In 2023, I felt a pull to deepen my qigong practice by becoming a Dragon’s Way Qigong Instructor. All health issues, including stress and chronic pain, are signs that the body is off balance. The meditative movement practice of qigong aims to realign the body back into balance by restoring your energy.
It is based in the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) framework of the 5 elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Each element is associated with qualities, such as an organ, season, flavor, and emotion.
As we enter late summer, we are also entering the season of the Spleen-Stomach (yin-yang pair). The spleen is responsible for the transformation and transportation of food to acquire qi, or energy. According to TCM, the spleen is crucial for producing our blood. Therefore, common signs of spleen deficiency are:
- Anemia
- Migraines
- Digestive problems
- Insomnia
What can lead to spleen imbalances? The emotion associated with the spleen is overthinking, so worrying obsessively over a situation or being anxious can cause energy leakages. When you worry, you are not allowing yourself to properly emotionally digest a situation. Your emotional indigestion can then translate into a physical one.
As a food-centric person, the season of the Spleen is one of my favorites for more reasons than one … because we get to talk more about food!
How can you support your Spleen Qi through food?
- Avoid cold raw foods. While we live in a world of ice-cold smoothies and salads galore, TCM says to opt for more comforting options like steamed vegetables and cooked lean proteins. If you think about it, our bodies run at about 98.6F, and when we try to digest cold foods, we’re demanding extra energy expenditure. Eating room temperature or warm foods is a way of meeting your body half way!
- Eat something (slightly) sweet. If you’re crave sweets, perhaps your Spleen is speaking to you! Sweetness doesn’t necessarily have to be in the form of a cupcake, but even savoring a fruit.
- Eat yellow! Yellow is the color frequency associated with Spleen Qi. This includes foods like: mangoes, pumpkin, ginger, turmeric.
- Have your dinner by 6 or 7pm at the latest. This allows your other organs to rest and not have to work overtime as you sleep. In fact, studies show that eating later in the day increased participants’ hunger, decreased the amount of calories they burned, and led to greater fat storage. Furthermore, eating close to bedtime or before lying down can increase your risk for experiencing GERD or acid reflux.
- Appreciate what you are eating. In my instruction, the Master would say, On one level, you are what you eat. On a higher level, you are what you think! The attitude in which you consumer your food is equally important as the food itself. Doesn’t ice cream taste better when you enjoy it fully, instead of fearing its after-effects? So love the food you eat! Appreciate all the work that went into growing the ingredients, cooking them, and all your cells working to absorb its nutrients.
I hope you can nourish your Spleen-Stomach Qi as we transition into the later summer months.
XOXO,
Scratch