Fall Transition: Minding Metal
Nearly all the leaves have fallen from the trees and the nip in the air is being accompanied by shorter days. The longer nights are affording us more rest which our bodies are requesting and hopefully, we are obliging. Perhaps your body is asking you to nourish differently, inviting warm foods and drinking more tea throughout the day instead of cold water.
We are halfway between Autumn Equinox and Winter Solstice marking the middle of Fall according to the Gregorian Calendar. In the East, this marks the time of transition toward Winter. We will stay in the west, for now, and savor the light a little longer. It is the time of the revolving door, Shao Yang Season, the transition between the interior (winter) and the exterior (summer).
Bridging East & West
Fall and Spring are the transitions. Yin within Yang and Yang within Yin, respectively. Think of how your body reacts to the seasonal changes in temperature. In summer, or maximum yang, it’s hot outside, there is lots of light, and you tend to be full of energy. Winter being maximum yin, you tend to draw inward and find stillness and conservation as we tend to snuggle up to preserve our warmth and resources. The needs and wants of our body, mind, and spirit may vacillate depending on the day during the transition period this time of year offers. I live in Denver, CO and when we have 50-degree temperature swings in a 24-hour window, it gives our pores (and our immune system) quite the shock - open, close, expansion, contraction. These changes test our threshold and capacity for this fluctuation. Ideally it fortifies our resilience so we can withstand the changes throughout the seasons. We can gauge our vitality and immune strength by observing through the lens of Chinese medicine and learn more how to maintain our health at these times of elemental stress.
Traditional Chinese Medicine
In the east, in accordance with Chinese medicine, there are correlations throughout the year associating most things using the 5 Elements. These include seasons, colors, organs, emotions, and more-please see chart below. These elements give language to the relationships in and around you, bringing some light and form to these connections. Connecting ourselves to elements in nature gives us context that we are not separate from but rather are a part of the nature around us and our body has an entire system inside that certainly reflects this. Let’s take a deeper look into what this time of year is teaching us through the nature of things.
Main Correspondences of Metal:
Season: Autumn
Color: White
Organs: Lung and Large Intestines
Climate: Dryness
External Manifestations: Body Hair
Sense Organ: Nose
Tastes: Pungent
Stage of Development: Harvest
Direction: West
Tissue: Skin
Emotions: Sadness, Grief
Sounds: Crying
It is Metal time, let’s give it form:
I think of heavy metal music, swords and cutlery, and, because of my interest in chemistry, I think of the Periodic Table made up of metals and non-metals (the building blocks of matter). Here is where I say things that seem unrelated but bear with me and hear me out!
When heated, metal is malleable and able to bend and take different forms. The warmth softens and offers expansion within its structure offering a different a dynamic relationship. When metal is cooled it becomes rigid, bringing strength and stability through hardening to form. Metal can be many things and through these states of expression, it can adapt to changes (with heat) or maintain boundaries (through cold).
As we come out of summertime we began to slow with the cooling temperatures and metal takes center stage. It’s time for consolidating. Manipulating our schedules, controlling and handling what output we are needing to transition to or from. Perhaps you or the kids are going back to school or you’re focusing on condensing financial streams after a summer of fun and play. This is the time for focusing on our breath and taking care of our lungs, tending to our grief and letting go. Just as the trees are letting go of their leaves, what are you needing to shed and release? Breathwork can be a profound practice to aid your body in this process.
Accessible Health & Wellness
The metal organs are Lung and Large Intestine. Lung, the Yin official, is in charge of receiving breath so that we may have enough Qi (oxygen) to sustain life. The Yang official of metal is the Large Intestine, and well it’s all about letting go! So, if lungs are about receiving and inspiration and the large intestines’ job is absorbing water and letting go of the rest, then how can we tend to them this season?
Lung
Conscious breathing or getting into Qi Gong or breathwork. There may be local workshops in your community and many practices to choose from so whatever gets you more in tune with your breathing.
Be gentle with your lungs by minimizing or cutting out a smoking habit. Smoking and vaping are hot and drying, which will damage the very delicate bronchioles in your lungs over time.
Reparation is vulnerable with the changing of the seasons especially with dryness, which is why so many lung-associated illnesses are common. Tend to them and build your immune system with herbs and acupuncture.
Supportive foods for the lungs are:
Pears: support bodily fluids
Daikon radish: pungent respiratory aid
Hemp seeds: aid in peristalsis and letting go
Large Intestine
My teacher used to say, ‘you need enough water to float the boat’, so drinking plenty of fluids, warm if you can. This helps us ease foods through so we expand as we release - that’s the Large intestine’s job, to absorb water and excrete matter that is waste. With the dryness of the season, we also need to intake plenty of good fats which lubricate the intestines, joints, and skin.
Examples of good fats:
Sesame oil is more warming as coconut oil is more cooling, so depending on your climate, pay attention to your body’s needs.
I am a fan of ghee and avocado oil while cooking as they can tolerate medium to high cooking temperatures and remain stable, unlike olive oil that should be consumed raw or cooked with low heat.
Avoid harsh, greasy and heavy fats such as fried foods and using canola/low-quality oils.
A bit graphic, but your large intestine will tell you if it’s not right for you, pay attention if stools are greasy, streak the bowl, or messy when wiping. Colon cleanses and enemas can be supportive during this time as well. Avoid harsh detoxes or long term ‘cleanses’, as the intention is to conserve and bolster energy not to wipe out the resources that are helpful to you.
Bringing it all together
Fishing for Stars, Andrej Mashkovtsev
It’s the season of letting go and grieving is a natural process being human. Autumn is a beautiful time to process loss, allowing ourselves to go inward and feel the emotions within. It may not be pleasant but it may very well be helpful as a needed process in letting go. Resisting release is unpleasant! Though it often physically manifests as constipation, we can also be ‘emotionally constipated’ and, just as chronic (physical) constipation renders disease and unpleasantries, so can emotional withholding. I encourage people needing support to get a therapist and/or an acupuncturist to move through what is coming up at this time.
This is the time of year to honor where you are while reflecting upon the abundance that the year thus far has brought. It’s harvest time, collecting the last remaining fruit from your garden which you've tended and enjoying the fruit of your labor. I also believe it is important to bear witness to the seeds of inspiration that you energetically planted earlier this Spring that did not take to the soil. Turning them over, composting them back into the earth. Letting go of intentions, relationships, and plans that didn’t carry through. Release what is not going to serve you this upcoming season as you dive inward to conserve your vital forces and spend it wisely.
