The Season of the Sun
At this moment I am camped out on the back deck watching my son stack shells while my partner tends the grill. I’m hot but the breeze and the shade provide the perfect amount of relief to keep me satisfied and glued to my seat. Speaking of seats, underneath mine is the newest member of our family. Bear, the rescue pup, is curled up and content to snap at flies and chew his paws. This is a Summer Sunday as the sun slowly sets and I am fully aware of my stupidly childlike love of the season.
We only just passed the solstice and already we are moving headlong into heat and heat and heat. The Summer time is considered the most Yang season of the year in traditional Chinese medicine.
Yang = Light, Heat, Activity
The element associated with Summer is fire, big surprise I know, and the organs that rules the season as well as the system of meridians are the heart and small intestine.
The two forces to consider now are the action of Yang energy and the nature of the heart.Yang energy at its best is playful, joyful, and easily expressed.
Now is the time to enjoy what you have grown in your life. Lean into the way things are and ride the waves of pleasure as far as you can. Now is not the time to start new projects or do deep excavating in your life. Eat what grows and feel work as play.
Though this is an active (Yang) time of year, the heart rules the blood, governing circulation. Blood is considered yin fluid that balances yang chi.
Yin = Dark, Cool, Passivity
So the Yin aspect of the blood tempers the rising heat of summer giving us the glorious willingness to just be as we are. Yin is all about being.
Basically the two natural attitudes of Summer are easeful play and unapologetic rest.
The Basics:
Rise with the sun
Work early
Rest at mid-day when the heat is unbearable
Play and relax in the evening and enjoy the later days
Eat mostly fruit and veggies
Lighten up on the animal products and grains
Look for cooling foods and drinks
Stay hydrated
To stimulate the heart meridian, work with shoulder openers and thoracic spine mobility.
Did I mention play?
**Be aware of over heating. It is excess heat that throws the fun of Summer into a tailspin causing sleep issues, digestive problems, and skin irritations.
If overheated do more cooling Yin Yoga.
Keep things simple and settle into life’s natural rhythm.
Love,
KJ
The Summer Day
Who made the world?
Who made the swan, and the black bear?
Who made the grasshopper?
This grasshopper, I mean-
the one who has flung herself out of the grass,
the one who is eating sugar out of my hand,
who is moving her jaws back and forth instead of up and down-
who is gazing around with her enormous and complicated eyes.
Now she lifts her pale forearms and thoroughly washes her face.
Now she snaps her wings open, and floats away.
I don’t know exactly what a prayer is.
I do know how to pay attention, how to fall down
into the grass, how to kneel down in the grass,
how to be idle and blessed, how to stroll through the fields,
which is what I have been doing all day.
Tell me, what else should I have done?
Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon?
Tell me, what is it you plan to do
with your one wild and precious life?
—Mary Oliver