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The Tao of Health
Conscious Connections
Controlling Your Liver Energy
Your health in Spring is determined by the health of your Liver and the energy it provides. When your Liver energy is balanced in Spring you feel uplifted, with a sense of inner ‘softness and kindness’; when the Liver is out-of-balance a ‘revved-up and restless’ feeling — inside and out — is common.
Health is like money: save and invest properly and you’ll have what you need.
Liver energy begins to be felt around late-January/early-February. By April it’s in full bore. Then, as Summer energy gradually begins to approach around mid-May, the momentum of Liver energy begins to wane.
In April and early May, Liver energy is at its pinnacle, and if you’ve been plugged-in full-time to this Spring energy socket you may be feeling a bit worn down by now. And anyone who felt fatigued at the end of Winter, and then overindulged in Spring/Liver energy, may be feeling exhausted.
The seasonal energy starts to change about six weeks before the solstice or equinox. Oriental Medicine provides the tune-up your body needs to be ready.
A Rush of Energy
Spring energy is like an adrenaline rush, especially coming off of the low energy level of Winter. And when that burst of energy comes, we’re off and running — and tend not to stop until pooping-out.
While it’s wonderful to get as much as you can out of Spring, it’s wise to remember that in Summer — the season of the Fire energy — the Heart is the organ that determines your health, and based on the Oriental Medicine Cycle of Generation the Heart gets its energy from the Liver.
So if you’ve exhausted your Liver energy in Spring, the Heart won’t be ready to experience the ‘joy’ of Summer.
The Cycle of Energy
According to the ‘Cycle of Generation’ as we move from Spring to Summer the Liver passes the ‘energy baton’ along to the Heart. So if the Liver gets depleted in Spring it doesn’t have the force to energize the Heart for the work the Heart needs to do in the Summer.
This handoff of energy from one organ to another — a cycle as certain as the seasons — works like this:
- Spring to Summer: Liver (Wood) to Heart (Fire)
- Summer to Late-Summer: Heart (Fire) to Digestion (Earth)
- Late-Summer to Autumn: Digestion (Earth) to Lungs (Metal)
- Autumn to Winter: Lungs (Metal) to Kidneys (Water)
- Winter to Spring: Kidneys (Water) to Liver (Wood)
If you keep your energy or Chi balanced, this process works quite smoothly. If you don’t, health problems arise.
It’s essential to keep this in mind:
If you don’t replenish your body’s energy/Chi season-by-season it becomes more difficult to build it back up after a health problem occurs and the body ages more quickly.
Oriental Medicine specializes in rebuilding and maintaining the organs: your body’s energy generators.
There’s no better time than now to start the energy balancing process.
So if you’re still revved-up with Spring energy, doing more than that ‘knowing’ part of yourself wants to be doing, pay more attention to that knowing; when you hit your wall, back off instead of powering through it. You’ll be surprised: the important things still get done, and what’s most important is that you start feeling better in your body.
The warbler
wipes its muddy feet
on the plum blossoms
— Issa
A Discussion About Liver Energy
Given its intensity, it seems like Liver energy is present year round ...
It’s true, we’re living in an ongoing stream of Liver energy because of all the toxins in our lives that affect the Liver and the effects that major imbalances like climate change and economic uncertainty have on the nervous system.
We’ve become mentally conditioned to being in Liver energy all the time. Everything says: “Go, go, go” … I say: “Flow, flow, flow …”
Though from a ‘seasonal’ point of view Spring is a ‘revved up’ time, a time to get things done. But when you’ve gotten things done, you need to rest … work then rest … that’s balance. But we go and go and go and go … until it catches up with us, and then we still try to keep going … the body may poop-out, but the thoughts keep saying: “Why aren’t you doing this or that …,” or whatever message you hear in your head.”
It’s very hard for people today to have a restful feeling … regardless of what time of year it is. In that regard Liver energy is the predominant energy in our lives today. And to the extent you balance the Liver, to that extent balance will begin to return to your body — and the return on that investment is health and well-being.
So you’re saying that people are always running on Liver energy regardless of the season we’re in?
Yes, because, in addition to the toxins and stresses beyond our immediate control, making lots of money and being super-productive have become an overarching cultural expectation; and the price we pay is that we lose touch with our natural rhythm.
Not rebalancing organ energy, season by season, is like drawing down your savings account without replenishing it: at some point it will be empty.
And because we live in ways today that are so removed from Nature, we’re not even noticing much of the time that things are blooming in Spring and Summer; that leaves are falling in Autumn and are gone in Winter.
We just don’t pay much attention to the natural flow of things around us, so how are we supposed to notice our own energy — what’s going on inside ourselves — when that’s not our habit?
Just like at night, we turn the lights on and don’t really know in any meaningful way that it’s night …
Exactly, you don’t notice. As a culture we’re out of touch … for example, people tend to sleep the same amount of time in Summer as in Winter … but the body and mind need more sleep in Winter than in Summer. How we sleep, eat, exercise … live … makes all the difference in how we feel.
It seems natural to have lots of energy in Spring, the challenge is how to use it wisely …
Spring is Nature telling us to get busy … it’s the time when it gives you the energy to shift into high gear to get things done. When you work hard in Spring you’re likely to not feel as tired as you would if you worked the same way, say in Winter. Nature’s got you covered because there is work to be done … (traditionally) clear the ground, plant the seeds, husband the animals, get your wood in, do what needs to be done before Winter.
As Summer arrives, Liver energy is trying to recover. A healthy Liver needs rebalancing; an unhealthy Liver needs rebuilding.
I treat some people who get all revved-up in Spring and when Summer shows its beautiful face, they’re burnt out energetically. They forgot to keep their energy balanced.
Rebalance Your Energy
Start by paying attention to how you feel. Recognize when you need to pull back on the amount of energy you’re putting out; know when to slow down. Practice moderation and the balancing process becomes automatic.