Elements of Summer
It’s the lengthening of the late afternoon sunlight and the warmth in the morning air that tells us we are in the true depth of what our summer season looks and feels like.
Let’s have a chat about how we can honour this season.
Traditional Chinese Medicine teaches us that summer belongs to fire, one of the five elements.
In TCM nature and people are interconnected. We live within the elements, and the elements live within us, therefor, the seasons follow.
Given this, we believe that we should govern our health according to the seasons.
Fire is symbolic of maximum activity or greatest Yang, which means that it is a time of heat, outgoingness, and moving outward in nature and in our lives. In human anatomy, the heart, mind, and spirit are ruled by the fire element.
According to TCM, the long summer months are divided into two summer periods. The two organs associated with our ‘two summers’ are the heart (Yang) & Small Intestines (Yin).
Our heart & fire element is represented by happiness, excitement, red hot colours, and the element of fire, passion and movement. It is the best time for fun and enjoyment. In the summertime we should be experiencing maximum joy, happiness and excitement in all areas of our lives. This is how we know that our heart energy is balanced within us.
Physically, when we are properly balanced, the heart circulates oxygen rich blood throughout the body, and assures proper assimilation in the beginning stages of digestion in the small intestine. In Chinese medicine, mental acuity is associated with the heart therefore memory, thought processes, emotional well being and consciousness are also attributed to the heart and the fire element. This is a time to nourish our spirits, realise our life’s potential, finding joy in hot summer days and warm summer nights.
When the heart is balanced, the mind is calm and we sleep deeply and wake rested. When the heart is imbalanced, we may lack joy (which manifests in depression) or have an excess of joy (mania or manic behaviour). Some indications of a heart imbalance are nervousness, insomnia, heartburn and confusion, red complexion, poor memory and speech problems.
Emotionally, because the heart is connected to our spirits, summer is the best time to heal emotional wounds that we have carried with us from our pasts. Healing these wounds frees up space that we can fill with love, joy and happiness and ensures that we will not carry our old hurts with us into the future.
This is a good time to send out a reminder that the shift of seasons is often a time to reflect upon our internal landscape and how we can best serve our bodies according to the seasons.
Any conditions which have what we in Chinese Medicine call an element of 'heat' will often be worsened by warmer temperatures, alcohol, rich and spicy foods. These conditions are characterised by redness, swelling, restlessness, maybe itchiness and, the feeling of heat inside you, maybe to the extent of easy, excessive or abnormal sweating or even a feverish feeling.
Complaints with these 'heat' characteristics typically include many skin conditions (such as eczema, dermatitis and psoriasis), insomnia, some headaches and migraines, mental disorders, dizziness, palpitations, hypertension and inflammatory conditions
ranging from indigestion and gut problems, to arthritis of the joints and various auto-immune disorders.
The good news is, you can choose cooling foods and drinks to balance the heat and many medicinal herbs have cooling and anti-inflammatory effects and can help settle many of the symptoms and conditions mentioned above.
Summer is about abundance, and this is definitely the case with foods. Fruits and vegetables abound in summer, and we are lucky to have a multitude of choice when it comes to what we eat. Because it is the season of maximum yang, it is important to stay cool and hydrated. There are many foods that are beneficial to eat during this season. All foods in Traditional Chinese Medicine have a temperature, and energetic properties so in summer, we eat cool, yin foods that are moistening to balance the heat. Many raw foods are seen to be cooling in nature, so summer is the perfect time to indulge in salads, which are full of raw vegetables, very cooling and hydrating to the body. Eating more foods with pungent flavours and reducing bitter flavours help to strengthen the lungs – responsible for sweat so helps to maintain the normal sweating mechanism . Foods with cooling properties also clear heat, can reduce toxins and help to generate body fluids. Generally, most vegetables and fruits are cooling, eating them raw makes them cooler still, and many seafoods are also cooling in nature.
Summer Nutrition -
Fruit: Apple, lemon, kiwi, watermelon, orange, pear, pineapple, tangerine
Cooling or Yin foods: Cucumber, crucifix vegetables, spinach, tomato, watercress sprouts, salads, yogurt, barley, mint, dill, cilantro.
Yin foods which are light and non-greasy
Fish and seafood are also good for you, although containing less Prana, in TCM & Ayurveda we refer to these foods as having cooling properties, therefore best eaten in hotter seasons.
Drinks: Lots of water, watermelon juice, cucumber or celery juice green tea (“it disperses summer heat and can expel toxins, cool the heart fire, calm the mind, remove heat from liver and gallbladder, and relieve stomach and lung.”)
Combos: Mint and Chrysanthemum both aid in cooling the body and skin and also mildly supports liver function. If you are feeling adventurous, you could combine these as a tea and add a pinch of honeysuckle to create a wonderful floral tea to keep you cool.
Avoid: Hot and dry foods such as coffee, excessively spicy foods, ice cold foods like ice cream since they cause the digestive system to slow down
In Ayurveda and TCM meat products are viewed as having warming and inflammatory properties, these should be avoided to minimise further heat or inflammation in the body.
Living in harmony with the seasons is at the core of Traditional Chinese wisdom. It was based on living in harmony with nature and one’s environment. Traditional Chinese Medicine is also a system that is rooted in prevention. Food is medicine and the ancient Chinese used food and its healing properties to build up the body when deficient, cleanse it when toxic, and release it when in excess. With these basic principles of eating with the seasons, and an awareness of the organs associated with each phase and their emotions, we can all stay healthy, strengthen our bodies, minds and spirits and live long, happy healthy lives.
Here are a few Traditional Chinese Medicine Tips for overall Summer Health -
Awaken earlier in the morning to take advantage of the full Yang energy of daytime. Waking with the sunrise enables us to receive maximum Prana from the sun during this time.
Go to bed later in the evening. There is plenty of time to rest in the winter darker shorter days.
Rest at midday, where possible, between 1pm and 3pm is our natural biological clock´s time for our small intestine. This is also our Pitta time of day, resting during this time will ensure that Pitta does not get aggravated or overheat.
Drink plenty of fluids; water, coconut water, cucumber, celery or mint juice.
In the summer eat with moderation; we tend to get more indigestion in the summer months.
From Traditional Chinese Medicine and Ayurvedic principles, the summer really is the time to enjoy the heart, and cultivate ideas and creativity that can be put into effect in autumn and winter.
Use these summer months to explore and adventure, to be creative and use your Yang energy to step out of your comfort zone.
