As the Season Changes: A Mystery Unfolds

As the season changes and the cold creeps in, certain health issues arise in us. It's always an interesting moment when almost every client in one day or the same week comes in to tell me about a sudden, and strange health occurrence! Commonly, the usual elements of these health narratives may fall under: the unusual (This has never happened before!); intensity (It’s killing me!); suddenness (I was walking along and then BAM!, my back gave out!); an element of disbelief (What is happening to me?). When we collectively experience the same things this signals a seasonal change (weather, temperature and climate). Lately, many of my clients at Six Degrees have experienced a number of seemingly unrelated problems in the last few weeks. Many of these things occur because of the cold, wet, and windy weather. I've grouped these symptoms into four areas. You might find you relate to all of them or just some of them. This group of seemingly unrelated issues illustrate how Acupuncturists identify a health pattern that involves different energy meridians and how they relate and affect each other. We can often be confused about why in the midst of a cold we get back pain or have weeks when our digestive system doesn't feel right. Is it related to that cold? The back pain? The four health issues listed below are related and can be understood as our foundational energy (the kidney/bladder energy) being challenged as we move from fall to winter:

Body pain. Low back pain. Hip problems. My neck is killing me!
Digestive issues. Bloating, gas, loose stools, diarrhea, constipation.
Tired, tired, tired. I think I'm getting, recovering, fighting a cold.
Distressed & overwhelmed. I don't know why this is happening to me!?

The Five Element Theory is a system developed to understand the cycle of life. It describes the cyclic phases of nature and the human body. As a basic theory of Chinese Medicine it is used to diagnose a health problem and understand a person's constitution. "From its beginnings, the Five Element cycle connected various aspects of experience to its individual elements. Seasons, body organs, emotions, sounds, colors, directions, and climates were all distributed over the cycle of five". (Reichstein, Gail. Wood becomes water - Chinese Medicine in Everyday Life, Kodansha America, New York, 1998.) Think of the energy in our body in constant motion. The body's energy (Qi) courses through energy channels. We're never really the same from one moment to the next because the flow of Qi is constantly moving and changing. This circulation of Qi moves into different areas of our body, psyche, and spirit. There are different times in the day and night when the circulation of Qi goes high and then low. And the seasons also impact this flow. Our bodies reflect the change in seasons and the nature's constant movement and change.

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