Spring and the Wood Element

Wood
Wood is associated with spring. This is one of the easiest energies to tap into. After a long, cold winter, we're itching to leap forward into spring. It's a time of growth in nature, after the harsh, inhospitable frozen ground of winter; the soil has thawed, the nutrients start to multiply again. Projects are best carried forward in spring after the gestation of winter. If we follow this cycle of seeding in winter and then waiting patiently until the new shoots start to grow in spring, our businesses and creative ideas have natural momentum - and the correct energy supporting them.

Spring is a time of mating and rejuvenation. It's when we can start to realise our potential. We spring-clean our houses, and clear the ground for the new year - for spring is a better time to start the new year with than January 1st, in the middle of winter. Now there's enough momentum and drive for new habits and rules to be formed.

These are all key words in describing the Wood element and how it pertains to our bodies and emotions. Wood is assertive - just as a new shoot may look tender and weak, but needs a lot of strength to break through solid earth, or even stone. The innate drive to exist and to grow are potent energies, which, if harnessed in a person, can create powerful effects. This assertive, sometimes aggressive, energy, needs harnessing and channelling in order to thrive. It shouldn't be repressed. Creative energy is strongly linked to fertility and sexual energy, too; the urge to procreate becomes stronger; the desire to mate, to find a partner (Valentine's Day is well-placed at the beginning of spring!).

The liver and gall bladder
The organs in the body that correlate to the Wood element are the liver and gall bladder. In Chinese Medicine, the liver is the "General" leading his army, or the planner; the gall bladder is the "decision-maker". So the ability to plan and make decisions is either enhanced by a healthy organ in an individual, or impaired if the organ is out of balance. We need a healthy liver and gall bladder in order to strategise well, and work consistently towards a goal. Determination and motivation are also key aspects of Wood - a plant doesn't give up halfway through growing.

Anger/assertiveness – and physical symptoms
When the liver and/or gall bladder are out of balance, frustration and internalised stress and tension result. This often occurs when we feel unable to express our energy fluently, and when we are thwarted by outside influences. One's drive can quickly turn to anger, resentment or frustration, if there is no healthy outlet. We need to be able to show when we feel wronged by someone, but we're taught to try to avoid anger and conflict in the West. In acupuncture and face reading, the consequences of suppressing anger and irritation are clearly detectable.

All manner of stresses and tensions build up in the mind and body, and can be the underlying cause of future, more serious, illness. Most of these are a result of not speaking one's mind, but allowing the anger to seep into one's own cells and stultify one's emotions.

Think, for a moment, of something that makes you angry, and now observe what it's doing to your body. Has your jaw tightened, are your shoulders now raised? Is your stomach feeling more knotted now? Can you feel a headache coming on? So many symptoms - especially pains - stem from internalised tension. PMS is a classic example, too, as many women well know. So how do you break this unhealthy cycle? Firstly, you need to find ways to express that anger or irritation. If you feel you can't answer back to your boss, start experimenting with just staying neutral and firm with them, rather than smiling outwardly while inwardly seething. Or if you can't tell your friends how you really feel, then go and punch a pillow when you get home - or yell or shout in your car, or at home if you have soundproofed walls, or in deepest countryside when you get the chance! If the clouds of tension have built up this much, a thunderstorm becomes the only way to release it; this is nature's own release mechanism.

City life, it has to be added, isn't easy: London especially, in Chinese Medicine terms, is the personification of "liver Qi stagnation", with stressed and harried people elbowing their way to their destinations, fighting to get onto overcrowded Tubes and buses, and beeping their way through endless traffic jams and bottlenecks. This all demonstrates the tension that comes with not being able to flow at one's own pace. If you can escape to the countryside periodically, or go on a relaxing or inspiring holiday where you can truly unwind, you can counteract some of the damage done by living in a high-stress environment.

So, where possible, create your own pace, and your own space. This may mean getting up just a little earlier so you can choose not to get onto a crowded train, or walking part of the way to work instead of standing in a packed bus; anything that gives you back a sense of independence and choice. With difficult and demanding bosses, we must work at creating our own boundaries within the demands of the job. Don't let your boss encroach on all your personal time or space; this will cause underlying resentment. Take your lunch break and stretch your legs and get some fresh air; even if it's only for 10 minutes. It's the little changes that count, and that you're more likely to be able to keep to. If you're aware of your breathing being shallow and tense, and that you're thriving on the energetic tension, you need to bring yourself back to a steadier pace. Slow breathing techniques, or yoga or pilates classes can help. If you have a lot of pent-up physical energy but do a desk job, ensure you get regular cardiovascular exercise, or play some kind of sport - not to extreme, mind! Three times a week is plenty for the average person. And have sex. Sex is great for releasing Wood energy. Though again, don't have it to the point of exhaustion: harnessing Wood energy is ultimately about creating balance in your life, not just bouncing from one extreme to another.

How healthy are your liver and gall bladder? (some face-reading tips)
Signs on your face
A strong, angular jaw line and strong eyebrows are a sign of strong liver energy; these features are usually more dominant in men, so liver energy is strongly connected to testosterone and the more masculine, Yang drive. The stronger these features, the more career-minded the person usually is (depending on the balance of other features). Lines between the eyes show levels of irritability or anger. One vertical line here indicates issues with authority or the father figure; two lines shows either a more generally irritable or worried person; three lines show that the person has worked on controlling their anger. No lines show a more easygoing personality - unless they've resorted to Botox! The sclera (whites) of the eyes are also an important indicator of liver and gall bladder health. Green, yellow or red tinges are not a good sign. Also, is there a greenish tinge to the colouring around your mouth? (This particularly applies to pre-menstrual women.)

Symptoms in your body
As mentioned above, any signs of tension in the body are usually liver-related, from shoulder and neck ache, and headaches, to period pain, most digestive symptoms (a stressed, tense liver interferes with the stomach and spleen's ability to process food, in Chinese Medicine terms). Also, eye strain or blurring, dizziness, and any anger flare-ups also point to a struggling liver. The muscles and tendons and ligaments are ruled by the Wood energy in acupuncture, so any problems in these areas are also liver-related, energetically.

Qi Gong exercise to harmonise and calm your liver and gall bladder - the Wood element
Firstly, you need to locate your liver. You'll find it under your right rib cage, a fairly large area tucked under the ribs and dropping down towards your waist. If this area is tender or hot, there's heat in the liver - possibly from too much alcohol, or from accumulated stress. Focusing on smiling and breathing into this area, and visualising it as relaxed and spacious, can go a long way to calming and harmonising the liver generally. Try it and see for yourself. The colour of the liver in five element terms is green. So when you breathe into the liver, imagine it filling up with a bright, fresh, grass green. And when you let the breath out of the back of your body, picture an exhaust pipe coming out from your back, with a sludgy green expulsion of all the muck that's accumulated in the organ. This may sound daft, but it's actually a very powerful cleansing tool in Qi Gong and in Taoist practices generally. The sound that goes with this breathing action, as you breathe out, is a soft "sh" sound, that you elongate for as long as your breath lasts. Stretching your right arm up to elongate the right side of your body is another way to relieve any tension in the liver, but you would need to go to a Qi Gong teacher and practise regularly to learn the technique accurately.

Foods to help balance your liver – and the liver cleanse
Avoiding alcohol and fatty, oily or fried foods, are the priority for a healthy liver and gall bladder. Also, if there's heat in your liver, you may need to cut down on very spicy foods. The liver likes sour foods, so pickled or vinegary food can help stimulate the organ to break down fats and rid itself of toxins. Drinking hot water with fresh lemon (using the juice and rind) each morning is an excellent way to help detoxify the liver and gall bladder; and milk-thistle tincture is another effective liver cleanser. Also, dark green vegetables are good because they also replenish liver blood. The liver is under attack all the time, not only from stress, alcohol and cigarettes, but also from environmental pollutants and toxins, and especially from drugs - prescribed or otherwise, as most drugs are processed through this organ. Many listed side effects involve the liver. Thus keeping your liver as healthy and clean as possible becomes essential if you want to regain full health.

Spring is a good time to do a liver cleanse, though as these are powerful, I would recommend that you go to a nutritionist to give you the nutritional support and advice you would need to do it effectively - not least because a liver cleanse (usually entailing olive oil, garlic, apple juice etc) needs to be followed up by some sort of detox tea. General advice A balanced diet - avoiding rich foods, and overeating - regular exercise and fresh air. A bracing country walk up and down hills is better than pumping iron in a noisy gym surrounded by flashing television screens, or listening to your iPod - where's the relaxation in that?

Preparation for summer
And if you seize the moment in this season, spring-cleaning your home, getting projects off the ground, making the most of the increased daylight, and getting out more, expanding your social life again, and letting your creativity and sexual energy flow, then you'll be well prepared for a summer of lying back and making the most of the hot weather and lazier energy, knowing that your efforts are finally, and satisfyingly, coming to fruition now.

If you would like to book an acupuncture or face-reading session with Saffron to help you tune into the seasonal energy and rebalance yourself, call 07810 864 320, or email her on saffron@saffronellidge.com