By Dr. Hannah Force Conry
Spring is coming! The middle of March marks our transition to spring. Nature is in a process of renewal, birthing, blooming, waking, and showing off her beauty. Our innate nature is to follow these same cycles. Seasonal transitions affect us as has been studied and shown by Traditional Chinese Medicine. Spring is not only a time to clean our physical home, but our physical being as well.
Based on the five element cycle, spring is the time of wood which is the organs of liver and gallbladder.
Tips for Spring Cleaning:
Cleanse: This is the perfect time of year to do that cleanse or detox program you’ve been thinking about! So many options here: fasting, juicing, diet overhaul, specific program, etc.
Eat greens: Dark leafy greens are full of antioxidants that help our liver eliminate free radicals. I love using a green powder everyday that contains algae, chlorophyll, and spirulina.
Eat beets: Beets contain betaine which helps protect the liver and stimulate the production of bile which exercises the gallbladder keeping it pumping to help avoid sludge and stone formation. Eat the green tops of your beets too!
Herbs: Milk thistle contains silymarin which helps stop free radicals from adhering to liver cells. Dandelion contains water soluble polysaccharides which may help protect the liver from hepatic injury.
Get outside:
Breathe in the fresh air, listen to the birds, gaze at the colors and new life all around, feel the sun and the breeze on your skin, and move. Movement is essential for a healthy liver. This can be as simple as a 30 min walk, but please do it outside!
Meditation on the color green: The color is green and the element is wood and the season is spring, makes sense, right? Green also relates to the heart chakra. Take 5 min a day to meditate on the color green opening your heart to renewal, new experiences, and presence.
Processing our anger: Anger is the emotion of the liver. Take stock of whether you have been holding onto any anger and what you need to do to process it. This could include meditation, journaling, praying, writing a letter and burning it, making a phone call, cord cutting, working with a therapist, etc. Neuro-emotional technique (NET) is an amazing way to process emotional traumas that are stored in the body.
Acupuncture: I highly recommend getting a seasonal acupuncture treatment to ease your body’s transition into each season.
Take some time to appreciate this amazing time of year. The stagnation of winter is thrown off to reveal a brand new beginning. Wishing you a wonderful, healthy spring full of beauty.
Always consult your doctor before taking new supplements, radically changing your diet, doing a cleanse or detox, or starting a new exercise regimen to make sure it is appropriate for you.
