Effects of seasonal transition
Summer to Fall 2020
HI Friends,
I realized I hadn’t communicated in awhile, and since it is too hot to be in the garden, I thought I’d update you on a couple of things.
Clinic:
We have settled into our rhythm here in the new space (and reality). Meeting with people on the porch for a mask-free check-in has been lovely. It is so nice to see your faces! Having caught up on what is going on and what we want to work on, we mask up and sanitize before going into the treatment room and straight to the table. Once the needles are in place, I have been doing the energy work from the foot of the table rather than the head, which works quite well. If there are herbs to be made, I can do that for you while you are resting on the table. I am really loving working from home and having herbs at hand, so you are not making an extra trip!
Garden:
July Garden
The garden is quite amazing this year. Turns out that a pandemic in mid-March is really good for gardens, especially if you are a bit obsessed and start everything from seed. I planted roughly 1,700 seedlings this season… thus far. If you are in the neighborhood, please stop by and visit anytime. There is a sign inviting anyone at any time, so please feel free. It is also a perk of working at home that I can go out and be in the garden in short spurts during the work day. Quite lovely.
Seasonal change:
It is hard to imagine on a day as hot as this one that we are nearing the end of Summer. I wanted to share with you how the seasonal energies change and when. This year especially, I would expect it to be an extra bumpy transition. Often people tell me that they have a symptom that recurs at a particular time of year. Years ago for five years in a row, I experienced a sinus infection in the third week of August (until I received some acupuncture). Each season has different energetic resonance and different aspects of our physiology are affected by it. Autumn is to do with the Lung and Colon. As the breathing apparatus, the sinuses are part of the Lung. So why the third week in August? That is not Autumn, right? Well, actually it is.
If you look at the diagram below, you will see that the seasons extend 36½ days on either side of the Solstice or Equinox. That is a bit confusing because somehow we learned that they are the beginning of the season. But if you think about it, the point at which the sun is the furthest away, the darkest day of the year, must indeed be the halfway point of Winter. It doesn’t make sense that we would be adding daylight each day at the beginning of Winter. As the days get longer, we are moving toward Summer. When we hit the halfway point in March, that must be the midpoint of Spring, not the beginning, because we are halfway through the sun’s arc. Those of us who live in temperate climates know this from experience. It feels pretty wintry here in November, for sure! And being quiet and cozy by the fire with a good book is very appealing. By the second week of February, we start to hear the birds singing, the hours of daylight are noticeably longer and we have a bit more energy. It is actually the time of year that cabin fever sets in because that energy rises like sap in the trees but it is still cold outside. Every year, I find myself cleaning out closets at that time. In normal years, the summer social calendar is busting at the seams because that is the nature of it, literally. Look at what the bees and butterflies are doing. Lots of pollination and flitting about, flower to flower! By the middle of August, the light quality changes and takes on golden hue. We are starting to feel a little tired, over-socialized and looking forward to the structure of Autumn and getting productive again. In days gone by, that would be the time to focus on preparing for Winter in terms of harvesting and storing food and firewood to make it through the darkest days.
How to read this chart:
The Solstice and Equinox dates change slightly each year because the sun doesn’t pay attention to Leap Year. In the example, I used the 21st of the month. Count forward 36½ days from the Summer Solstice. That puts us at July 28th. That is the end of Summer. Now, here is the tricky bit. If you count back the 36½ days from September 21st, you get to August 17th. This is the beginning of Autumn. So, what’s up with the time between the end of Summer and beginning of Autumn? This is the transition time. We are about to enter the transition between Summer and Autumn. We are still engaged in Summer activities with an eye to getting back to our regular structured schedule after Labor Day.
In Chinese Medicine, each season has an elemental association, which is noted on the chart: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood. This information can be used in treatment in a variety of ways. One of those is to notice where we are on the wheel as symptoms arise for people. I would expect that as we enter the transition between Summer and Autumn, people will feel a renewed wave of being out of sorts because the usual routines of Autumn are up in the air. Especially for those who are parents of school-aged children or work with that population. The normal relief we experience from back to school/work, back to religious and community meetings, etc. is not happening this year. I have been seeing the effects of the current heightened level of stress manifesting itself in everything from anxiety/depression and sleep issues to chronic pain and digestive issues. It tends to show up in our weak spots, those symptoms that tend to be old friends.
I find it helpful to have some awareness of how my body/mind/spirit are being influenced by the energetic of the environment I am in. It helps give me context and to be a little more objective if I can understand that we are all being influenced by these forces and how they work. I hope you will take some comfort in it as well.
You may want to print out my Four Seasons chart and put it on the fridge for reference. It is interesting to observe how the seasonal changes influence many aspects of how we are feeling throughout the year.
As an aside, I include this link because I am someone who at the Winter Solstice starts tracking the minutes of daylight, and I find it fascinating how the sun seems to hover at the furthest point, then slowly turns around and picks up speed over the course of a few weeks.
https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/augusta?month=1&year=2021