Lunar New Year - your health with the energy of the Green Dragon in 2024

On the 10th of February there will be a New Moon that will mark the beginning of the Chinese New Lunar Year, the year of the Green Dragon. The Green is associated with the Wood Element, therefore with the Spring, and all that which this represents. The Dragon itself is associated with the Fire Element.

It will be a truly different year from the past several years as we are moving out of a two year period in the Water Element, and out of a five year period of the Yin energy. It is like flipping a coin, there is a sudden move into a full Yang energy of Wood and Fire elements.

What are all these changes in the energy going to mean for your health? Read on below.

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The Green Dragon and your physical health

Even though we have had a year of a peaceful Rabbit in the Water Element, the energies have been pretty active despite that. So, it does not require much imagination to work out that entering into the year of a ferocious creature such as the Dragon and into the very active, rising Yang energy of Wood Element, is going to be very fast and full on. It can be compared to having a new born baby or to having school age kids around the house, all the time. You are going to be kept on your toes.

Wood Element is linked with Spring, with growth, childhood, creativity, overstepping the boundaries in order to find new experiences to learn from. Wood element is associated with Liver and Gallbladder, so these two organs will get an extra energetic support and, beware, could overheat. Hence it will be an excellent year to detox your Liver! It is best to start in early Spring to prepare your body for a busy year ahead. Follow my other blog for a Balanced-6-Week-Detox programme.

Detoxing your body systems all around will help you feel rejuvenated and ready to face a busy year ahead. Wood element is linked to Liver, and Liver detox is key especially if your emotions are hard to keep at bay. After the detox you will find it easier to contain them. It may be a difficult year, in fact, for containing anything, be warned! On the positive side, you will feel more energised and hopeful for the future, despite all.

In the same time, it is the Dragon year, which will add the pressure on your Heart. Be mindful of it and take times off to rest, spend time in Nature and open-air spaces, which will give your Heart the calm it requires. You may also like to join me in weekly live meditations to practice Heartfulness. It will be necessary to take care of your inner peace for maintaining deep sleep at night. Develop regular sleeping habits and rituals to assure adequate amount and sleep quality.

The Green Dragon and your mental health

Getting enough of good sleep will be essential for your mental health this year as your mind, during the day, will be kept occupied with many activities, projects and all unexpected events.

In the Green Dragon year we will have a greater need and capacity to learn new skills and acquire knowledge, start new activities or projects. So, do take advantage of it, be courageous and sign yourself up for a course and learn a new skill or finish a diploma you've dreamed of for a while. The key to success will be to choose well and stick to it! Particularly now, the tendency will be to be swayed by the winds and be unstable and easily distracted in your mind. Therefore, at the beginning of the year, set yourself a plan for attaining your objective. That will help you keep focused and peaceful mind.

The result of choosing too many studies, projects, jobs, etc may lead to mental "overheating" or confusion. So, prune out the actives that are not essential for driving you to your final goal or destination. The Dragon energy will help you eliminate all that is not necessary for you, if you have the mental will to command your mind.

You will need a conscious, concerted effort to will your mind when necessary as the energy of the Green Dragon can also be rather immature and scattered at the same time as being courageous and determined.

The Green Dragon and your spiritual wellbeing

Equally scattered may be your psycho-spiritual wellbeing during the Wood-Fire year, if you are not attentive. It is with no doubt a year marked for change and growth. We will be challenged, in one area of life or another, so being elastic and adaptable will be an essential trait for your wellbeing and personal growth. It will come easier and more helpful to take your life changes with the openness and curiosity of a child.

There are two ways in which to approach changes as explained by Confucius:

On one hand he says:

"It is only the very wisest and the very stupidest who never change."

Instead in all other cases, Confucius says:

"They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom."

Before we all think that it is our inner voice of wisdom that murmurs us to never change, check out that such state is in line with your life realisation, in Chinese Medical terminology Ming Men. If not, Lao Tzu warns:

"If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading."

And where you are heading may not be your Ming Men, realisation of your life purpose.

The change may actually come as an unexpected falling in love! The Dragon energy is capable of inciting a lot of passion in us, however, fuelled by the argumentative and assertive Wood element, we need to be aware of not getting into huge fights whilst being transformed by the fires of passion.

In fact, we will be surrounded by news about conflicts and wars around the world. It is crucial to maintain the innocent vision of the world in peace, despite all.

As Lao Tzu has taught:

"If there is to be peace in the world, There must be peace in the nations.

If there is to be peace in the nations, There must be peace in the cities.

If there is to be peace in the cities, There must be peace between neighbors.

If there is to be peace between neighbors, There must be peace in the home.

If there is to be peace in the home, There must be peace in the heart."

On that note, I wish you a peaceful, passionate, fortunate but most of all healthy year of the Green Dragon! (Dragon is a symbol of fortune).

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Winter and the Water Element - the Inner Explorations

How to Stay Healthy and Balanced During the Winter Season with the Five Element Energies?

Have you noticed the clouds in the sky have become dark blue? Have you noticed the cold humid air penetrating your skin and getting deep into your bones? The energy is that of inward direction and of inner explorations, both for us and for all the Nature around. Even the energy pulses I sense on my patients have now been withdrawing and going deeper than in summer months. All this inner activity requires us to slow down and reflect more.

Connecting with the Water Element in Winter

Spirit focus

The penetrating energy of Winter is allowing us to dive deep into our Soul and see the bare bones of our essence, that is of who we really are. Winter is a perfect time for reflection on our identity, on the incarnation of our Spirit in this life. Knowing yourself is knowing your path in life, the Tao. The illness comes when we stray away from our path, from our essence and moving further away from the completion of that for which we were born. Hence, self-reflection is the time well spent for our health and wellbeing.

Apart from the downtime spent in self-reflection, it is useful to reconnect with your tribe too, the people who root your Soul into the society. So, family and long-time friends can be a mirror of your current existance; realising that you and them are one as the drops of water in the ocean. The only difference is that each human has an individual Soul, incarnated on Earth for his/her specific purpose. That implies you also need to recognise the boundaries between you and your tribe in order to direct your essence at your will. Otherwise, you become ill.

So, take time in Winter season to, first self-reflect and recognise your own essence, both individual and colletive, and then take notice of where your boundaries must lie. By the way, "the boundaries" does not mean erecting the walls, but recognising when you allow your essence to be compromised to the point you cannot will who you are into being.

Mind focus

It may not be easy to reflect on your essence and your place in the world. With such tumoulous energies in the worlds right now, one can find that the mind is easily dispersed by the social media, fast developing technology, constant availability to asnwer a phone or messages. Sleeplessness or emotional tribulations can result from such restless mind.

Winter energy in itself can be still but can be rough too, just as the sea, depending on the winds. In fact, the conscious mind can navigate those rough winds. Mind control comes particularly strong in Winter. Some of you may know that the mind is closely linked with the Heart in Chinese Medicine, fewer of you may know the brain is also related to the Kidneys. Kidneys, with their will power, determine what your mind focuses on. That's why we need to realise that "the mind over matter" does matter sometimes and disciplining of the mind is an act of our own will power.

I encourage you to try out one simple exercise of willing your mind. If you have thoughts that are negative and/or repetitive, try to say to yourself three time (more potent): "(your name) stop thinking about it, now". Sometimes willing your mind that way does work. There can be other ways and methods of training your mind.

Meditation practices are aimed at focusing your mind. I remind you of my weekly meditation sessions I hold live on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/DoroTao.ClassicalChineseMedicine

and soon to be available also on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/dorotao.kowal/

Body focus

Kidneys and Bladder are related to the Winter season and the Water Element. These organs take care of our waterway systems in our body, including distribution of warmth. Just like the central heating system, the thorough distribution of warm water around assures the right temperature is maintained in every parts of the body.

How to maintain our good circulation when it is freezing or nearly freezing outside?

First of all, the diet. Absolutely avoid ice-cold foods and drinks. They will not only slow down your circulation but also digestion, creating more phlegm and in turn lower your overall energy. There are also foods that are cold or cooling in nature, such as cucumbers, lettuce, mint and most fruits and raw vegetables. It is best to avoid or reduce cooling foods, selecting the seasonal ones and cooked preferably. If you are consistently feeling too hot in winter you may be having toxic heat inside and should seek treatment to adjust your energy rather than eat or drink ice cold foods to cool down in winter.

Secondly, I suggest hot and cold showers (with gradual application) to stimulate the circulation. Thirdly, do regular brisk walking or better: running. Yes, Winter is actually a good time to do some running. Since we are not totally hibernating species, we need to keep the circulation going well. Running awakes in us the primordial memory of flight from the danger, which stimulates the life preserving energy of Kidneys and the Water element in us.

And if you are feeling pulled down by long and dark winter days, remember to drink tea from the flowers of St. John's Wort plant. It's flowers have enclosed in them the peak summer sunshine and now you can boost your mood by drinking its infusion.

Generally, the Winter season is the time to eat more root vegetables and herbs based on roots, tubers or rhisomes. They give us sustenance necessary to keep the body going but simultaneously sustaining our Winter Yin energy. If you would need a consultation for diet and herbs best fitted for you in Winter months, contact me here https://www.dorotao.com/clinic-contact.

How do you live through the winter season yourself? Do you know that depending on our energetic make-up we approach each season differently? Leave your comment about your particular challenges or tips for living through the Winter season.

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"Honourable Harvest" - Earth Element's higher octave of consciousness

What does the book “Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer and the Five Elements, especially the Earth Element, have got in common? Having read the book this summer I have found out that actually the two speak of each other.

This marvellous book is written in prose but reading it is like poetry. To me it was totally music to my ears and probably not only to me, as Elizabeth Gilbert describes the book as “a hymn of love to the world”.

There would be so much to share about this book, so I only would like to concentrate on the main three reflections and insights I have had, that infuse Robin's tradition with what I know and practice in Chinese Medicine. All quotations below come from Robin's book.

The first reflection made me realise that all ancient and indigenous people, whether they are from the East or the West, had one thing in common: their relationship with the Nature. They observed the Nature attentively, its processes, cycles, in order to understand self and to understand the place which a man occupies in relationship with what is around him/her. In those times, human beings felt an integral part of an eco-system they lived in. Everything that surrounded them had a meaning and they took note of the cyclical nature of all process of the Earth. So, be it indigenous Americans, or Australians or ancient Chinese, they all lived with the same reverence in the relationship to the Nature. That means that some of the bases of the Classical Chinese Medicine (especially Taoism) are common to all other ancient and indigenous cultures.

The second insight I have had relates to Robin's call for going beyond gratitude and infusing more reciprocity in all our relationships. Reciprocity in Chinese Medicine is related to the Earth Element energetic quality. Robin explains reciprocity so well. It isn't only about "if I give you, then you will give me back" but rather "when I give you I create a relationship with you". The lack of attention to reciprocity in our-day-world has created anonymity and indifference in which reciprocal relationships are often considered more a burden than richness. So, "we are called to go beyond cultures of gratitude to once again become cultures of reciprocity". In the Chinese Classics that is the Earth Element energetics within us. Losing that sense of reciprocity we lose touch with our Earth Element, which we need for grounding and bonding with the place we live in.

My third insight into timeless and ancient wisdom is about "honourable harvest". Harvest is again related to the energy of Earth Element in Chinese medicine and philosophy. "Honourable Harvest" is an "exchange of live for life"... yes, their sensitivity whether to animals or plants, was the same. People living in true communion with the Nature knew that all harvest is taking away some form of life. Therefore, they were propenced to actions that gave that life back or to "take only what you are given and not what you need".

I know that ancient Chinese practitioners collected their herbs in the same "honourable" way as Robin describes indigenous Americans did, in order for the herbs to have that pure energy and be granted the Nature's healing potency. We practice honourable harvest every day by making choices in our daily consumptions. Whenever we buy something new think about the life that's been taken away. In return, try to give that life back somehow.

The ancients' way of living was treading so lightly as if "longing to hear the land give thanks for the people in return". Wow! Do we ever ask ourselves that question? Is the Earth actually happy with me living on Her surface? Do we realise that with each gift we were born we also hold our responsibilities for that gift? It is the Earth that makes the "paste" of our bodies, the Earth creates our gifts and we have the responsibility to use them to create hers. The plants "can't meet their responsibilities unless we meet ours". Once we realise that we live in such interdependence with the Nature, we start wondering why we moved so far away from Her.

It is that consciousness that we need to truly understand our power. As if describing the Yin and Yang of Chinese Medicine, Robin quotes: "all powers have two sides, the power to create and the power to destroy. We must recognise them both, but invest our gifts on the side of creation".

These and other insights I have had thanks to Robin Wall Kimmerer's book, confirm to me that much of the bases of the Classical Chinese Medicine do not pertain to Chinese or Oriental cultures only, they have been lived and followed by most, if not all, of the indigenous populations worldwide. The Nature's language is truly global!

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Braiding Sweetgrass - "Honourable Harvest"