Spring has Sprung!

Spring is a season of growth and renewal, but the shift from winter can bring allergies, tension, and mood changes. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), supporting your body with acupuncture and herbal remedies can help ease this transition. I have seasonal allergy formulas available in the office, and as always, I’m here to help you feel your best. I truly appreciate your trust in my care and am grateful for your support. Plus, since many of you asked, I’ve included some honeymoon photos to share a bit of my joy with you! Thank you for your loyalty and putting trust in me to help you on your healing journey. Follow me on Instagram BalancingHarmonyWithin for any updates. I look forward to seeing you!

With Gratitude,

Brittany

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the transition from winter to spring is a huge shift from the yin-dominant energy of winter to the yang-rising energy of spring. Every object including seasons has a certain amount of yin and yang energy. Yin energy is all about cold, stillness, quiet, storage, reservation, slow-movement, and tranquility. On the other hand, yang energy is excitement, loud, active, fast-movements, growth, warmth, and vibrant. As you can imagine winter is the utmost yin season meaning it’s cold out, plants aren’t growing, animals are hibernating, and we all move around a bit slower. Spring is categorized as the transition from that yin energy to eventually the most yang season of Summer. So spring is considered yang-rising so the tree buds start to pop, the animals start to waken up, and the days are longer, brighter, and warmer. I know I’m excited for this transition to the yang-rising Spring season, but with this transition there are some things to keep an eye out for.

With the increased yang energy from the season change, you might notice this impacting the body. If you’re someone who has a fiery personality, gets blood shot eyes or bloody noses, has trouble with temporal headaches, can feel unrooted occasionally, or is someone who has a hard time resting/sleeping; this can be a harder time for you. You might feel the urge to move even more than normal (rest is a good thing, remember!!). You might see a worsening of your “normal” symptoms. Keep an eye on this as we might need to rebalance the yin and yang energy within the body.

Similarly to how every season is categorized by the amount of yin or yang energy, there is an organ that corresponds to each season in Chinese Medicine as well. The Spring season’s dominant organ is the liver. The Spring supports the free flow of liver qi/energy which governs emotions (specifically irritability and anger), detoxification, and circulation. If you’re someone who is easily angered, often irritable, or easily frustrated you might find that the Spring season can be hard for you because there’s more energy directed to the liver which is normally an organ that is already strained for you on a normal day-to-day. Keep an eye out for increased emotions, menstrual cramps, headaches, vertigo, and stress levels. All of these symptoms could be caused by the liver not flowing as smoothly as it should. Herbs and acupuncture work amazing for this!! In fact, the herbs that are best for moving the liver energy are already sold out online because it’s that time of year (but I stocked up with a few bottles in the office)!!

• irritability

• mood swings

• headaches

• dizziness

• bloating

• irregular bowel movements

• sleep disturbances especially waking between 1am-3am

• stiff muscles/tendons

• eye symptoms- blood shot, dry, itchy, blurry

• PMS/menstrual cramps

• increased stress

• Diet: eat light, green, and sour foods- avoid heavy, greasy foods that bog down the energy movement

• Movement: gentle exercise, stretching, walking to promote energy flow

• Emotional balance work: breath work, meditation, journaling, scrapbooking, gardening (if that’s peaceful for you)

• Acupuncture and Herbs to help keep the energy flowing

I have had a bunch of patients coming in recently talking about their allergies. I do like to open up the nasal passageways and try to eliminate the itchy eyes, congestion, and headaches while they are on the table. However, I have herbal medicine in pill and tea form that can also help to mitigate the allergy symptoms. I swear by the allergy herbs!! It helps me tremendously when I’m having an allergy flare. Just wanted to share another allergy option!

Tons of patients wanted to see pictures from my Honeymoon in Africa so I figured I’d share a few through the newsletter in case you wanted to take a peak! We were so grateful to have the opportunity to explore another part of the world and see such fascinating animals.