4 Powerful Healing Practices to Do In Each Season

All ancient physicians had at some point based their medicine on nature because ancient people were much more in tune with the seasons and easily saw how certain illnesses had a greater tendency to show up in certain seasons and even people were more likely to die in certain seasons than others because they were likely to catch certain infections. Now in this video I thought I would talk about how to adjust your life based on the four seasons based on these ancient kind of energetic principles of Chinese medicine. Hey guys I'm Dr. Alex Hein, author of the health book Master of the Day and doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine. So before we jump in there are two very important links right below the video. The first is if you'd like to become a patient of mine in Los Angeles locally or virtually via telemedicine you can reach out and contact my private practice right below this video. And the second is for a free download and a weekly video newsletter for daily rituals that could potentially help you add years to your life with Chinese medicine. You can check those out right below the video. Now in Chinese medicine it's very important to adjust your life based on the seasons and I think some of this was very intuitive to people that are more connected to the earth and the seasons. Farmers know this, traditional indigenous cultures know this and I think in the modern world where we live in these climate controlled buildings and we eat food out of season and we do the same thing every day, our schedules are the same every day. We're very disconnected from what seems logical and intuitive to animals and to ancient people. But I think these practices are still very useful because at the end of the day what these are is how to adjust the way you live your life based on what's going on within the seasons. And even if you live somewhere like where I live in Los Angeles there are slight seasonal changes and I think each of these can benefit your health. So let's start with springtime. Springtime in Chinese medicine is associated with what's called the wood organs. So this idea of wood is almost like this image of a sprout bursting through earth. The wood is the active energy of your life. It is doing, it's yang, it's getting things done, it's your will, it's stamina, it's doing, right? It's the plant pushing through the earth and trying to come out. And in the springtime human beings should mirror this state. The springtime is where people should, you know, we say spring cleaning. This has got to be an ancient concept, must be thousands of years old. When the spring comes, the temperature is warm, you naturally want to go outside. So you should go outside, spend more time out, clean out, start new things. This idea of the new is a spring energy so to speak. So in the springtime look at what animals do if you live in a temperate climate. After winter and spring the birds come out singing, you see the baby bunnies, you see the baby chipmunks, you see the little chicks hatching and the parents feeding them. There's more bird songs, there are more flowers blooming. That quality is what you should embody in your life in the spring. We go to the summer. Summer is really the peak of yang. June 20th, 21st, around there, the peak of the summertime is where we have the longest brightest days. So stay out later. That should be the time where you're spending more time outside, you're more active. Maybe the summer is where you decide to go hard on work. It's the peak yang time of year so you're gonna decide to get everything done before your summer break. But in general, summer is peak of yang, peak of activity. And even though springtime has a lot of this activity, the summer is the heart fire. So the most fiery, active, animated organ and we could say energy or kind of momentum that we should be emulating in our life, right? Stay out late. As a kid, I used to stay out till 9, 9.30, 10, playing kick the can and ding dong ditch. This is the peak of yang. So you should use the peak of your yang, the peak of your energy to get things done. Enjoy your life, stay out late, etc. We come to the fall and the fall is associated with the metal organs like the lung. The metal organs deal with descent. Healthy metal like lungs and large intestine deals with descent, right? If you're not pooping, there's not enough descending functioning happening. Same with lungs. Lungs that are not descending are ascending and this kind of counterflow chi is coughing or asthma or wheezing. It's interesting, isn't it, that the word in English we use is fall? I wonder about the etymology of that word. But the leaves also begin to literally fall in temperate climates. And in general, this momentum of downward begins. Spring is the beginning of upward, summer it's peaking, fall is the beginning of downward, and winter is the peak of hibernation. But fall, things begin to decline and the overall energy is things begin to go inward. And as opposed to the winter where things are the peak of storage and stop and slow down and rest, fall is not quite there yet. Fall is also kind of a time of cleaning and fall is where in New England I always get that wanderlusty feeling. It puts me in this weird state that I can never describe. I want to walk into the woods and just wander for months. I want to walk the Appalachian Trail. So fall has this kind of wanderlusty contemplative. I think of fall as the time where you sit down with a dirty chai in a little cafe or cabin in New England and you just write about everything you've thought about your whole life. So it's this time of kind of contemplation. It's this slowing down, moving inwards, contemplative kind of feel. And so in the fall season we should be using it for that time. And we have the equinox as well in the fall. As we go into the winter, the winter is associated with the water like kidney. So the kidney we can say is associated with storage. Winter is all about this quality of hibernation. If you can imagine that feeling of hibernation, the energy of that, the momentum of that, which is the opposite of this adrenalized, this sympathetic dominant culture that we often live in. Winter, the peak of winter is darkness. It's midnight. When it's ice cold in New England and there's not a bird song in the middle of the day, not a squirrel, no movement, that's winter. Calm adrenals, doing nothing, sleeping long hours, sleeping in, slowing down, deep rest, deep contemplation, not activating new projects, not activating new desires, but deep restoration of resources. If you've ever been very burnt out and then you had to do something extreme to heal from it, extreme rest, extreme disconnection, a sabbatical, time off work, that is the winter energy. And we need to embody all of these energies. I hate using the word energy, but these qualities, these sensations, that energy, if you like that word, we need to embody all of these in our life. And certain phases of life embody these qualities more than others. But in general, the seasons are such a good way to practice all of these states that we need in certain phases of our life. And sometimes even these phases of our life can occur all in one day. The winter phase, the kidney at night, spring phase in the morning, peak of yang, summer, maybe in the mid afternoon. And then the fall is the evening where it gets quieter, the afternoon where it's the sunset and you could just sit there and drink a cup of tea and just kind of watch the sun go down and relax with a glass of wine or something. All of these exist even within a day. But emulating them in your life is important for healing and even important for just for ambition. Right? You have a seed, you have this incubation phase of winter. Spring, you begin to start these new projects. Summer, they grow. And in the fall, we gather back inward and reflect and contemplate and begin to sow more seeds in the winter again. So all of these energies or qualities are very useful for living, but they're also very useful for healing. Because often we're stuck in this spring, summer, boom, boom, the nervous system is like this all day, all year, all lifetime. And then none of this winter quality is there. And that's often what most modern people need. These four seasonal qualities or energies or sensations, whatever you want to call them, are very important for healing. And it's just worth meditating on and reflecting on. Think about these four qualities in your life. And I think adjusting your life in this way to the four seasons, even if you live in California or somewhere not temperate, somewhere that's about the same, it still is useful because it introduces variety and all these different qualities in your life. All right, guys, that's what I have for today. Before you go, if you want to reach out to Become a Patient, reach out below. There's also a free guide for you. And I have two related videos for you right there.