The Pagan calendar has just celebrated Lammas-The halfway point between the summer solstice (Litha) and the fall equinox (Mabon), during Lammas ancient communities marked the first harvest of the season with gathering of grains and baking bread. Because of this, early Christians referred to Lughnasadh as Lammas.
You will hear me talking in class this month about the earth element as we are now heading into the season of “late summer”. A season in it’s own right in the eyes of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It’s a time of year to appreciate the harvest of the earth and also feel a sense of security within our selves and our own personal “harvest” of the summer’s exploits. The summer brought the element of Fire-pushing ourselves to new heights, socialising, exploring and challenging our expectations of ourselves. Now we have a brief mini season before the equinox to take it all in and digest everything before we fall into hibernation in autumn. And aptly enough the meridians or energy pathways of the body associated with the Earth element are the digestive organs of the Spleen and the Stomach meridians. The emotion associated with the spleen is worry. With its connection to the mind and thinking, the spirit of the spleen-the Yi is prone to worry, anxiety, and overthinking. When caught in this loop, spleen Qi deficiency symptoms arise, like water retention, digestive weakness, IBS, and fatigue. Meditation and calming the mind are very important for spleen health. In TCM dampness is said to be the enemy of digestive health within the stomach and spleen, and the colour associated with heath in these energy lines is yellow and the taste is sweet.
Tips below on how to nourish these meridians in late summer:
• Start veering away from raw cold foods to warmer heartening foods like soups and curries.
• naturally sweet foods like sweet potatoes/yams, dates and oranges, peaches as well as incorporating turmeric and spices into meals are a good idea to dispel dampness.
• Incorporate yoga or massage to keep energy flowing
• meditation and journaling to relieve stress/over thinking and worry, and to reflect back positively on the summer.
• Essential oils that calm the mind such as lavender, ylang ylang, or bergamot.
• Teas that calm and ease digestion-chamomile, peppermint, fennel, ginger.
• Earth types tend to over perform as a caretaker and spread themselves too thinly. Hence, it is important to develop good boundaries, be able to say “no” and not to over worry about the things you cannot control.
• Walks out in nature appreciating the earth and the season.