Spring is the first of the five seasons in the Chinese medicine calendar year, a very active season. We think of it as a time for new beginnings and an ideal time for cleansing and detoxifying the body and mind. In Chinese medicine theory, each season relates to an organ pairing. During the Spring, our concentration is on balancing the health of the liver and gallbladder pair. It is an ideal time to shed some of the acidity that is typically acquired during the Winter months. From a Chinese medicine perspective, the following Western diagnoses or patterns have their root cause in the liver/gallbladder system, migraines, depression, anger management, moodiness, weight gain, auto-immune disease, gynecological issues, painful or problematic menses and PMS, physical pain, including arthritis, fibromyalgia and migraines. What sets Five Elements Holistic Health apart from others is that we address the emotion that is held in each season’s organs.  

The liver houses anger and the gallbladder is about activity in the body. We often hear clients tell us that they believe anger to be a negative emotion. This is part of the reason that people experience issues with their liver and gallbladder because they think that anger is best kept inside. This is completely wrong; anger is an appropriate emotion in many cases and we need to learn to express it appropriately. When anger is stored in the body, unexpressed, then we have stuck energy in the liver and gallbladder meridians. The liver is responsible for the free flow of Qi (or energy) in the body, which means that energy flows evenly throughout the channels/meridians and evenly on both the right and left sides of the body. When the channels have stagnant or clogged energy then we often see a person having symptoms only on one side of the body as well as any of the complications/diagnoses mentioned above.  

Other things that signal that a person needs to balance the liver and gallbladder energy, are a person’s inability to start projects, being overly impulsive or disliking morning time, which is the time of day that relates to this element, or even hating Spring itself.  This is because this season is about new beginnings and action, and last, but definitely not least, if a person is plagued with Spring allergies, this is a sure sign that their liver needs cleansing. The good news is that when we add in healing foods, cleansing and supportive herbs, we learn how to express our anger appropriately and make appropriate lifestyle changes, we can rid ourselves of the issues mentioned earlier as well as enjoy this beautiful season of new beginnings with vibrant health. 

  For more information contact Eileen Arenz Cuce: Tel: 215-738-0751.  

Web: FiveElementsHolisticHealth.com