Transition

Posted by Daisy Lear on

One of the foundations of Chinese Medical theory is the concept of human beings living their lives in harmony with the seasons.  Each season corresponds to specific organs and tissues and their function within the human body.  Since we are now in the phase between summer and autumn, I would like to share the principle thoughts of this transitional season. According to traditional Chinese medicine, each season corresponds to Five Elements, fire, earth, metal, water and wood. The Earth Element corresponds to this period of late summer, and the transition between each season. As we transition from summer to fall, we move through earth.  The diagram to the right depicts how we have the opportunity to move through earth, and come back to the center during the transition between each season.  This article will focus upon the relationships of the Earth Element.

 

Each element is also associated with color, sound, taste, internal organs, emotion, direction, and how they intercourse.  The Earth element is characterized by the color yellow, the sound of singing, the sweet flavor, proper digestion, and the emotions of distress and worry.  Feeling pensive, the transitional phase of making a decision, is also associated with the Earth element.  While it is advantageous to be thoughtful, the Earth element is out of harmony when we get stuck in pensiveness.  Harmonized, we move through this phase easily and come to a conclusion, even if we must say to ourselves, “we can try this new manner of doing things; and if that doesn’t work, we can always go back to what wasn’t working before”.  The Earth element is strongly associated with proper absorption of food / digestion, or more literally “the transformation and transportation of nutrients”.  Digestion physically occurs at the center itself, and the food we eat spreads out to feed our entire system.  When we can properly nourish ourselves, we can better nurture others. The direction is Center.  While the other elements pertain to the four directions, the Earth element reminds us to come back to the center.  Late summer and the transition time between seasons presents an excellent opportunity for nurturing ourselves and others, and thinking clearly about our central values. 

 

This book was written as a guide for health care providers in the third century BCE. “In the old days the sages treated disease by preventing illness before it began, just as a good government or emperor was able to take the necessary steps to avert war. Treating an illness after it has begun is like suppressing revolt after it has broken out. If someone digs a well when thirsty, or forges weapons after becoming engaged in battle, one cannot help but ask: Are not these actions too late?”

The importance of the Earth element and it’s association with digestion is paramount. Chinese medicine and acupuncture practitioners take digestion into consideration with any treatment plan because the foods we eat feed every aspect of our system.  As such, ensuring proper absorption and transformation of food is key.  Practitioners routinely palpate the abdomen as a diagnostic method to “see” the entire body.  For example, we can check the heart by palpating the pulse of abdominal aorta.  This also reveals a person’s level of stress.  When a person sees a practitioner regularly, subtle changes can be detected and treatment is provided. Traditionally, the goal of practitioners is to keep people healthy through guidance, prevention and maintenance.  The book to the left was written as a reference guide for health care providers.  It is written in an interesting question-answer format (and sometimes funny) where the student / emperor, Huang Di, asks questions of Qi Bo, the teacher. The quote is part of the teacher’s commentary about how long ago, (before 300 BCE) human behavior was more astute to the both the rhythms of the universe and the environment on this planet – and how we have come far away from paying attention. While this comment has truth behind it, I would imagine that by comparison, today life is a little more complicated.  Now, whether seeking help from a health care practitioner or providing our own care for ourselves and family, we often find ourselves at a place of putting out fires after they’ve begun.  Let’s also keep in mind that we may also prevent problems from becoming worse or irreversible by providing guidance and treatment.   The other quote below the artwork to the right is from the translator of the book, which was published in 1995.  I wonder what he is thinking now, 25 years later…  I seemed to have strayed from the point of this paragraph, so let’s get back to the abdomen and digestion… I like to provide very simple ideas for people to try at home.  One easy method to get in touch with the abdomen is to use castor oil packs.  This is safe for people of all ages, with the exception of pregnancy.  The instructions for using topical application of castor oil are located at the bottom of this article : http://daisylear.com/inflammation/

 

In the preface of The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine, the translator, Maoshing Ni, writes, “With the ecological balance of our planet in peril, the message of the Neijing becomes even more significant. It speaks loud and clear: Degradation to our environment will have an irrevocable impact on all life on earth. On this point, Needham in ‘Science and Civilization in China’ eloquently stated, “Science needs to be lived alongside religion, philosophy, history and aesthetic experience, alone it can lead to great harm.” This important book shows us that from the microcosm of human life we may learn the vast and profound realities of the macrocosm. – Spring 1994

Emphasizing the interconnection of digestion with our emotional state, this next comment from an anatomy book brings Chinese and Western medicine together:  “In order to digest food once it reaches the stomach, many aspects of the brain are engaged and hormones are secreted upon smelling food.  Emotions such as anger, fear and anxiety may slow down digestion in the stomach”.  It is clear that proper absorption of food is dependent upon how we assimilate external factors. 

 

Chinese medicine does not separate the functional aspects of the human system, everything works in concert together.  For example, digestion, the thinking process and emotions affect one another.  Rumination, or over-thinking, tends to lead to digestive upset.  There is a systemic “stuck-ness” that develops with over-thinking.  Or we may become “stuck in our ways,” preventing new thought patterns from assimilating into our system, and preventing growth.  The true character of Earth is to give birth to all things. If we find excessive rumination is keeping us awake at night, it would be a good idea to keep in mind the above mentioned chemical reaction that influence assimilation in our gut.  And next time we have a “gut feeling” – know that it’s real and know that it is ok to trust this gut feeling, make a choice to move forward, nurture and transform ourselves.  Armed with thoughtfulness and care, we can then thoroughly nurture others as well. Let’s also be reminded of the foundational principle that human beings must live in harmony with the seasons. Today, we notice that changing weather patterns are making it more challenging as longer, drier weather envelopes some areas and intense rain blankets others. Seasonal weather patterns influence our health and we must somehow make  accommodations to appropriately care for ourselves.

 

 

Author of Zen Guitar, Philip Toshio Sudo writes, “In music, as in life, playing the changes can be difficult.  Change takes us out of the known, where we are comfortable, to a place that requires us to find new harmony.  Sudden, rapid, or complex changes can make anyone sweat, whether on the bandstand or in the world at large.”