Before I moved to a place with 4 seasons, that was about 30 years ago to go to university, I had only heard of them but never really experienced them; I had moved away from the equatorial tropics, where there is only really 2 seasons - warm dry and warm rainy seasons. I only then became aware of the distinct differences each season presents. Many would describe that there are 4 seasons. But as I got to studying Chinese Medicine, we were made aware of a fifth: Late Summer. This is a season where plants and trees come to fruition, like summer squash, early apple and pear, or nuts. In the USA, people sometimes called it Indian Summer, what I have come to understand as a time of mild weather before the cold of Autumn sets in, which was first observed by the Native Americans. I have come to know of it here in Switzerland as Altweibersommer. But what has revealed itself to me is that this Earth element season is also the time that manifests between seasons; a transition time to create a smooth flow from one season to the next.

The Japanese call it the Doyo period: it is defined as the 18 days before the season changes at the Equinoxes and the Solstices. Through the sharing of ancient Chinese philosophy and medical knowledge with the Japanese, they began to interpret and observe Nature around them through this lens. The Japanese, like the Chinese, observed a distinct period of time between these celestial events that we experience on Earth in relation to the Sun. These Doyo periods often bring a mildness to the climate, a warming that would signify that a change is coming. This is what we are experiencing here right now and in many other places in the world. In fact, we humans have affected our environment so strongly that I believe the Doyo period is beginning to extend longer than the 18 days, sometimes going on for a month or more, that we all, humans, animals and plants, get so confused to the point that we don’t know head from tail anymore; for instance, 18 degrees Celsius here in the Basel area in late December not so long ago, made plants and animals come out of hibernation too early, not to mention us humans getting unusual viral infections.





Chinese medical philosophy tells us that this is the time of Earth element. The binding element that allows for smooth transition into the next phase. It is linked to the color yellow, the organs of Spleen, Stomach and Pancreas; the organs of our Center. These organs are responsible for transforming food, through the action of digestion, into Qi and Blood, our resources for life, as well as transporting fluid and vital substances around the body. The tissues of the body that reveal the Earth’s energy are muscles, and the orifice is the mouth, including the lips. Makes sense, doesn’t it?  The place where nourishment comes into the body and the sounds of singing that come out of the body, are actions of Earth that occur through the mouth and lips.

The emotion associated with the Earth is a pensiveness, being thoughtful of people, beings and situations around us; this is when our Earth element is in balance. An imbalanced expression reveals worry, where thoughts churns around in us in circles, never finding a place of calmness. The Spleen is the seat of Thought and Intention, Yì. Hence, we are reminded that our consumption of information, digital or print or in any other form, also needs to be digested by our Earth organs energetically. What happens when our digestive system is overwhelmed by junk food? We get constipation or diarrhea. What happens when our Spleen is overwhelmed by news and information? Probably “thought constipation,” or what I used to tell my kids when they were binge watching on their mobile phones, "digital diarrhea," or other digestive problems, ruminating through our body-minds in the middle of the night.

The flavor of the Earth phase is sweetness, the taste of mammalian life’s ultimate nourishment - Mother’s milk. And furthermore, the sweetness of Mother Earth’s produce, like a crunchy, juicy red apple or a soft, moist orange sweet potato, nourishes us with a wholesomeness that no artificial, factory-made substance can. On the subject of Mother (human and Earth, respectively), there is an action of transformation constantly happening in our everyday life without us ever acknowledging it; the transformation from fruit/vegetable/grain/meat into food in our kitchens and ending up as meals on our dinner tables, as well as those from food to compost in the Earth, enriching the soil for the next year’s planting. Mother Nature is intelligent, there is no wastage; just the cycle of life, death, rebirth, transforming from one to another and beginning all over again.

It is now the time to give the space for transformation; let go of what we don’t need, this may include food or media consumption, but also thoughts and things that don’t nourish us. When we start to honor transformation, we can embrace change and we can mature; like the plump caterpillar metamorphosizing into a butterfly.
 
 
 

Image 5 Element Doyo by Elaine
Image butterfly cocoon by GLady from Pixabay

About a month ago, we were still in the throes of Summer. It got up to 35 degrees Celsius  even in August, which is unusual for us here in Switzerland. But this has become the norm all over the world. We are in the midst of big change, of our Earth overheating but it is not new; the heating and cooling of the Earth has been happening for 4.54 billion years but us humans are sure contributing large amounts to the current overheating in a short amount of time by how we choose to live.

Not so far back in the past, in 1989, the American singer, Billy Joel released a song – “We Didn’t Start the Fire.” In this song, he lists some of the events in world history from his birth year, 1949, till that year when he turned 40; he released the song in September 1989. Little did he know that in November of that year, the Berlin Wall fell, signifying the end of the Cold War; thus helping this song to catapult to the top of the music charts around the world. When I heard this song then as a teen, I didn’t quite understand it. He lists many things that was significant to the Western world, but most especially to an American; I was an Asian teen with little experience and knowledge of world events at that point in time.

Since I began studying Chinese Medicine, I have been fascinated by the Theory of the 5 Phases or Elements, Wǔ Xíng. This theory is not just applied in Chinese Medicine, but also in Chinese philosophy, science, politics, education, music, martial arts and probably anything to do with life. In medicine, we are taught that there are 12 Regular Channel/ Meridians, which are connected to 12 organs. All of these 12 have 1 of the 5-Elements associated with them; each Element has 2 partner organs except for Fire, which has 4. Just with this circumstance, one can assume that Fire is a very important element in Chinese Medicine. These organs are the Heart, Pericardium, Small Intestines and Triple Burner, Sān Jiāo; the Heart being defined as the Emperor of the organs. Just with this detail of having 4 Fire-Element-organs in the body, we can imagine that Chinese Medicine views humans to have a tendency to build up heat in the body.

Fire is important for life but too much of it would create an imbalance. We need a certain amount of warmth in the body in order that our natural body functions work. However, when we have too much heat, it would make the functions go into overdrive and burn out. Is this not the dis-ease of our time? In Qi Gong manuscripts, there are referrals from the Eight Trigrams (Bā Guà) to Kǎn, Water and Lí, Fire. Qi Gong Master, Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming describes in his book, The Root of Chinese Qi Gong:

“Kan is Water and represents Yin in relationship to Li, which represents Fire and Yang. Qigong practitioners believe theoretically that your body is always too Yang unless you are sick and have not eaten for a long time, in which case your body may be more Yin. When your body is always Yang, it is degenerating and burning out. It is believed that this is the cause of aging. If you are able to use Water to cool down your body, you will be able to slow down the degeneration process and thereby lengthen your life […] Fire and Water mean many things in your body. The first concerns your Qi. Qi is classified as Fire or Water […] The Qi which is pure and is able to cool both your physical and spiritual bodies is considered Water Qi.”

Therefore, many of the Qi Gong forms are for developing Water Qi, to cool and balance Fire Qi within our beings. A balance between these two kinds of Qi is what creates health. According to Dr. Yang, this can be achieved by having proper food and fresh air, regulating the Mind and Breath, steadying the Spirit and some special Qi Gong meditative practices.

Dr. Yang also hints that our thoughts and Intention, Yì, is shaped by Kǎn and Lí, Water and Fire; if we are fiery in our beings, we begin to have fiery thoughts and actions. This is often what we observe in Chinese Medicine, if someone has an imbalance of heat in her/his body, s/he will begin to manifest irritation, anger, obsessive and manic behavior, to the point of being violent toward the people around her/him. I believe this imbalance, within many individuals, is one of the causes that drove societies to seek to dominate and conquer others. I came across a very good documentary many years ago about fossil fuel, its origins as well of its effects on our planet and its living beings, called Crude: The Incredible Journey of Oil. It traces how the tiny phytoplankton from 160 million years ago, floating in an ancient ocean that makes up what is now the Arabian peninsula, stored the power of the Sun in the state of carbon and with the pressures of the Earth, became “fossilized Jurassic sunlight” deep within the Earth to conceive what we know as crude oil. It also creates an awareness of how our modern lives have been shaped by crude oil; from petrol in the car that transports us around, to the plastic of our kids’ toys to the skincare products that we put on our faces. We have become so detached and disconnected from life around us, that we may be unaware that the excess Fire within us is devouring us and all around us.

Billy Joel’s song chorus goes:

 “We didn't start the fire
It was always burning
Since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it
But we tried to fight it.”

But I disagree, we may not have started the Fire, but we are fueling it. It is time to stop. We can choose to balance it out with the Element of Water, in how we live and what we practice in our everyday.
 
 

Reference
Yang, J.M. (1997) 2nd.Ed. The Root of Chinese Qi Gong. Wolfeboro, NH, USA: YMAA Publication Center.
 
 

Image by ulrikebohr570 on Pixabay