Reflecting on Autumn: Using Traditional Chinese Philosophies to cultivate mindfulness and gratitude

As we move into the final month of the beautiful season of Autumn, it’s a perfect time to reflect on the many gifts this time has given. From the vibrant foliage to the crisp air, Autumn is clearly a potent season of transformation and growth.

As we touched on in our last blog, in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Autumn is a time to support the lungs and intestines, and to reflect inwardly and let go of what no longer serves us. It’s crucial to heed this call from nature, so that we can move into the cooler months feeling strong and vital – both physically and energetically.

The lungs play an important role in our respiratory system and are responsible for inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide. They also contribute to maintaining your body’s immune system. During Autumn, the air becomes drier and cooler, which can put a strain on your respiratory system, making it more susceptible to certain illnesses. So, it’s really important that we strengthen our lungs before we move into winter. 

The large intestine is also linked to Autumn and plays a vital role in eliminating waste and toxins from the body. The large intestine is responsible for absorbing water and electrolytes from the undigested food that passes through it. A healthy digestive system is essential for overall health and wellbeing, and this is especially true during Autumn when the body needs more fluids to stay hydrated.

On an energetic level, now is the time to let go! As the trees shed their leaves and prepare for the coming winter, it’s necessary for us, too, to let go of what no longer serves. Perhaps there are certain habits or behaviours that you feel you’d like to release. Right now is a ripe moment to surrender negative emotions or patterns that may be holding you back. If we refuse to let go, we can become stagnant, and stuck in old patterns and beliefs that prevent us from moving forwards. This can manifest as physical symptoms like tension and stress, and emotional symptoms like anxiety and depression. 

By supporting the lungs and digestive system, you can also support your immune system to be better equipped to face the challenges of winter. And, by letting go, you can create the space for new experiences and opportunities in your life. 

Rituals to cultivate gratitude and mindfulness

Try integrating these poses and practices to cultivate gratitude, mindfulness, and a positive mindset as we move towards winter. 

Full Yogic Breath

Yes, we know we’ve said it before, but we’ll say it again – don’t forget to breathe! One of the most effective ways to support your lungs and let go of negativity is with deep breathing exercises. 

How to: Full Yogic Breath/Dirga Pranayama

Dirga Pranayama is a simple breathing technique that can help you feel more calm, centred, and energised. It is also great for increasing lung capacity (hence, supporting the lungs!). 

•  Start by coming to a comfortable seat with your spine straight and your shoulders relaxed

• Place your hands on your belly and close your eyes

• Take a deep inhale through your nose, filling your belly with air, then exhale slowly, letting your belly fall back towards your spine

• Next time you inhale, fill your belly and expand your ribcage. Hold for a moment at the top of the inhale, then exhale slowly through your nose

• With the next inhale, fill your belly, ribcage, and upper chest. Hold for a moment, then exhale slowly 

• Continue like this for 5-10 minutes – starting slowly at first and always listening to your body

• Once complete, gently open your eyes and take a moment to notice how you feel 

Yin Yoga

Yin yoga is a wonderful practice to prioritise rest and relaxation, and release tension in your body. The following poses also have the added benefit of supporting and nourishing the digestive system (remember to hold for at least a few minutes):

Shoelace Pose

Shoelace pose is a deep hip opener that can also help to stimulate the digestive organs. Sit on the floor with your legs extended out in front of you then cross your right leg over your left knee, placing your right foot on the floor outside your left hip. Then, bend your left knee and place your left food on the floor outside your right hip. Your knees should be stacked on top of each other (as much as is possible) and the tops of both feet on the floor (again, as much as possible). Hold for three to five minutes, rest in between, then repeat on the second side. 

Dragon Pose

Dragon Pose deeply stretches the groin and hips and can also help to stimulate digestion. Begin in a low lunge position with your right foot forward. Lower your left knee to the floor and slide your left leg back as far as you can, keeping your hips square to the front of your mat, and one hand on either side of the knee (you can use blocks under your hands for extra support if you like). Keep your right knee above your ankle and rest your right shoulder on your right leg as you drop your head down. Hold for three to five minutes, rest in between, then change sides.  

Caterpillar Pose

This gentle forward fold is great for stimulating the digestive organs and supporting the associated meridians. Begin sitting on the floor with your legs extended out in front of you. Slowly fold forward over your legs, allowing your head to drop down. Relax your arms beside your legs or wrap them underneath the knees. For extra support, you can bring a block under the head or a bolster under your knees. Hold for three to five minutes. 

Gratitude journaling

Take a few moments each day to reflect on the things in your life that you are grateful for. Write them down in a journal or notebook and take the time to really reflect on why you are grateful for them. This simple practice can help you to shift your focus away from negativity and towards optimism. 

As you reflect on the beauty and abundance of Autumn, carry these practices with you into the colder months, and continue to cultivate gratitude and mindfulness throughout the year. 

Let us support you on your journey. We have a delicious Autumn collection of on-demand videos full of yoga, meditation, and breathing goodness for you to enjoy at home. Head here for the details and a taster of the series.

The Golden Season: Traditional Chinese Medicine Rituals for Autumnal Bliss

As the leaves begin to fall and the air becomes crisp, Autumn is a beautiful time to shift your focus inwards. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), Autumn is a time for reflection, introspection, and letting go. It’s a time to nourish your body and mind in preparation for the cooler months.

In TCM, Autumn is associated with the metal element organs of the lungs and large intestine. This invites you to let go of what no longer serves you and pay extra attention to strengthening your respiratory and digestive systems.

Try integrating these rituals into your life over Autumn to stay grounded, balanced, and healthy. 

Five Rituals to Practise in Autumn

Breathe: Deep breathing helps to strengthen and nourish your lungs. Consider integrating deep breathing exercises into your daily life. You may like to incorporate a pranayama exercise like viloma into your practice or encourage your breath to move all the way down into your lower belly a few times throughout the day.  

Eat foods that support your intestines and lungs: To support the digestive system, incorporate more pungent and spicy foods into your diet, such as ginger, garlic, and onions. According to TCM, white foods, such as cauliflower, mushrooms, and white beans, are especially beneficial for the lungs - so you may like to include some more of those too (sorry, yogis, ice cream doesn’t count!). 

Embrace yin energy at home: As the days get shorter and the nights grow longer, the energy of Autumn shifts from yang (outward and active) to yin (inward and receptive). Embrace this yin energy by creating a cosy and nurturing home environment. Use warm colours, soft fabrics, and dim lighting to create an ambience of comfort and relaxation. 

Slow down: To further embrace this yin energy, it’s important to prioritise rest and relaxation. Make sure you’re getting plenty of sleep, and embrace practices like restorative yoga, yin yoga, and meditation. 

Let go: Just as the trees release their leaves, you can let go of what no longer serves you. This may be physical clutter in your home or emotional baggage you’ve been carrying. Take time to declutter your space and journal about emotions, behaviours or beliefs you’d like to let go of. 

We hope these rituals inspire you to embrace the beauty and abundance of Autumn. By nourishing your body and mind this season, you’ll be better equipped to face any challenges of winter with ease and grace. 

On the 26th of March 2023, we’ll release a special collection of on-demand videos for you to practice from home this Autumn. When the time is right head to this link to taste-test the series. 

Chinese Medicine - Find Balance in Your Emotional Body

In the previous articles on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) the principles and causes of disharmony were divided into four areas:

External Causes 

Internal Causes 

Neither Internal nor External Causes

Physical Constitution. 

With two blogs dedicated to the External Causes and Physical Constitution, this article will detail the aspect of Internal Causes through analysis of the emotional body. 

Photo by Mark Daynes on Unsplash

The Types of Human Emotion

Our emotional body is the aspect of yourself that is primed and ready to feel. Everything triggers emotions and influences the way we think, what we do and say. 

Different situations cause us to react with a wide range of emotions. What makes one person happy could make another person sad or angry. If we remain emotionally upset for a long time or we go through a very sudden or serve emotional trauma the mind finds it hard to adjust to these mental disturbances. This can cause disharmony in the body that can then represent in our physical body through disease. 

TCM considers the internal organs as influencing not only the physical body but also the psychological and spiritual aspects. Major causes of disharmony are considered to be psychological and are referred to as the seven emotions -  Anger, Joy, Sadness, Grief, Pensiveness, Fear, and Fright.

These emotions pair with an element and are associated with a season. 

It's important to note that these emotions are not considered good or bad. It is about balancing them. For example, too much joy is as imbalanced as too much grief.

Finding Balance in the Emotional Body

The key to finding balance as according to TCM is to be aware of how your emotions may influence your body and what exacerbates disharmonies. Below are some general guidelines for each of the seven emotions and initial ways to look at balancing your emotions.

Note that the above table lists general information for educational purposes. It is important to embark on the TCM journey slowly, making gradual changes and consult a qualified professional along the way.

Wishing you the best health on your journey!

xo Robyn Saurine - Founder of Humane Yoga.

Chinese Medicine - Maintaining Health in Your Physical Body

Our physical body is an object made up of cells and organs grouped as one. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) determines we have vital energy called "Qi" that serves to keep us alive within our body. This is often referred to as human energy fields or prana and is the vital force that governs the day to day change.

The Energy Fields in the Body

Known across many philosophies such as the Qi Energy System or the Chakra System, energy fields are believed to exist at various levels. Such as physical, etheric, astral, mental and pure spirit or casual. TCM suggests that Qi flows through the body via energy channels called meridian lines as a non-tangible energetic system. The etheric body is seen as the closest association to the physical system with the meridian lines forming an interface between the physical and etheric. We access this interface through acupuncture points that flow along the meridian lines.

For a visual representation of the meridian lines please refer to this video.

Your Constitution and How it Impacts Your Health

While Qi governs the day to day change in the body the Jing is our "essence" that governs long term change. There are two components of Jing.

The first is called the Congenital Jing. Formed in the act of conception it is the basis for prenatal growth and nourishment of an embryo. It fixes the constitution and characteristics of a person that they will take through life.

The second component of Jing is postnatal and is obtained through ingesting foods and is called the Postnatal Jing. Both of these components form the Jing energy in your body. Commonly called your Constitution.

The kidneys govern our constitution and are associated with the water element (refer to the previous blog article for an explanation on the elements). They are the most yin of all the elements and are the body's most important reservoir of essential energy. Like with a plant in a pot the resources in the pot are not infinite. When they are used up the plant will no longer have nourishment. The plant relies on the storage of resources for its nourishment.

Our kidneys are the foundation of yin and yang and govern our energy by:

• Storing your life essence, Jing

• Being responsible for reproduction

• Creating and filtering blood

• Controlling water balance

• Housing our will and control fear

• Ensuring the growth of our hair and bone

Ways to Balance Your Physical Body

Maintaining harmony in the physical body is a daily practice and changes just as often. Depending on the season we will require different activities. Below are some suggestions to start with:

• Take light exercises such as walking, swimming or dancing

• Allow time for relaxation such as having a bath or reading a book

• Rest the body properly by turning off devices an hour before bed

• Meditate and do yoga 1-2 times a week

• Eating warm, cooked foods from organic vegetables and meats where possible

• Chewing your food well and eating slowly

• Getting acupuncture for back and health issues

In the final article under Robyn's residency, she'll focus on the emotional body. How it is impacted through external and internal forces as well as our constitution and ways to seek balance and harmony.

#ChineseMedicine #RelaxedHumans #Health #Wellbeing #SeasonalHealth

Chinese Medicine - How the Seasons Impact Us.

Humans are in a constant state of flux through the changes in our bodies and the environment. According to TCM, we are healthy and alive because our body is in a state of harmony. That is our Yin and Yang is balanced. When our bodies are in harmony any disruption to our health is quickly restored and balance is maintained. It is when this balance is broken and not restored that we feel ill and disease occurs.

In TCM the causes of disease into four general categories:

External Causes - the external climate

Internal Causes - emotional distress that impact the internal organs

Neither Internal or External Causes - other facts such as diet, trauma and sexual activity.

Physical Constitution - Genetic strengthens and weakness in our body chemistry inherited from our parents.

The Features of the Seasons.

The external causes are linked to a specific season where they are seen to be weakened. These external factors and seasonal linkages are:

Wind associated with Spring

Heat/Fire associated with Summer

Dampness associated with Late Summer

Dryness associated with Autumn

Cold associated with Winter

You may have noticed that there is an extra season in listed above called Late Summer. This is a specific period of high humidity that affects the body as we transition to Autumn.

In turn, each season is linked to an element, which impacts particular body organs and tissues, emotions, colours and tastes. The below table summarises each of these for each season.

Since this article is being written as Australia moves into winter we'll focus on this season as an example of how to apply the TCM seasonal approach.

Winter Time Story

In the winter the water is cold and I don't feel like drinking it so my bladder is empty. The things I hear make me fearful so my bones ache. The fear makes me see black. I want to hide and eat salty chips.

The above story outlines how we can be impacted during the winter season. To maintain the sense of harmony, mentioned at the beginning of this article, during a specific season TCM outlines how to support the organs directly affected, nurturing the body by eating healthy foods and nourishing ourselves mentally and emotionally.

In winter we do this by:

• Resting, Replenishing and Relaxing by sleeping and having "me time"

• Keeping the lower back warm and covered and, getting acupuncture for back issues

• Wearing socks for cold feet and using foot soaks

• Walking and doing yoga (particularly those practices based on clearing the energy lines associated with the organs called meridian lines)

• Eating cooked neutral foods with warming spices like rice or fresh ginger and avoiding caffeine and alcohol.

This is a very basic summary of how to maintain harmony in the body during winter. It is important to note that any external climatic conditions can affect us during other seasons like cold hail in the summertime which may bring imbalance both our fire and water elements. The key is, to begin with, the basic principles then increase your knowledge and application of TCM over time to obtain the full benefits.

In the next edition of Robyn's residency, we'll look at physical body balancing through understanding your physical constitution, understanding energy centres (meridian lines) and steps to take to maintain balance in your physical body.

#ChineseMedicine #RelaxedHumans #Health #Wellbeing #SeasonalHealth

Chinese Medicine - What is it and Why Should You Care

The birth of Chinese Medicine is estimated to date back to the period of the Shang Dynasty (1766 - 1100BC). A Bronze Age, based on the domestication of plants and animals where most members of society lived in small hamlets (or settlements) causing a class structure to emerge of peasants and the ruling elite. The people during these times had concerns about health and held a long tradition of healing practices to treat illnesses but diseases, as we understand them were rare. Illnesses were disturbances of the individual as a whole once remedied the individual could resume normal activities. Whereas diseases were transmitted socially with natural influences the cause. Over time these theories have evolved into rational medicine stemming from a philosophical tradition. In 1973 a 2100-year-old tomb was found to contain a set of textbooks printed on silk that outlined the principles of Chinese medicine such as pulse-taking, yin/yang and diagnostic techniques.

Defining This Ancient Medicine

Chinese Medicine is simply the consideration of the human being as a whole mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually to treat a medical problem. It now is called Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Practitioners use many tools to treat a patient. Some of the treatments include herbalism, acupuncture, moxibustion, acupressure, Qi Gong, or food therapy.

How Does this Relate to Us Modern Day Humans?

TCM is beneficial in modern-day society as it's holistic, treating the whole person rather than the symptoms, looks towards prevention rather than cure and can treat those suffering from illnesses that cannot be cured by contemporary medicine.

The benefits of understanding the key principles of TCM is best stated by Dr Duo Gao in the book, Chinese Medicine -

"...to change people's thoughts on healthy living and attempt to achieve a positive outlook whereby we realise that what we eat, how we take mental or physical exercise, and how the world and our environment affect us all have everyday implications on our state of health. "

In the next edition of Robyn's residency, we'll dive into the features of Chinese Medicine and how to use apply these principles in your life.

#ChineseMedicine #RelaxedHumans #Health #Wellbeing