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Spring is here! In this seasonal phase we are naturally filled with many of the qualities that are currently on display in the natural world. In Five Element philosophy it’s the season ruled by Wood, which is exemplified by all plant life, and specifically the ways of plants in the spring. In order to break out of the dormancy of winter and still withstand the occasional freeze, spring shoots are tenacious, determined, and robust. They also have to be flexible. These virtues are available to humans if we pay attention and tap into them.
In case you don’t have our book, Rituals for Transformation, here’s an excerpt from Lesson 77: My Flexibility Allows Me to Respond with Grace to What Life Brings.
Like every tree, you are rooted in the earth. You’re grounded in the material world. And like every tree, you grow upward, striving toward something transcendent and unseen. You grow from potential to expression. And like any healthy tree, you are served by the quality of flexibility.
Flexibility is the opposite of rigidity, the opposite of a fixed, static, immovable viewpoint. It entails meeting life organically, based on how it really is, rather than on your stories or beliefs. It asks you to let go of the need to be right. Rather than throwing the pieces on the floor when you encounter an obstacle, flexibility keeps you in the game. Like a supple vine, you find a healthy way to grow around it.
When you encounter the unexpected, which is most definitely to be expected, with flexibility you meet it openly; you dance with it; you learn something new. Flexibility is unattached to the specifics of how the will of your Highest Self is expressed through you. Knowing you will be an emissary of Love, flexibility says, “Use me. I don’t need to be in control. I don’t need to dictate the terms.”
Today, challenge yourself to be more flexible of both body and mind.
And if you like the idea of going on a 108-day journey of self-growth, healing, and spiritual awakening, check out Rituals for Transformation. Since its first printing six years ago, we have been continually humbled and delighted by the many stories of beautiful transformations we’ve received from readers.
With love,
Peter
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As we approach spring, it’s a good time to discuss seasonal junctions. Both Ayurvedic and Chinese systems of medicine see the changes of seasons as times when we are more susceptible to being thrown out of balance as our body is challenged to adapt to the shift. Ayurveda has a saying that “diseases are generated at the junctions of the seasons.”
Other junctions are also challenging, with the challenge generally proportional to the magnitude of change. Ayurvedic teacher Robert Svoboda writes, “Ovulation and menstruation are the ‘joints’ of the menstrual cycle, dawn and dusk are the joints of day and night, and adolescence and menopause are the junctions of life.” If you have kids, you know that the “joints” of the day are the times you’re likely to have trouble, and if you’re clever, you find ways to make these transitions easy, such as the ever-popular “five more minutes until we’re leaving.”
Depending on where you live and your personal constitution, different seasons and junctions will be challenging for different people. For example, because spring tends to be wet, moving into this season means taking on more of what Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) calls dampness, or in Ayurveda an increase in kapha (“kaap-ha”). This will be most difficult for those who already have constitutional kapha or an accumulation of dampness in their system. Some of the signs and symptoms include: being overweight, having loose, sticky, or incomplete stools, a wide or coated tongue, feeling heavy and tired, finding it hard to wake up in the morning, and a tendency to be phlegmy.
Ayurveda might prescribe some therapeutic vomiting for such a condition, but these days, especially in the West, we prefer more pleasant medicine, ideally in gummy form, and we engage in therapeutic vomiting only after an excess of margaritas. Luckily, there are gentler ways to restore balance, and when it comes to management of the seasonal junctions, the most natural is to be aware of vulnerability during seasonal transitions and treat yourself with extra care. For someone with a delicate constitution or pre-existing health problems, this may be prudent at every season change. For others, only certain season changes may be troublesome. In any case, it’s a good idea to get extra sleep and to eat with greater care during the transition month.
If you have a personal challenge with the transition to spring, here are some more specific recommendations for this time.
- Eat more warm, cooked foods. Soups and stews are great. An ideal one is kitchari, made from rice and mung beans (there are lots of recipes online). If you have some of the kapha / damp challenges described above, you can add plenty of warming spices, including ginger, turmeric, cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon, fenugreek, caraway, nutmeg, and black pepper. As the world gets warmer, start incorporating more fresh local produce.
- Avoid heavy, cold, and sweetened foods. These all tend to be cloying. Also, stop eating before you’re full, and let yourself get hungry between meals (don’t snack).
- Do some movement every day. Kapha / dampness tends to congeal in us when we’re immobile, sometimes making us feel achy, heavy, phlegmy, or groggy in the morning, after we’ve been horizontal for several hours. Daily movement, ideally with enough vigor to break a sweat, will help.
- Try a dry sauna. If you have access to a dry sauna, it can help counteract the effects of a damp environment. It doesn’t need to be too hot. You shouldn’t be pouring sweat. More sustainable is to have longer sessions in which your skin is just glistening.
- If you tend to get spring allergies, this is the time to prepare by babying your digestive system (eat slowly, deliberately, and only easily-digested foods) and taking some things to stabilize your immune system. Some of my favorites are quercetin (500mg twice a day), nettles (pick and steam your own if you can), local bee pollen, and homeopathic preparations of the things you’re allergic to. As for this last item, it’s akin to the old-school method of desensitization. There are companies that make super-dilute tinctures common allergens, such as tree pollen, grass pollen, animal hair, mold, dust, etc. I’ve had good experiences with ones made by a company called BioAllers.
For everyone – including those who have no particular challenge with the transition to spring – it’s worthwhile to pay attention to what’s happening in nature. Be fascinated by the return of new life. Notice the boisterous energy in the flowers and birds. Admire the vigor in the shoots that push their way through the crusted soil. The rising energy and lengthening days make it the ideal time for: planning, visualizing, cleansing, and shedding.
Wishing you a harmonious junction and beyond,
Peter
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After two years of studying plant and soil sciences, my favorite professor, Dr. Barker, offered me a job on the University of Massachusetts farm. Whereas my previous jobs had been things like bagging groceries and washing dishes, this was the first time I was getting paid to do something I was interested in, and under the supervision of someone I looked up to.
I was nervous when I showed up at Bowditch Hall on my first day. Dr. Barker, a white-haired man with a country drawl, introduced me to his assistant, Kathy. Then he handed me the keys to a faded old, blue truck and asked me, “Ever driven a three-on-the-tree?” I had never driven any kind of truck before, much less one with the gearshift on the steering column, but I learned quickly as I drove the three of us – with lots of jerking and stalling – out to the farm.
Standing at the edge of a freshly plowed field, Dr. Barker explained that we were going to use stakes and twine to mark out rows for planting seeds. Kathy and I got to work while he watched. The only trouble was, while I had stakes, a mallet, and a ball of twine, I didn’t have anything to cut the twine with. I thought maybe I had spaced out when someone explained where to find a knife or scissors. Or maybe the professor had told me to bring my own knife and I had forgotten. I was too uncomfortable to say anything.
Wondering if there was some way I could proceed with my task without a cutting tool, I pounded the first stake into the ground. I tied one end of the twine around it, walked the length of the field, pounded in another stake, wrapped the twine around that stake, pulled it taut, and then I just squatted there for a few moments. I considered trying to gnaw through it with my teeth, but dismissed the idea as totally unprofessional. Finally, at the risk of appearing unprepared, I called out to Kathy, who was a dozen paces away, “Do you have a knife?”
“Huh?” she turned around and squinted at me in the bright sun. “Oh.” She ambled over, fished around in her pocket, and passed me a pink disposable lighter.
I interpreted this unexpected response to mean, “I don’t have a knife, but I can see what you need there. You’re going to have to burn through the twine with this. At the ends of every row.” She gave me the lighter in such a matter-of-fact way that I thought it would be too weird to ask for a different explanation.
So, feeling like I didn’t have enough hands, I held the twine straight out from the stake, positioned the flame beneath it, and tried to shield it from the wind with my leg. It blew out a couple times, but I eventually managed to burn through it. Meanwhile Dr. Barker had wandered over to observe me and remarked, “That is the strangest way of doing that I have ever seen.”
“Um. I didn’t have a knife,” I said sheepishly.
“Well, I’ve got a knife you can use.”
“Me too,” offered Kathy.
And that’s how, on the first day of my first important job, I believed I must have convinced my boss that I was an absolute idiot. By the way, if you’re wondering why Kathy handed me that lighter, these were the days when smoking was still quite common. She was a smoker and must have thought I said, “Do you have a light?”
The whole thing turned out to be a good lesson for me. By avoiding an uncomfortable conversation, I ended up in even more discomfort.
I resolved to speak up and break through the tension of misunderstanding in the future. I can’t say I’ve always done this, because it takes bravery, and sometimes I chose to stay in my (dis-)comfort zone. But I can say that I’ve never regretted it. Usually there’s an immediate diffusion of tension, and even when there isn’t, at least the truth is out and there’s an opening for resolution. This is especially true when we bring an attitude of curiosity and aim to understand the other person.
Is there anywhere in your life where you’ve left something unsaid because of your resistance to the discomfort of speaking those words and the feelings that may follow? I want to challenge you to make a communication this week that takes you a bit outside your comfort zone. Even if you have to say, “I’m really nervous about saying this” or you have to hold a friend’s hand while doing it, it’s worth it.
Be well,
Peter
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Spring is here! In this seasonal phase we are naturally filled with many of the qualities that are currently on display in the natural world. In Five Element philosophy it’s the season ruled by Wood, which is exemplified by all plant life, and specifically the ways of plants in the spring. In order to break out of the dormancy of winter and still withstand the occasional freeze, spring shoots are tenacious, determined, and robust. They also have to be flexible. These virtues are available to humans if we pay attention and tap into them.
In case you don’t have our book, Rituals for Transformation, here’s an excerpt from Lesson 77: My Flexibility Allows Me to Respond with Grace to What Life Brings.
Like every tree, you are rooted in the earth. You’re grounded in the material world. And like every tree, you grow upward, striving toward something transcendent and unseen. You grow from potential to expression. And like any healthy tree, you are served by the quality of flexibility.
Flexibility is the opposite of rigidity, the opposite of a fixed, static, immovable viewpoint. It entails meeting life organically, based on how it really is, rather than on your stories or beliefs. It asks you to let go of the need to be right. Rather than throwing the pieces on the floor when you encounter an obstacle, flexibility keeps you in the game. Like a supple vine, you find a healthy way to grow around it.
When you encounter the unexpected, which is most definitely to be expected, with flexibility you meet it openly; you dance with it; you learn something new. Flexibility is unattached to the specifics of how the will of your Highest Self is expressed through you. Knowing you will be an emissary of Love, flexibility says, “Use me. I don’t need to be in control. I don’t need to dictate the terms.”
Today, challenge yourself to be more flexible of both body and mind.
And if you like the idea of going on a 108-day journey of self-growth, healing, and spiritual awakening, check out Rituals for Transformation. Since its first printing six years ago, we have been continually humbled and delighted by the many stories of beautiful transformations we’ve received from readers.
With love,
Peter
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