Five Element Acupuncture Health Tips: Staying Healthy through the Seasons: WINTER

2008-07-22T13:15:00.000-07:00

Five Element Acupuncture Health Tips: Staying Healthy through the Seasons: WINTER

Dear Friend of ITEA,

We wanted to share some exciting news with you! Having the ability to offer students the option of government student loans to finance their education has long been an ITEA goal and thanks to the efforts of so many, that goal is now a reality! We are thrilled to announce that our application was accepted and we now have an official school code, allowing students to secure loans to help pay their acupuncture school tuition. As you may well imagine this is a key step in our development as an institution.

With the ability to secure student loans, we hope to attract a larger and more diverse student body. We
have already received excited responses from prospective students who have wanted to attend ITEA for some time and now finally see it as a financial possibility. We truly appreciate your support of ITEA and if you would be happy to post some of our school flyers in your office, please contact Laurie Hill at lauhil@comcast.net who will be happy to mail some to you.
Hilary Skellon, Director
325 South Boulder Rd
Louisville, CO 80027

director@itea.edu
720-890-8922

Five Element Acupuncture Health Tips: Staying Healthy through the Seasons: Summer

2008-07-22T13:10:00.000-07:00

How do the elements show up in our body?

Staying Healthy through the Seasons: WINTER

2008-02-04T15:28:00.000-08:00

The forces of winter create cold in Heaven and water on Earth. They create the kidney organ and the bones within the body…the emotion fear, and the ability to make a groaning sound. –The Inner Classic

Water is the Winter Element and we need to live in accord for this season by understanding the power of this element: emphasis to be more introspective, receptive, storage oriented and to cool the external and warm the core seeking inner warmth of the body, mind and spiritual aspect of our lives.

The climate affects our external being and can affect us internally. We must heed attention to what is going around us and inside us. Climate is our surroundings, mood, weather, environment, atmosphere and common beliefs. Just like we breathe in the fresh oxygen into our being we take in the climate that surrounds us. Each season affect our strength and vulnerability. Internal and external balance occurs through adjusting ones health through eating, exercising and other factors affecting each season.

Libation and Gastronomy (Drinks and foods): The Inner Classic advises the use of cooling foods in the winter. This means to encourage cooling of the exterior and concentrate the warmth within the interior and the lower body areas. The sounds of cooking and voices in the kitchen stimulate the appetite. In the winter warming food and herbs are recommended to combat the external cold. Warm hearty soup, whole grains and roasted nuts. Drinking plenty of Water is essential for the cleansing of the body through the kidneys and bladder.

Adding both salty and bitter foods promote a sinking and centering quality and gives on the ability to take Water in giving a quality of storage. Too much of any one thing can be dangerous.

Salty foods include seaweeds, millet, miso and soy sauce. Bitter foods include celery, lettuce, quinoa, citrus peel, cabbage leaves and turnip. Bitter herbs are things like chicory (a great coffee substitute) and burdock root.

Sleep: (In the winter) people should retire early at night and rise late in morning and wait for the rising of the sun. -Nei Ching

Rest is essential for the storage of energy within the body. Lack of rest weakens ones power and depletes the resources.

Exercise: The Tao of nurturing life requires that one keep oneself as fluid and flexible as possible. One should not stay still for too long, nor should one exhaust oneself by trying to perform impossible tasks. One should learn how to exercise by observing nature. The fact that flowing Water never stagnates and a busy door with active hinges never rusts or rots, Why? … Because they exercise themselves perpetually and are almost always moving. -Sun Ssu-mo

We can never be too clever and work to excel our highest expectations…the health of the kidney official in winter will help us achieve this.

Compiled and presented by Pamela Bys, Five Element Acupuncture