Author: Rebecca Thoroughgood

February is Heart Health month and so much emphasis is placed on our physical heart’s well being. Yet, we also need to pay equal attention to the energetic aspects of heart health. In Chinese Medicine, the Heart energy is considered to be like the Emperor of our whole body, mind, and spirit. And, our Hearts function best in an orderly and peaceable kingdom.

Research in neurocardiology shows that the heart is a sensory organ and a sophisticated center for receiving and processing information, according to Institute of HeartMath. Emotions such as anger or frustration, are associated with an erratic disordered pattern in the heart’s rhythms whereas emotions, such as love or appreciation, are associated with a smooth, and ordered pattern in the heart’s rhythmic activity. A person’s emotional state is also communicated throughout the body via the heart’s electromagnetic field.

So in today’s world, how do we care for our heart energy?  Mindfulness practices, meditation, healing touch therapies and gratitude journaling are excellent ways to support Heart health on all levels. Avoiding over-stimulation whether emotional, electronic or social is another way to promote heart health.  Other Heart energy tips include:

Healing Heart Sound

The sound of the heart sound is similar to the “HAW” in the work Hawk.

Tilt head slightly back and with exhalation say HAAAAAAAAAWWWWWW.

Release any impatience, heat, jealousy and anxiety with each.

Place your hands over your heart and with each inhalation imagine experiencing the qualities of peace, joy, creativity

Practice the heart sound 3-6 times.

Make an Attitude Adjustment 

Several times a day take 5 minutes to follow these simple steps adapted from the Institute of HeartMath’s Attitude Breathing tool.

• Focus on your heart while breathing in.
• Concentrate on a positive feeling or attitude while breathing out.
• Lock in this new feeling and continue to breathe it in and out through your heart area.

Heart Qi Gong

Since the Heart meridian travels to the hands, here is a simple Qi Gong practice to strengthen your heart energy:

Open and close both hands, making sure your fingers curl down to touch the palms of your hands. Your middle fingers are the most important fingers to make a connection with the palms. Continue to open and close your hand for at least five minutes or as long as possible.

Photo credit: somestrangeladyReflectingHeartHMM on photopin

Each season corresponds to different organ energies, according to Chinese medicine. Autumn is associated with the Colon and Lung meridians, which are energetic pathways on the body that influence the health of our actual organs and physiological functions.

The Colon is the organ of elimination that removes the last bits of water, salt and nutrients. When the Colon is functioning optimally, we move our bowels regularly and with ease. We are also able to clear toxins from our system on the physical, emotional and mental levels.

The Lungs regulate the entire rhythm of the body with the ebb and flow of the breath. The Lungs enable us to make energy (qi) from the air we breathe and are important to our immune system.

If our Lungs or Colon is out of balance, we might experience frequent colds or flus, allergies, low immunity, sinus or nasal congestion, asthma, irritable or inflammatory bowel issues, chronic dryness, skin conditions, and fatigue.

Each season offers us an opportunity to improve our health all year round by paying special attention to the meridians associated with the energy of the season.

Here are some tips for improving your health this fall:

• Check out my YouTube video on how to stimulate your Lung and Colon meridians
• Practice diaphragmatic breathing rather than shallow chest breathing. Sing in the shower, take up a woodwind or horn instrument to strengthen your Lungs.
• Practice dry skin brushing and thymus tapping to improve your immune function. *I also demonstrate these on my You Tube channel.
• Both the Lungs and Colon have a rhythm. Establish a consistent routine for your days as to the time you wake up, go to bed, exercise, and eat meals.
• Stretch your chest frequently to expand your rib cage and give your Lungs space to breathe.
• Allow yourself to be inspired. Take a walk in nature, visit a museum or musical performance, read inspirational prose or poetry, express your creative side.
• Eat local, in-season cooked fruits and veggies for the fiber. Daikon radishes are mild, yet great for congested Lungs. Ginger also helps thin mucus. Pear juice and raw honey soothe dry throats and Lungs. Eat apples, pears, squashes, etc. for their fiber. Just remember to also add healthy fats to your meals such as nuts, avocado, pastured butter, coconut oil, olive oil, etc. Fiber provides bulk, but you need oil to lube the tube.
• Hearty bone stock contains lots of soothing gelatin for an inflamed gut and lots of good amino acids that boost your immune system.
• Add fermented foods to your diet like Kombucha, raw sauerkraut, kefir, good quality, unsweetened yogurt, and/or a probiotic to enhance your gut, the foundation of our immune system. If you are exposed to someone who is sick, take extra fermented foods or probiotics.
• Before you get out of bed in the morning, do a single knee squeeze of each leg and then massage your abdomen in a clockwise motion to stimulate your bowels.
• Clean your closets and cabinets of the outdated or unused items. Make a donation to the thrift shop.
• Ask your doctor to check your Vitamin D levels to ensure that they are in the optimal range. A lot of our immunity

Treat Fall Allergies Naturally

If ragweed and other fall blooms have you sneezing and stuffy, include these natural antihistamines in your health regimine: vitamin c, green tea, quercetin, butterbur and astragalus. Ginger helps thin and dry mucus. Homeopathic Sabadil is also great for allergy symptoms. And don’t forget to use your neti pot. I also like xylitol-based nasal sprays to moisturize dry nasal passages, clean out pollutants and allergens, and ease congestion, much less irritating than even saline sprays.

*photo credit Having fun in the leaves, Geoff Livingston, from photopin.

It’s Summer! Time to soak up the sun (and get your Vitamin D). In Chinese Medicine, each season has its own energy to share. Summer is the yang season, full of light, heat, and movement. The young energy of the spring expands to its maximum potential. Fire is the element of summer. It’s all about warmth, joy, laughter, love, awareness, and camaraderie. The fire element in summer can be expressed as a rowdy bon fire, or a quiet candle-lit dinner.

If our Fire energy is depleted we may find it’s hard to connect with people, or we forget how to have fun. We may find it hard to trust because we have had our hearts broken.

Summer’s heart-felt warmth helps us cultivate the quality of compassion – opening my heart to my pain, and then using the compassion I have for myself as a resource, to open my heart to all who suffer. Compassion is not a solo practice. We do it in profound connection with everyone in the human family. To take care of your Fire, be sure to have people in your life who you can share yourself with – heart-to-heart. Use Summer’s energy to help you find spirit in your joy and laughter, in your playful connection with all of creation in its fullness.

Here are some ways to tend your inner Fire:

• Have fun on a regular basis, even if you have to work at it at first. Make it a priority—schedule your fun, if that’s what it takes. Consider fun as important to your health as eating your veggies and good sleep.
• Ask yourself: What gives me joy? What makes my heart soar, then do it. Live your passion.
• Decorate with crystals, candles and glass. Open windows. Catch sunlight and reflect it into your home.
• Enjoy the lightness of the season. Get outside often. Chase lightening bugs. Go on picnics. Host barbecues. Play twister. Watch comedies.
• Taste the flavors of the season. Bitter feeds our fire: dark chocolate, black coffee, endive, spinach, watercress, arugula, bitter greens, red wine, kale, corn, sun ripened tomatoes. Eat fresh fruit and vegetables of the season. Steam, or sauté meals to retain moisture in foods and grill to mimic the energetic of fire in your cooking. Add a little ginger, garlic and cayenne to promote digestion and circulate your energy.
• Notice signs of burnout. Are you sleepy during work hours, running hot and cold, uninterested in contact with others. Do you need a little self-care, or time off to connect with friends and family?
• Fall in love with life. Flirt. Enjoy some spark in a current relationship. Add some romance to your life. Make a candlelit dinner. Play music. Look into the eyes of your beloved. Studies show that bonds become even stronger with couples who spend time gazing into each others’ eyes, the mirror of the soul.
• Feel compassion in your own heart and share it with another. Express your heart’s desires. Have a heart to heart with someone.
• Admire your maturity and bloom wherever you are planted. Celebrate your age.
• Give of yourself to others. Take the time to listen. Take the risk of dipping into your own heart and finding what you have to give to others unconditionally—then offer it.
• Laugh at yourself. Laugh at life. See a comedy. Read funny books or comics.
• Without dwelling there, acknowledge sadness. And, appreciate life’s simple joys.
• Fire takes many forms. Cultivate your own unique fire. What is it like: a candle, a campfire, a volcano, a distant star, fireworks, a sparkler, a firefly, a glow stick?

Chill Out.

If you get easily overheated during the hot summer days, here are a few shopping tips to cool you off.

• Eat watermelon. Or blend it and make watermelon smoothies, add a splash of lime juice and fresh mint. It’s a natural diuretic that cools and drains our system of summer heat.
• Mung beans, used in Thai and Indian cuisine, are another cooling food. Cucumber and zucchini are also refreshing and help generate fluids that quell summer heat. Spices like mint, basil, dill and cilantro go well with these foods. Bitter greens like dandelion, arugula, and watercress help bring our energy down and thus clear heat. You can add coconut milk or yogurt for a complete cool down dish.

Summer is also a good time to substitute warming foods such as meats and hot peppers with more cooling options like fish and fresh vegetables. You might also want to reduce your intake of caffeine, sugar, and alcohol, which can all be dehydrating and reduce our body’s natural cooling abilities. Of course, be sure to drink plenty of water or coconut water to remain hydrated. A little lemon water sipped throughout the day can astringe the fluids we do have so we don’t become depleted by sweating. Water is also a great medium for our bodies to drain excess heat through urination.

If you find yourself having a hard time cooling off, try placing a cold washcloth at the back of the knees. This is one of the classic points on the body to cool summer heat.

For sunburn, try natural aloe vera gel or calendula to soothe the skin. Witch hazel can help quicken healing of the skin.

Laughter is the best medicine

The Chopra center explains why:

• Laughter activates the body’s relaxation response and helps tone the abdominals.
• Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen, which benefits the heart and lungs.
• Laughter boosts immunity and increases resilience.
• Laughter is contagious. Being around others who laugh can trigger your brain’s laughter response to lighten a heavy mood, relieve tension or lift depression.

Check it out for yourself…. I dare you not to laugh, or at least smile;)

You don’t have to suffer all season. There are ways to manage the symptoms and improve your immune system, so that you can still take time to smell the roses.

While allergies are provoked by harmless outside elements, such as pollen, mold, and pet dander, the inflammatory response we experience indicates that our immune system is not functioning well and that our flow of qi, or energy, is deficient or blocked. According to Chinese medicine, allergies can point to an imbalance in our lung energy. Lung energy is not the same as the lung organ from a Western medicine perspective. From an eastern perspective, the lung energy is responsible for our “defensive” qi so that potential allergens do not affect us. It is also responsible for our overall health and energy levels.

A stuffy nose, sinus congestion and postnasal drip also demonstrate that our qi is not transforming fluids appropriately so that phlegm accumulates. This can be caused by too much cold, raw, or congesting foods such as dairy and sugar, and/or from overwork, overthinking and stress, which depletes our energy in general. A constitutional weakness, gut imbalance, repeated antibiotic use or history of respiratory illness can make some people more susceptible to allergies than others.

Fortunately, Chinese medicine, which includes acupuncture, herbs and energy exercises work to improve the immune function and build up our qi so we are less vulnerable to allergies and better able to recover from illness more quickly.

Supplements can help

Ideally, you want to improve your immune function and modulate the inflammatory allergy response. Here are some herbs and supplements that can help:

• Butterbur – Shown to be as effective as Zyrtec in some studies. It helps reduce inflammatory allergy response. Look for pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PA) free brands.
• Quercetin—a powerful antioxidant, very effective at preventing the release of histamine.
• Local raw honey –Sometimes patients with flower allergies benefit from adding local raw honey into their diets.
• Astragalus is a classical Chinese herb used to tonify qi and prevent prevent illness from getting in by promoting overall health.
• Sabadil homeopathic remedy is another natural way to relieve symptoms.

Other supplements and foods to consider are bone broth, green tea, or the green tea extract EGCG, vitamin c, omega 3 oils and deep sea fatty fishes, and good probiotics.

More tips for managing allergies

• Rinse with filtered water and salt using a neti pot or nasal irrigation practice to remove allergens and unblock nasal passages.
• Use Air filters with Hepa filters when indoors. Close windows when sleeping.
• Change clothes and shower after being outside.
• Practice dry skin brushing to boost your immune system. (add video )
• Prioritize sleep, exercise and stress management all year long to strengthen your immune system and health before allergy season hits.
• Avoid being outdoors during high pollen counts times (early morning, late evening, windy days, and dry/hot days)

Chrysanthemum tea for itchy eyes

If itchy eyes are an issue, a few chrysanthemum flower buds (unless you’re allergic) and a few goji berries steeped in green tea is a classic Chinese remedy. You can drink the tea and place the chrysanthemum buds over your eyes. Mint is another herb that helps cool the allergic response of itchy, red eyes and mild headache.

Brush up for health

A great way to boost your immune system and your mood is dry skin brushing. It can also minimize the appearance of cellulite.

A natural bristle long handled brush or even a dry cotton wash cloth/towel is all you need. Easiest way to incorporate dry brushing into your routine is to do it before you shower.
Dry skin brushing supports the lymph systems detoxification.
Using firm and vigorous, though not forceful motions brush up your body from your feet.
Use circular motions including around joints. On arms and legs, stroke upwards towards your heart.
Brush in circles around the buttocks and abdomen. Don’ t forget the back of your legs, especially your knees.
Brush towards your heart along your sides and your waist.
There are hundreds of lymph nodes under our arms and around the sides of our chest. You can brush there and around your breasts. Again, towards the heart.
Brush gently down your neck towards your heart. And don’t forget your back.

Check out my video

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