Nourishing Life Part 2: Spring Medicine

Spring is here!  There is a reason that ancient cultures recognized the Spring Equinox as a major turning point in the year.  Ceremonies were held to honor the time that night and day are equal.  From now on for the next few months, the abundance of sun, warmth, and light will be ever increasing.  We should feel corresponding changes in our own body and energy.  Have you been waking up earlier?  Have you had more energy recently?  Have you felt restless and the need to move more?  Welcome to Spring.

How do we nourish our bodies and harmonize with the qualities of Spring?  What feels natural at this time?  How can we harness and harvest the energy or qi of spring?  

Spring is connected with the dawn and early morning.  Spring time is like the dawn time of the year, just like winter is like the midnight of the year.  It is a good time to get up early and be present with the dawn.  Waking up and exercising gently can provide abundant energy for the whole day.  Engaging in exercises that allow our body to move are beneficial, especially exercise that emphasizes flow and smoothness.  Tai chi, qigong, flow yoga, going for walks or light runs are all beneficial.  But, beware!  We are not at the time of uber-yang energy that happens in summer time.  Don't over do it!  Doing too much, over stretching, or over extending is likely to injure our tendons and muscles!  

Eating lighter and eating spring greens should be another easy practice to incorporate.  Our ancestors were literally starving for the fresh nutrients provided by wild green foods at this time.  Dandelion leaves and nettles are particularly strengthening and nourishing to our bodies at this time.  Dandelion soothes and cleanses the liver (which can be challenged in the spring) while nettle builds and strengthens our blood and vital energy (partially by being very rich in iron, minerals, and vitamins).  There should be less heavy animal products in our diet and more vegetables.  Though, one shouldn't feel like they need to jump into all raw foods...the fruits of the summer time are still off in the future.

While it is normal to feel the abundance of energy in the morning time, it is still natural to feel a drop in energy in the afternoon and even to be tired in the evening.  However, one should not feel exhausted!  After the stillness of Winter, our restlessness in Spring can push us to do too much.  If you are feeling exhausted, have low back or knee pain, or are finding yourself prone to injuries (especially to your tendons) it would be wise to cut back activity levels some and rest more.

There are some specific practices that are designed to gather the special energies of Spring time.  Here are two simple ones:

5 Breaths at Dawn: After waking up in the morning and dressing adequately, go outside and face east as the sun rises.  With the hands relaxed at the sides gently inhale and exhale 5 times.  Imaging breathing in the energy of the east and spring into your body with each breath.  To end, gently place your right palm on top of your left palm, with your finger pointing opposite directions.  The back of your right hand should face the sky and the back of your left hand should face the ground.  Let you mind rest below the navel a couple of inches, inside the body.  This is a traditional Daoist practice.

Barefoot Dew at Dawn-In Japanese folk tradition and the macrobiotic world, the dew in spring time is supposed to contain a very nourishing quality.  Once a week, waking up early and walking barefoot in the dew is supposed to help bring in the qi of spring.  This is particularly useful for treating heat conditions such as insomnia, anxiety, red skin conditions, acne, anger, and red face.

Wander and nourish in the spring dawn.

Lengthen the tendons and move like the wind,

The body becomes smooth as the world reawakens.

Watch the flowers and the plants and allow yourself 

to bloom as they do.

Nourish life by gathering Spring Medicine!

Plant of the Week: Cottonwood

Over the winter months, we explored the value and depth of the evergreen medicines that are a part of our life.  As we are moving into spring, before we delve into the wonders of young spring greens, I feel it is appropriate to honor one more tree.  This time a deciduous tree is our focus: Black Cottonwood, also known as Balsam Poplar.  In many part of the country (or world) it is still possible to harvest the swelling buds of this tree which possess potent medicines.

Black Cottonwood
Populus Balsamfirus
The poplar species are used around the world for their medicinal properties.  While I am speaking specifically about Black Cottonwood which is prolific through out the Western United States, other varieties can be used similarly.


Description: A deciduous tree found almost always near water.  Waxy green leaves that are spade-shaped. White to gray smooth bark when young, turning into deeply furrowed bark in mature trees.  Leaves will move quite a bit in a strong breeze similar to Aspen species.

Collection: The main part used for medicine are the resinous leaf buds.  These aromatic medicinal treasures can be collected from late fall all the way until early spring.  They are best in the early spring/later winter before they leaf out.  It is often possible to collect buds after a windstorm from branches on the ground.  The buds can be dried and then stored in a brown paper bag or jar, but be sure to dry them first.

Uses:
1) Medicinal Oil: The salves can be soaked in Olive Oil (or another oil though olive oil works best) for anywhere from 2 weeks to a year.   After being strained, this oil is a powerful antiseptic for cuts, scrapes, burns, or minor wound.  It also has strong pain-killing properties especially for trauma and bruising.

2)Salve-The above oil can be made into a salve by gently heating it on a stove (or using a double-boiler) and then add 1/3 beeswax to 2/3 oil.  After the beeswax has been melted, pour into glass or metal containers.  When it cools it will re-solidify, so go easy with the beeswax.  This salves can be used the same as above, but will store easily, perhaps indefinitely and is more portable.  Great for a first aid kit.

3)Tea/Decoction-Both the buds and the inner bark of the tree can be made into a very foul-tasting bitter decoction.  Simply boil a handful or two in water for 20-30 minutes.  This intense tea can then be taken internally for coughs and colds, especially those that linger in the chest for weeks with yellow or green phlegm.  This tea will also lower fevers and treat body aches.

4)Other Uses- Buds can be used directly on wounds in the field as a messy first aid plant.  Buds, leaves, and barks can be used in medicinal baths for aches and pains.  Inner bark and cambium can actually be scraped and eaten in the spring time.  And, being able to recognize cottonwoods from some distance can be a valuable sign of water in an arid landscape.

The window for collecting cottonwood buds is rapidly closing!   Go get some now!

Nourishing Life Part 1: Winter Medicine and Spring Medicine

Ah, February that supremely awkward month where we see the first hints of Spring arising and our hopes begin to rise.  Then, often the cold comes and pummels our hopes into fear.  At this time of year, there are a  surprisingly high number of people afflicted by illness and whose emotional patterns get intensely stirred.  It seems as if we are ill-equipped to handle the stresses of this transition, at least in our modern world.  What is going on?

In ancient cultures, Eastern and Western, Indigenous, Agricultural, Hunter/Gatherer, one of the supreme manifestations of wisdom, health, and longevity was through harmonizing with the cycles of the seasons.  In Chinese Medicine and Daoist Philosophy, one of the most obvious manifestations of the great Dao was through the seasons and their cycles.  In Ayurveda, the science of life from India, how we matched our internal elements with the external elements was a source of vitality.

One way to describe this process is through the term Nourishing Life.  This term is a translation of the Chinese term Yangsheng which encompasses such practices as diet, lifestyle, exercise, meditation, qigong, martial arts, herbal medicine, and living in tune with the cycles of life.  One of the foundations of Nourishing Life is "Eat when you are hungry and sleep when you are tired."  The reciprocal is also true.  Don't eat when you aren't hungry (and don't overeat) and be active when you feel like being active.  But, wait what does all of this have to do with February?

Well, part of the wisdom of the ancients is that each season has a certain quality, a certain energy, a certain spirit, a certain Qi.  One of our jobs as humans is to tend to these qualities and harmonize are bodies and lifestyles with them.  The quality of Winter is different than Spring (which is also quite different than Summer or Fall) and we can't expect our bodies and spirits to act the same in both.  But unfortunately that is exactly what we are expected to do!

What is the quality of Winter?  What are its gifts, its Medicine for us?  Quiet, stillness, resting, storing, relaxation.  Think of a frozen pond at midnight with snow all around.  The animals are hibernating, and we are resting quiet in our homes with a fire dying down under warm blankets asleep in dreamless sleep.

What is the quality of Spring?  What are its gifts, its Medicine for us?  Reawakening, stirring, gentle movement, inspiration.  Think of the snowdrops and daffodils pushing through the cold ground reaching out towards the rising sun just after dawn.  The animals are rousing from their winter sleep, hungry and looking for mates.  We are waking too, slightly grumpy from the winter needing to move our vital energy, looking for mates (there's a reason why Valentine's day is in February!).

How do we harmonize with these energies?  Well, if we have truly rested in Winter then our energy should naturally be awakening now.  We should feel a little bit more energy in the morning.  In Winter, we should go to bed early and wake up late.  In Spring, we go to be early, but wake up early and catch the fresh qi of Spring.  In Winter, we practice stillness through meditation or restorative yoga.  In Spring, we begin to move our bodies with gentle exercise such as tai chi, qigong, or gentle yoga.  It is beneficial to practice in the morning outside in the fresh air and light.

 But don't be fooled, the cold is still around so protect your body from the cold with layers of clothing.  Eat the light green medicine foods arising from the ground: chickweed, dandelion, wintercress, and nettle.  They contain the medicine harmonize with this time.

Most of all, listen to your internal rhythms.  Find out what is nourishing for you and follow that path.  It is a medicine all your own.

Thunder rousing amidst snow,
Spring awakens with frog song,
Green vitality pushing through frozen ground, 
Wind and cold dance in the air above.
Can you find harmony?


Ask the Dao and watch Nature.