend thinking, even for a moment?
- staring at a spot on the wall
- watching clouds float by
- taking a stroll to take in green (leaves, trees, grass)
- listening to music that offers you an expansive focus
- something new you haven't tried yet
Suggestions for contemplative practice from contemplativemind.org
What is here for you, if anything, to offer your mind a break from certain knowing?
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May each of you be nourished this Late Summer
May you tend to your Spleen and Stomach in some way
May you be free from inner and outer danger
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