Dear Friends,
Autumn is alive and breathing out in vivid color. Frost makes nasturtiums droop their heads down into that long sleep while water retreats downwards into this time of roots and reflection.
“The forces of Autumn create dryness in Heaven and metal on Earth: they create the lung organ and the skin upon the body…and the nose, and the white color, and the pungent flavor…the emotion grief, and the ability to make a weeping sound.’
-Inner Classic
Autumn is a time to organize, to cleanse and to prepare for the deepening of oncoming winter. It is a time of contraction, a pulling inward from the more kinetic summer. Sour foods are astringent and help our tissues in this process. Olives, pickles, sauerkraut, aduki beans, plums, lemons, limes, yogurt and rose hip tea are all sour in nature and help to tighten tissue in the body. Baked and cooked roots and pungent foods like daikon radish should be added to the diet.
The lungs and large intestines are the organs associated with Fall. The lungs govern qi (vital energies) in the body and both lungs and large intestines are associated with the emotion grief and the ability or inability to let go. Imbalance in the lungs can be seen in dry conditions in the body: dry skin; dry and brittle hair; excessive thirst; and itchiness.
Certain foods help to alleviate this dryness in the body: soy products (tofu/tempeh); spinach; barley; millet; pear; apple; persimmon; almonds; to name just a few. If dryness is accompanied by deficiency and weakness, it is appropriate if it fits into one’s ethical framework to consume dairy and animal products.
Exercise is a great friend to help keep the lungs vital and healthy, but as with the sour foods, everything in moderation, even moderation.
Shiatsu is a great ally in helping to tonify lung qi and to increase the overall balance and vitality in these organ systems. Healthier lungs aid in the improvement of overall immunity through a strengthening of the wei qi or “defensive energies” of the outer shells of the body’s energy field.
I encourage you to take the time to fit Shiatsu into your busy schedules and tight budgets, especially if you are feeling good, as a preventative therapy to help keep you feeling balanced and harmonious. This preventative consciousness goes against how many of us were trained: to only seek medicine when we are in pain and suffering rather than realizing that the road to disease is paved by countless days of complacency.
I encourage you to take advantage of my sliding fee scale. I am also offering a fall gift certificate special: two shiatsus for the price of one. That way you can get one for yourself and one for someone that you think would appreciate and/or needs shiatsu. This comes out to $65 for two hours of shiatsu, which, if you are a math whiz, comes out to $32.50 per hour. Let me know if you want to take advantage of this seasonal offer, and let me know if you want me to mail out a gift certificate.
I look forward to continuing to be of service in the coming season and the coming year.
In Health,
David Miller
Southside Shiatsu
*See previous newsletters here.