It’s Summer! Time to soak up the sun (and get your Vitamin D). In Chinese Medicine, each season has its own energy to share. Summer is the yang season, full of light, heat, and movement. The young energy of the spring expands to its maximum potential. Fire is the element of summer. It’s all about warmth, joy, laughter, love, awareness, and camaraderie. The fire element in summer can be expressed as a rowdy bon fire, or a quiet candle-lit dinner.
If our Fire energy is depleted we may find it’s hard to connect with people, or we forget how to have fun. We may find it hard to trust because we have had our hearts broken.
Summer’s heart-felt warmth helps us cultivate the quality of compassion – opening my heart to my pain, and then using the compassion I have for myself as a resource, to open my heart to all who suffer. Compassion is not a solo practice. We do it in profound connection with everyone in the human family. To take care of your Fire, be sure to have people in your life who you can share yourself with – heart-to-heart. Use Summer’s energy to help you find spirit in your joy and laughter, in your playful connection with all of creation in its fullness.
Here are some ways to tend your inner Fire:
- Have fun on a regular basis, even if you have to work at it at first. Make it a priority—schedule your fun, if that’s what it takes. Consider fun as important to your health as eating your veggies and good sleep.
- Ask yourself: What gives me joy? What makes my heart soar, then do it. Live your passion.
- Decorate with crystals, candles and glass. Open windows. Catch sunlight and reflect it into your home.
- Enjoy the lightness of the season. Get outside often. Chase lightening bugs. Go on picnics. Host barbecues. Play twister. Watch comedies.
- Taste the flavors of the season. Bitter feeds our fire: dark chocolate, black coffee, endive, spinach, watercress, arugula, bitter greens, red wine, kale, corn, sun ripened tomatoes. Eat fresh fruit and vegetables of the season. Steam, or sauté meals to retain moisture in foods and grill to mimic the energetic of fire in your cooking. Add a little ginger, garlic and cayenne to promote digestion and circulate your energy.
- Notice signs of burnout. Are you sleepy during work hours, running hot and cold, uninterested in contact with others. Do you need a little self-care, or time off to connect with friends and family?
- Fall in love with life. Flirt. Enjoy some spark in a current relationship. Add some romance to your life. Make a candlelit dinner. Play music. Look into the eyes of your beloved. Studies show that bonds become even stronger with couples who spend time gazing into each others’ eyes, the mirror of the soul.
- Feel compassion in your own heart and share it with another. Express your heart’s desires. Have a heart to heart with someone.
- Admire your maturity and bloom wherever you are planted. Celebrate your age.
- Give of yourself to others. Take the time to listen. Take the risk of dipping into your own heart and finding what you have to give to others unconditionally—then offer it.
- Laugh at yourself. Laugh at life. See a comedy. Read funny books or comics.
- Without dwelling there, acknowledge sadness. And, appreciate life’s simple joys.
- Fire takes many forms. Cultivate your own unique fire. What is it like: a candle, a campfire, a volcano, a distant star, fireworks, a sparkler, a firefly, a glow stick?
Chill Out.
If you get easily overheated during the hot summer days, here are a few shopping tips to cool you off.
- Eat watermelon. Or blend it and make watermelon smoothies, add a splash of lime juice and fresh mint. It’s a natural diuretic that cools and drains our system of summer heat.
- Mung beans, used in Thai and Indian cuisine, are another cooling food. Cucumber and zucchini are also refreshing and help generate fluids that quell summer heat. Spices like mint, basil, dill and cilantro go well with these foods. Bitter greens like dandelion, arugula, and watercress help bring our energy down and thus clear heat. You can add coconut milk or yogurt for a complete cool down dish.
Summer is also a good time to substitute warming foods such as meats and hot peppers with more cooling options like fish and fresh vegetables. You might also want to reduce your intake of caffeine, sugar, and alcohol, which can all be dehydrating and reduce our body’s natural cooling abilities. Of course, be sure to drink plenty of water or coconut water to remain hydrated. A little lemon water sipped throughout the day can astringe the fluids we do have so we don’t become depleted by sweating. Water is also a great medium for our bodies to drain excess heat through urination.
If you find yourself having a hard time cooling off, try placing a cold washcloth at the back of the knees. This is one of the classic points on the body to cool summer heat.
For sunburn, try natural aloe vera gel or calendula to soothe the skin. Witch hazel can help quicken healing of the skin.
Laughter is the best medicine
The Chopra center explains why:
- Laughter activates the body’s relaxation response and helps tone the abdominals.
- Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen, which benefits the heart and lungs.
- Laughter boosts immunity and increases resilience.
- Laughter is contagious. Being around others who laugh can trigger your brain’s laughter response to lighten a heavy mood, relieve tension or lift depression.
Check it out for yourself…. I dare you not to laugh, or at least smile;)