Springtime is when our immune system, emotional balance, and even digestion can be the most affected when we least expect it. In this blog, you'll find Ten Seasonal Spring Tips to support your liver health and wellness during springtime. This will help you keep your energy balanced, your immune system strong, and even the vision for your life clear and bold.
I remember being a kid and throwing on shorts and a T-shirt just because the sun was shining. It didn't matter that it was still potentially snow on the ground or a big windstorm brewing. I think every child can't wait to feel the warmth of spring and delight in the exhilaration of change.
When life wants to hustle and bustle with new life brimming around every corner it is easy to burst into action after our wintery dormancy. Here is what can happen when we expose ourselves prematurely to wind, cold, and even people before the time is right.
We'll wonder why:
we got sick when we were feeling so good
a neck spasm or hamstring pulled when we were starting to feel energized to play and get active
we're not sleeping well, waking at 2 AM
we're irritated for things that normally we can control
we've developed weird blemishes or rashes seemingly out of nowhere
we're annoyed about being on time, or that something hasn't gotten done, or that we don't have a plan in place
we've got headaches that won't go away
we've developed a craving for fatty food and feel bloated, gassy, or acidic.
we feel cloudy or our eyes feel tired
Exposing ourselves too soon to the elements in early spring creates a depletion of our Wei Qi. It is the equivalent of our energetic barrier, security system, or aura. The Wei Qi is what keeps your immune system strong. Exposing ourselves to the wind breaks down this energetic barrier allowing pathogens to break through. All the symptoms described above are indicators that our Wood Element is impacted. To strengthen the Wood Element we strengthen the Liver and Gallbladder.
The Liver: The Organ of Destiny
The Liver is responsible for converting our food into what we need to thrive and feel alive. The Liver is also responsible for converting ideas into reality. The Liver is valued as the "organ of our destiny" in Taoist Medicine. If the Liver isn't functioning optimally, we'll have a hard time seeing our life path.
The Ten Tips below are not only important in keeping you healthy, but also in terms of helping you move through places of apathy, frustration, and indecision.
Ten Springtime Tips to Keep Your Liver and Your Destiny on Track
#1 Keep the back of your neck and throat protected
Ever wonder why you get a headache in the back of your head just before you come down with a cold or illness? When we get sick, according to East Asian Medicine, external pathogens enter through the back of the neck. The chances of an invader increase exponentially with the springtime wind that blows through, breaking down our energetic barriers of protection.
If the back of your head and throat area get overly exposed, you can guarantee a season of colds, cases of flu, allergies, and headaches. Keep your head and neck protected to ensure a strong immune system this time of year.
#2 Start eating a lot of greens in Spring
If we didn't have a modern lifestyle of conveniences, normally this is the time of year when the pantry has run bare. We've eaten our winter stores and all that is available are the early shoots of spring greens - dandelions, plantain, nettles, sorel, burdock, mustard greens, onion tips, fiddleheads, and moss. Nowadays, we've got swiss chard, kale, collards, spinach, arugula, bok choy, and even microgreens. We can still eat in balance with how the earth naturally teaches us.
Greens help activate our liver, GI tract, gut flora, and colon to naturally spring clean. It is like adding a scouring bathroom cleaner to your tub. The extra abrasiveness of the green in the gut serves to scour the cracks and crevices. It also instructs the other organs to do the same. If you don't have time to do more of a cleanse then at the least, set an intention of 2-3 servings of greens each day.
#3 Avoid fried foods, particularly hydrogenated oils
Our liver is conditioned over thousands of years of evolution to clean itself out during the spring. If our liver is hardwired to do so, wouldn't we want to support that? Exposing the liver to saturated fats, heavy fat-laden meals, and synthetic fats like partially hydrogenated oils, shortening, and palm oils creates inflammation, stagnation, and gunk that clogs your human machine preventing it from running smoothly.
If you are a healthy individual, you may NOT notice that an inundation of fat has congested your liver physically. However, ask yourself if your emotions are telling you something else. Frustration, apathy, depression, anger, resentment, and even insomnia are tell-tale signs that your liver is trying to get your attention.
Either way, eliminating fatty foods in the spring will naturally help your body recalibrate for a great year ahead!
#4 Exercise is your friend this time of year, especially if you aren't sleeping
According to many indigenous cultures, sleep is when we get information from the other side to help navigate our soul's purpose. If we don't sleep, we're missing key information for our soul to navigate this world well. If you are waking around 2 AM you could be struggling with navigating your life with your heart, mind, and soul on board.
Poor sleep, according to East Asian Medicine is indicative that the soul doesn't feel safe to travel into dreamtime to get important information to manifest your destiny.
According to Western Medicine, poor sleep affects hormone production, brain chemistry, and even the processing of food and the proper absorption of water.
So, if you find yourself in a bad relationship with your sleep, then it is time to support your body with exercise this time of year. Exercise naturally pumps the impurities stuck in the brain, the joints, and even the organs so that you can function optimally. I often find the patients I treat with insomnia do not have a regular exercise routine. The cleaner our system, the better the quality of sleep. The better quality of sleep, the better we process our emotions to gain clarity. So, if you're not interested in exercise, perhaps connecting it to improved sleep and a happier soul experience might entice you to find a routine that works for your body.
#5 Assess your chemical exposure
Let's face it, when it comes to chemicals, we as humanity love to put our heads in the sand. Modern conveniences often cause us to ignore the cautions, warnings, and even mislabeled products due to the manipulations of the FDA and the government. Chemicals are everywhere. They are in our food, clothes, cleaning products, artistry, building materials, and now our water. Our liver is technically built to withstand a lot of chemical exposure and is very resilient. However, these human machines were built to survive in a natural environment. Not the one we are creating with this chemical lifestyle.
I try very hard to live a chemical-free lifestyle. I make my lotions and cleaning products, and I focus on organic where able. If you haven't given it a lot of thought or it is something you've been meaning to explore, I invite you to use the energy of spring to assess any changes you might make to your chemical exposure. Are there products you could shift?
The Buycott App blew my mind!! You can look up your favorite products and learn more about their impacts. It certainly made me change the products I used to buy.
Spring is the time of year that supports change. Any change will do! The earth naturally backs us to implement new routines during the spring. So, if you have anything that you'd like to change, this is the time of year to give it a go.
When you are cleaning out your closets, give a thought to how many chemicals you have lying around. How many products are made with synthetic, artificial ingredients? How much food is non-organic or processed? The level of chemical exposure plays a significant role in health issues down the road. It is hard to choose differently when we are such creatures of habit. Making one small change to our chemical lifestyle can create a ripple effect for more empowerment.
#6 Contrast Hydrotherapy will activate your detox pathways and bring you clarity.
One of the most important ways to maintain feeling fresh, clear, and balanced is with contrast hydrotherapy. If you haven't tried it, I highly recommend making this part of your weekly self-care routine. Contrast hydrotherapy has been elicited as a therapy for chronic illness for over a century. Many cultures around the planet embrace diving into frigid waters to invigorate the blood. Why would we subject ourselves to such torture?
Just as we must exercise to keep the strength up of our physical body, contrast hydrotherapy offers a workout to the areas that are often neglected. Moving from hot bath water or a sauna into a cold plunge acts as aerobics for your nervous and immune systems. It acts like a pressure washer to get the built-in grime off the sidewalk. It stimulates the autonomic nervous system to be in tip-top shape.
This is the time of year to try it out if you haven't done so. Check out some more info on contrast hydrotherapy HERE.
#7 Notice when you are frustrated - It will reveal where you might be holding yourself back
This is the time of year when anger and frustration will rear their ugly heads reminding us of emotions waiting to be processed. Those spring winds can affect our immune system and also our emotional stability.
This is the best time of year to reflect on repressed anger and ways we might avoid conflict only to "swallow" our emotions. Those swallowed emotions are what the digestive organs also have to digest and process. This is done mostly at night, which is why sleep is so important for us. And also why we might get insomnia when we have overly stuffed ourselves with unprocessed emotions over time.
This is the time of year to assess what has been backlogged. Questions I like to reflect upon to help make sure I'm digesting all that I'm feeling are:
What issues in my reality constantly irritate me? How is this a pattern?
Where am I feeling stuck in my joy?
What relationships affect me and why? Do I do anything about it?
How are these present-day irritations connected to past wounds, traumas, or events that keep showing up?
Do I have a particular button that will set me off into anger? Why?
Have I spoken with violent communication to anyone? Why?
How could I learn to be more flexible, compassionate, and benevolent towards others - after all we're all doing our best on this crazy planet.
Taking time to reflect on areas of our life that don't feel in harmony, balanced, and at ease is important to help us sleep, manifest our destiny, and energetically detox our organs.
#8 Reflect on where you might feel oppressed in your life
Those repressed emotions are often facets of ourselves that feel oppressed due to society and economic constraints, belief systems in place, and old traumas that have us stuck. This is the time of year to push past the resistant emotions and find a new direction, perspective, plan, or action to change this.
For example, if you are feeling stuck in a job that you hate, it might give you a heavy burden that "this is your lot in life." This oppressive thought may be a belief that you learned early in childhood forcing you to endure a situation. However, giving ourselves space to assess what isn't working for us and what would be a job that would feel better can create a fresh perspective we hadn't expected. This is especially true in springtime.
These are important questions to ask ourselves this time of year because the earth is supporting us for change in this season.
Whatever you want to change in your life, now is the best time to enact your vision and find the courage to move through into better growth for yourself. You don't have to feel bound, sometimes it is simply a shift of perspective.
#9 The season is supporting you to change and grow
Everything mentioned above leads us to the true purpose of this season - growth. This is an invitation to allow every facet of our life to embrace change. The earth is supporting us by sharing her vital life force. That is, in part, why everything starts growing. Trying to start a new project in the wintertime is fruitless, in my opinion for this very reason.
Now is the time to enact change. If you've been sitting with an idea, enacting a new routine, signing up for that class, or even cleaning out your house so the energy is clear and ready for change are ways we can set ourselves up for success in the months to come.
#10 This is the best time of year to do a Liver Cleanse
So many Liver cleanses on the market encourage a healthy liver, glowing skin, and better gut health. Yet, it can be difficult to know what is best and how to get started. Be wary of the cleanses which do not support emotions, other organs, or unique health issues. Each person is unique with their metabolism, gut flora, emotions, and health issues. Therefore a universal liver cleanse is not appropriate. It is highly encouraged that you work with a healthcare practitioner when doing a liver cleanse.
The simplest tip I can give you is to use this time of year to clean up your diet. Here are a couple of suggestions if a cleanse is too daunting for you to take on for yourself:
Clean out the fridge of old food and processed foods that you know are bad choices
Try to experiment with chemical-free, organic options
Maybe take a fast from your favorite coffee shop or try a coffee fast for a week.
Take a break from restaurants for a week
Eliminate grains down to one serving a day for a few weeks (this reduces inflammation)
Create an exercise routine where you are sweating every day
Join a membership where you have access to a sauna and cold plunge
Avoid alcohol, processed foods, fried foods, and refined sugars for a few weeks
Make salads your friend every day during springtime
Drink lots of water
Those are simple things you can do to help give your liver the support it needs to align with the spring energy.
If you do feel up to a Liver Cleanse challenge, I invite you to check out the catered protocol I'm offering which takes out all the guesswork in doing a cleanse with prescribed supplements, recipes, and a detailed 21-day schedule. This is meant only for those who do NOT have significant issues with their health. There are many variations feasible with your lifestyle and health needs. Check out the 21-day Spring Cleanse to learn more.
Happy Spring!!
The Season of Wood
The Color of Green
The Season to focus on the best vision for your life
