Welcome Late Summer!
As the summer season marches on, there's a shift in the energy. From the early summer fire season of extreme yang chi, it's now balancing out to the earth season.
This is the only time of year when the energy is balanced.
In the spring, the yang sprouting energy of the wood element rose from the deep winter yin energy of the water element.
Then, the sprouting transformed into the early summer fire blooming energy when the yang chi (energy) peaked.
Now, in the second half of the summer, it's shifting to the grounded, stable earth element when yin and yang chi is equal.
I find this earth season to be calm and soothing.
The earth season's energy corresponds to the spleen and the stomach chi.
This makes it the easiest time of year to fortify these organs' energy and repair disharmonies.
During each season, we pay attention to the three pillars:
The Jing: the physical manifestation of the organs in energetic high tide, as well as the bodily tissue associated with it, which in the late summer are the large muscle groups of the legs and abdomen. We also look at the sense door, which are the lips and the mouth, as they will often show the first signs of disharmony in the organs energy, so pay attention if your have dried, cracked lips, or canker sores in the mouth.
The Chi: The energy and emotions. The emotions are energy in motion, letting us know if we are in or out of balance. When the spleen chi is balanced, we feel grounded, stable, calm, trusting, and trustworthy. We suffer from worry, doubt, overthinking, and self-pity when out of balance.
The Shen: The consciousness or spirit of the season, which in the late summer is known as Yi. Yi is known as acquired knowledge or our intellect, which we've learned in this lifetime. The late summer is the easiest time to learn new things. It's when our intellect is the strongest.
The Meridian Flow classes use acupressure to balance each season's energy. We stimulate the meridians (the energy pathways of the organs) through our yoga poses and qigong sets and guide the chi through the meridians with our consciousness.
The energy level is the deepest and most subtle. So when we balance it through movement and guide it with our focused mind and breath, the emotional disturbances or physical maladies often return to balance.
This is a holistic and effective way to restore health and well-being, as it addresses our physical body and digestion, our emotions, intellect, and our spirit.
Namaste,
Maggie