08.26.07
Posted in Nature, TCM, Seasons at 9:23 pm by Ric
According to Traditional Chinese Theory Spring and Summer are the Yang seasons (outwardness, activity, movement). Fall and Winter are Yin seasons (inwardness, passivity, receptivity). Summer is the season associated with the Fire element, the season of the heart, the season of Joy. It’s the season of abundance, when plants and animals bear fruit, when everything is in full swing.
I haven’t posted here in quite awhile. I have spent more time enjoying nature less time at the computer.
One things I’ve been enjoying through July and August are the Cicadas. They sit in the trees, practically screaming, seeking out a mate. It always amazes me how even one single insect can make so much noise.
A few weeks ago I camped at Waubonsie State Park in Iowa. Located in Loess Hills it offers some outstanding views. At night, as expected, I heard the Cicadas only in much larger numbers than I have ever heard. They were joined by an equal number of Katydids, another loud insect, sometimes heard in the Omaha area but not in great numbers. The chorus of these insects was so loud and so intense. It ceased to be a individual insects and became something greater, something that became the perfect metaphor for the season of Fire, the season of Joy, the season of abundance. It made me consider the place of insects in the natural world.
Insects are the Mc Donalds of the animal world. There are billions and billions of them just in or own town. They are everywhere. They are the sound of life and being near the bottom of the food chain they support life up that chain.
Insects are a perfect representation of the life going on around us. They represent the ebb and flow of Yin and Yang. To get an idea of this imagine yourself on a summer evening just after sunset. The air is humid, the temperature is hot. The Cicadas are singing all around. Now imagine yourself in the same place, same time of day, only during winter. The air is dry, the temperature is cold (since this is our fantasy we won’t make it bitter cold). And there is silence! If you go back and forth between these two times you can feel the difference between the intense outwardness and joy of all the life you are surrounded by in Summer and the inwardness and hidden life of Winter (for example the next years Cicadas are under ground).
It is for this reason that I grieve the loss of insects in late Fall and Winter. Sure insects can be pests (especially flies and mosquitos), but if you look at the bigger picture they are so much more.
Enjoy the life all around you! Fall is just around the corner.
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05.16.07
Posted in Nature, TCM, Seasons at 9:55 am by Ric
After several days of weather that at least made us think of summer, the temperatures have backed off a bit.
Most of last week and weekend I had a lot of yard work to do. I was wearing shorts all day. I wore sandals and no socks because my feet were hot. All my windows were open (my neighbors on both sides were running their air conditioners all day and night). At first it felt odd to be sweating while working but it quickly became a familiar condition. After a slow start due to the cold spell in April, trees have leafed out now. Mosquitos and other insects even made their appearance. Shades of summer!
When I woke yesterday morning, Tuesday 15th, it was overcast and felt downright cold in comparison.
When weather is consistent for awhile my body gets used to it. I tend to think it’s going to stay that way.
In this case it took me a few hours to except that it was too cold to have all the windows open. I put up with cold feet until I realized I need to wear socks again.
Even though I know better, I am surprised when shifts like this occur
I have to remind myself that spring is a transitional season, taking us from the dry, bitter cold of winter to the hot humid days of summer, the extremes of yin and yang. While winter and summer offer relatively consistent weather, spring and fall are highly variable. Spring weather can be winter or summer like and everything in between, often covering great territory in the course of a few minutes.
Yesterday was a good example. It was heavily overcast, breezy, and quite cool. Then for awhile the sun came out and the wind eased and it started feeling a little summer like for awhile. As the earth is moving closer towards the sun, the sun plays an even bigger role in our comfort.
When I get busy working, as I was last week, it is easy to slip out of the “being” mode and get in the “doing” mode. When I stay tuned into my surroundings I’m more in sync with the changes, living in harmony.
Actually the variations and subtilties of spring are something I treasure.
Enjoy spring while it’s here!
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03.03.07
Posted in Nature, TCM at 3:50 am by Ric
The picture above has been posted on the Healing Connection website (here) for quite some time. The reason is that it presents an example of how nature provides a message or a concept right before our eyes that often goes unnoticed.
I thought I’d share the story behind this picture.
In 2002 I made a life-changing decision to change not only my career but the direction and purpose of my life. I left a corporate job I had held for 31 years and set out to become a Massage Therapist and an Ortho-Bionomy pracitioner.
One week before I started massage school I went, along with my wife, on a vacation to the Black Hills. Among the pictures I brought back was the one above of the semi-wild donkeys at Custer State Park. They would frequently stop traffic by hanging around the road where passers-by would collect.
It was eight months later, while attending a Traditional Chinese Medicine class that I felt compelled to revisit the photo, this time discovering it was a near-perfect representation of the Yin Yang symbol (see picture below). (For more info on the concept of Yin and Yang go here).
Not only do the animals line up into the proper shape but the small circles do as well. The black circle within the larger white section, and vice-versa, are represented by the donkey’s noses.
Coincidence? Or is this a metaphorical image for contemplation?
Since I was about to embark on a journey, in this case massage school, that served to refocus my awareness on wellness and balance in life, it’s hard not to see this as a harbinger, these two animals anouncing, in their own way, what was to come.
When we look with different eyes it’s amazing what we will see.
What have you been seeing?
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02.15.07
Posted in Nature, TCM at 12:29 pm by Ric
In writing articles I often make reference to Tradition Chinese Medicine (TCM). In my practice the forms of bodywork employed are not inherently a part of TCM so why the frequent references to it? The main reason is that I’ve found TCM to be a great system for describing the interactive processes that are fundemental to the cycles of nature and to all life. It helps us to see the relationships between ourselves and the natural world.
The processes or cycles are represented by the Five Elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). Each element has many correspondances, to specific organs of the body, to a specific function of the body, to a season, to an emotion, and so on.
Each element or process acts upon another. Each organ has a relationship to another organ. Each season leads to another. An interdependency is created where everything in the natural world, of which we are a part, is related to something else, controlling and being controled by, striving for a state of balance.
Another concept of TCM, perhaps more familiar, is that of the Yin and the Yang. Most people are familiar with the concept of duality or complimentary opposites. For more about Yin and Yang visit this page.
Focusing on all this brings us back to something we tend to forget in our modern world, the powerful influnce that these natural processes, represented by the changing seasons, have on our bodies, our emotions, or spirits, on our lives. Being in balance with nature can bring balance to our lives. This starts with just looking around us. Just noticing.
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