Taste is another form of energy. Spring will soon be upon us – are you ready? The Liver and Gall Bladder are manifestations of Tree Energy. Now is a great time to enhance the Liver organ since not everything is fully bloomed yet. When the seasons change, we should mirror these changes. This season is about new growth. It is associated with flexibility of the young plant to bend with the wind and not be broken. The Wood Element is responsible for the Liver, soul, central nervous system and tendons, ligament, joint cushioning tissues. Liver stores and releases Blood and governs the circulation of Qi. Add sour foods and fast- growing foods, especially those with green stalks.
Here is a list of healthy foods that will nourish your Liver energy. I hope you find it helpful as we transition to a new season in good health. (This is an excerpt from a course I recently taught for OSHER in Colorado.)
STAYING HEALTHY IN SPRING - SPRING IS LIVER/GALL BLADDER SEASON
WOOD ELEMENT: All SOUR foods and many GREEN, fast growing foods, especially those with green stalks and sprouts.
PROTEIN: chicken, liver, most wild game
VEGETABLES: leafy greens like bok choy, chard, broccoli rabe, spinach, asparagus, celery, mung beans, dandelion, English cucumber, fennel.
FRUITS: citrus fruits - especially lemons, oranges, grapefruit - sour plum, pineapple, starfruit, green apple
GRAINS: sourdough bread/crackers, wheat, rye
NUTS: pine nuts, pistachio
TEA: chamomile, bee pollen hawthorn, lemon balm
SEASONINGS: apple cider vinegar, yogurt, kimchi, pickles of all kinds, sauerkraut, olives, lemon, rosemary, saffron. They most benefit changeable, erratic, and scattered people. Sour foods contract and give quickening energy.
COOKING METHOD: grilling, smoking, searing, pickling and fermenting, campfire cooking
Green is the color of Liver so why not take in a healthy dose of forest. Visit pines, willows, cottonwoods… Tap into the wood wide web. We are interconnected fields of light and sound. We are overexposed with positive ions from electronic devices and lack negative ions. Forest areas are ripe with negative ions. When in contact with trees, our serotonin levels rise, allergies can be relieved and seasonal affective disorder can be calmed. Trees teach us resilience. Pine trees have a scent and contain a lot of vitamin c from their needles. Pines produce pinene -a terpene shown to have anti-inflammatory effects. They purify the air, help support immune system, reduce anxiety, depression and high blood pressure.
SPRING MEDITATION: In the morning, walk upon the Earth in an area of green energy around you. See how many shades of green are in your vision. Can you count them? Allow green to fill you with the
energy of new growth. Smile to your Liver. Allow your inner being to soften and become as flexible as a newly sprouted blade of grass. Taste it, smell it, feel it. What does Spring mean to you?
Join me for a Wellness Walk in our Fort Collins Natural Areas by reserving your spot below.