Summer Is In Full Gear, So Let’s Take Advantage of What Chinese Medicine Has To Say About These Long Summer Days!
For me, six words come to mind when thinking of the invigorating and enlivening experiences of summertime, they are: The Sheer Joy Of Being Alive!
I feel totally imbued with the human spirit on a long, hot summer day. The farmers market abounds with juicy fruits and delicious veggies amidst the perfume of brightly hued blossoms. Activity is effortless and life feels full, transformed and somehow complete.
Needless to say, there is no complaining here about the heat because it won’t be long before we reach the dynamic height of summer’s inspiration and settle into a cooler, calmer and more collected fall.
So what does this mean for you in terms of body, mind and spirit?
Chinese Medicine teaches us to observe ourselves as an expression of Nature’s observable elements, depending on the cycle of the season and changes in the environment. Just as Nature goes through a process of change, the Nature inside of you also undergoes a transformation.
If you are in harmony with the fresh green shoots appearing in spring then you will feel reborn, bursting with springtime activity. And when the trees are full of mouthwatering fruits and the plants are blossoming around you, then you will feel the joys of abundance coupled with the passion of the creative spirit.
Hmmm, an abundance of energy, stamina and passion!? Yes, clearly this is why I Love summer!
In the Five Element Theory, summer is ruled by the Fire element and is expressed through growth, joy, spiritual awareness and Love. This is the Yang-est time of the year, which translates into a surge of physical, mental and emotional activity.
To be in sync with the long days, I wake up as early as 6:00am and stay up until at least midnight (it’s actually 1:48am while I write this post). Don’t worry to balance the work and play, I schedule a midday nap. Without my regular siestas I would be totally exhausted before summer’s end.
Anatomically, the Fire element corresponds with the heart which pumps oxygen-rich blood throughout our bodies. Emotionally, we’ve been warming up, going out and connecting with others. The heat of summer flows into our deeper relationships while our bodies relax around a more open heart.
In the Elemental theory, the heart houses the Spirit, also called the Spirit-Mind. A harmonious Spirit-Mind can be felt as a heart-connection with others and, for many of us, as a spiritual connection with Nature. This is a time that ushers in sensitivity and expression with the true contentment only known by a unified heart and mind. I view summer as an opportunity to transform negative experiences into feelings of Love.
Love is an extraordinary thing; it arouses the realization that the self and others are one. Love inspires what I call altruistic intimacy and the knowledge that what you cause and affect are one. Experiencing your heart’s purity reveals the responsibility we have for every action that occurs on our planet because we are one. Love between two people is a holy sharing when each have experienced their own depths and see their mutual identity and mutual causality through the starry-eyed gaze of eros.
Ahh, it’s easy to get swept away reflecting on the Fire element and Love, but let’s look at our original query: What does the long, hot days of summer mean for you in terms of body, mind and spirit?
Simple answer. The heart-felt enjoyment of family, friendship, perhaps even summer Love, but more importantly the exalting experience of the sheer joy of being alive!
Filed under: Holistic Health, Spiritual Development, Vibrational Healing | Tagged: Cara Michelle Miller, Chinese Medicine, Chinese Medicine Theory, Fire Element, five-elemental phases, Five-Elements, five-phases, heart, Heart & Head, hot days of summer health, joy of being alive, long, Love, Mind-Body, mind-body-spirit, summer, summer love, tcm, Theories of Chinese Medicine, Yin and Yang Theory |
The Zen Healer's Blog 
Your six words of summertime have been lost on me the last couple weeks. But reading your post reminds me of what this time of year represents and that joy has since been reclaimed.
Thank you.
I am reminded of the ancient European traditions around midsummer – the fertility rites, the celebrations of life and love and sex, the long days and short nights. Shakespeare understood this in his Midsummer Night’s Dream, a celebration of life unleashed. So does Anthony Burgess in his novel The Eve of St. Venus, Bergman in his film Smiles of a Summer Night (remade as a musical by Sondheim with A Little Night Music). All are about life triumphing over that which kills life – indeed, even Strindberg’s Miss Julie is about two characters who tragically separate themselves from the joyous celebration that surrounds them in the Swedish midsummer. We must always remember to join the revelers, not to isolate ourselves from the vital, the living, the playful, the dance of hearts.