Rage, Rage Against the Awakening of the Light

This is has been an amazing and passionate season, an angry season full of conviction, the perfect time for contested primaries and the big bang of conception and birth. In Spring, according the Chinese medical theory, we enter into the season of Wood, the time of year when all life returns from dormancy. The rush of life can be intensely jarring after the contemplative Winter season of Water. The frozen ground thaws and the same energy that plants need to thrust themselves above the surface of the earth burst forth within us, too, but it is unsettling. We may complain of headaches, tendon/ligament pain (from underuse in Winter) or feel very irritable. We may find that we need to move or we feel restless. If we don’t move, we feel stagnant. It’s butterfly or bust; we want to break free of the cocoon we were fine with in the Winter. Springtime is also the transitional season where we move from the most Yin season (Winter, i.e. wettest and coldest time of year) to the most Yang (Summer, i.e. hottest time). At this point, we have been experiencing Wood season for awhile and in a week or two we will be in Summer, the season of Fire.

Some key points for Spring:

1. The key meridian here is Liver. Liver focuses on ‘freecoursing qi’. It regulates the menstrual cycle and elimination. It rules the sinews: the muscles, tendons and ligaments.
2. The Liver meridian opens onto the eyes. Often when people have liver problems, you can see this from the color of the eyeballs. In jaundice, for example, the person’s whites will be yellow.
3. Headaches will occur more often at this time of year.
4. Someone who is prone to irritablity and/or anger at this time, may find it more pronounced at this time of year and may be more keen to address the root cause of it.