Monday, March 5, 2012

Get Ready to Sing Spring!

What a wonderful time for new beginnings! I am very excited to be joining the Healing Circles community here in Frederick. Through my chosen healing modality of using herbs and nutrition, I'd like to offer another possibility of viewing the human body in the wellness model of healing rather than the sickness model in which our society has been dwelling. If we nurture areas of the body that need extra care and enhance the strength of the body, sickness has no place to take up residence and withers away. One way to do this is to follow the seasons and cycles of nature and the way traditional cultures handled these fluctuations. Spring, a season full of promise and abundant energy, is a great place to start.

If you've been following the daffodils peeking out of the earth, this warm weather and sunshine we've been having lately may be gearing you up early for the spring season. Spring is a time of new beginnings and incredible growth. The green plants of the earth reawaken and sprout out of their hiding places in the soil. The birds sing their songs as the sun returns to bring life and the rain nourishes the new plants with moisture.

In traditional cultures around the world, spring has been celebrated as a time to clear out old stagnant energy and create new goals for the year. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, a cosmology that makes sense of the natural world by observing relationships between things, spring is ruled by the Wood element and is associated with the gallbladder, liver, spine, limbs, joints, and eyes. The liver is especially important in spring, as it governs the smooth flow of energy and the coordination needed for the burst of life through the crusts of winter. The liver purifies toxins from the blood, which brightens the eyes and frees toxins from the joints so that they are allowed to be limber and put a "spring" in your step. Folk traditions in the United States used wild roots as "spring tonics" to purify the liver and clear the kidneys after a winter of eating heavy starchy food. Wild-crafters would dig for sassafras, sarsaparilla, burdock, and dandelion to cook into soups and rich teas. They would search the fields for the first greens of the season- chickweed, mustard greens, dandelion leaves, and the wild onions called ramps. It was common to dedicate at least a week to drinking herbal teas and eating cleansing raw salads to remove winter's stagnation and prepare for a busy season ahead. All of the way across the world, Traditional Chinese Medicine also taught that eating bitter, sour and pungent foods will assist the liver in its restorative functions. Humans intuitively developed these philosophies and practices by relating to the natural world and observing cause and effect and the ebb and flow of the seasons.

To align with the ascending movement of spring it is good to rise early with the sun and take frequent walks. We want to stretch our connective tissue and honor our muscles, ligaments, and joints that give us strength and flexibility, and our spine that holds us upright. This is a good time to do early morning sun salutations and gentle neck exercises to encourage good blood circulation. Now is the time to capture the energy of spring and start that exercise program that you resolved to do this year (not sleepy new year's day in the middle of winter). It is important to let go of unresolved emotional issues. The Chinese believe that suppressed anger is stored in the liver and is harmful to the organ. You may notice increased episodes of old anger or emotional outbursts as you work on cleansing your liver. Anger is the emotion of spring! It rules the upward thrusting movement of the spring plants. We know it as a "bad" emotion, but anger can be an extremely helpful emotion when fully harnessed to get something done. Allow yourself to experience these emotions as transitory, use them for your spring goals, and release them. As old, heavy emotions and toxins leave the body, they make way for new growth, the essence of spring. To truly embody spring, try planting some seeds and watching the tremendous changes as they grow into little plants. Let this remind you of beginnings, innocence, and possibility. Love yourself and enjoy the emerging signs of spring!

Spring Liver Tonic Tea

-good for the liver, skin, and joints

2 oz dried sarsaparilla root

1/2 oz dried burdock root (or fresh gobo rt from health food stores)

1/2 oz fresh dandelion root

2 T dried orange peel or 3 T fresh

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and shredded

1 1/2 C fresh lemon juice (6-8 lemons)

1/4 cup of organic honey

1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

4 C quality organic apple cider

Put sarsaparilla, burdock, dandelion and orange peel in a pot and cover with 4-5 cups of water. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add cinnamon. Combine the ginger, 1/2 c of lemon juice, and honey in a blender and process until smooth. Add remaining lemon juice and the pepper and blend. When roots are ready, strain through a fine sieve, pressing firmly to extract all of the liquid. Add 1 cup of the root tea to the blender with the lemon juice combination and blend. Combine contents of the blender with apple cider and remaining tea. Drink hot or chill before serving and enjoy!

Spring Cleansing Salad

fresh dandelion leaves

fresh chickweed leaves (you can use lettuce or snap peas)

fresh mustard leaves (you can use watercress or arugula instead)

1 whole apple, cut into cubes

1/2 red onion, minced

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

Other foods for stimulating, harmonizing, and assisting the liver:

-pungent spices like onions, turmeric, ginger, cumin, dill, mustard, rosemary

-beets, brassica vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, radishes, kale,

and cauliflower- these vegetables contain a compound called indole-3-

carbinol, which helps the liver to metabolize hormones

-asparagus and artichoke

-sour foods like strawberries, apples, lemons, peaches, cherries, vinegar

- Susan Hirsch, Clinical Herbalist, Certified Nutrition Specialist

(special thanks to Paul Pitchford, Healing with Whole Foods, 1993, and Elson Haas, Staying Healthy with the Seasons, 1981)

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