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Fall Season Overview – By Heather Wisely L.Ac
Chinese medicine teaches us to live in harmony with the seasons and to mimic the actions we see in nature. As nature changes from hot long days into the cooler and shorter days of fall, we too should change as the beautiful Autumn leaves do before they are released from the trees. The fall is a time of finishing our projects from spring and summer, then release them in a brilliant final showing just as the trees release their leaves. To stay healthy during the fall our emotional and mental activities should also subtly change, letting go of things we no longer really need to make room for next year’s projects. Cleaning out the yard, as well as our house, body and mind as we get ready for winters hibernation period. As we observe nature, we can see that it is the time of year to go to bed earlier, eat more warming and filling foods, and reserve our energy to what is necessary to accomplish for the preparation of winter. The time for “putting it all out there” – the summer – has passed. Now is the time to contain ourselves, acting and speaking only when necessary, behaving with economy, exerting our will quietly and calmly
Metal is the element that dominates this season. If we look at the nature of metal, it is both cool and refined. It has distinctive boundaries that give it shape that is hard yet with extreme heat changeable. This element in our bodies relates to the Lung and Large Intestine organs which balance the bringing in of new energy and eliminating what no longer serves us. With this action of taking in the new and releasing the old we slowly refine our own body and mind. Just as metals give value to the earth (gold and silver etc.), the Metal element within us gives our sense of self-worth. This is the season to give ourselves some extra attention and self-love. Yet when our Metal energy is imbalanced, we cannot sense our value; so, we compensate by seeking what we think will add to our worth: status, money, power, conquest – none of them bad or wrong of themselves, although our pursuit of them can be a symptom.
This is a season where we can really take time to be quiet and get to know ourselves better. Taking time to release old possessions, thoughts and habits as we get to the bare bones of who we really are just as the trees shed their leaves, so we can truly see the trunk and branches of the tree itself. The core of who we are remains permanent while releasing the parts that will change with the seasons of our lives. As the leaves of the plants drop the energy moves from the exterior world and into the deep roots of the plant to survive the coming cold winter. We too should draw our energy more into the depths of our mind, emotions, and organs and not focus so much energy on the limbs of our body.