Weather changes greatly throughout the year, which affects human physiology. According to the theory of “Heaven and Man”, it is necessary to follow the laws of nature to maintain health, strengthen physical fitness and prevent diseases. Autumn is the season when everything is ripe and the climate gradually turns from heat to cold. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the lungs correspond to autumn weather in the natural world, and dryness in the autumn air hurts the lungs easily.
The best way to keep yin is to have enough sleep and get up early. Autumn meals should be based on the principle of nourishing Yin and moistening the lungs. Eating white foods such as white fungus, Chinese yam “Shan Yao” (cinnamon-vine), almonds, pears and Lily in autumn can moisturize the lungs. Examples of soups that nourishing Yin include lotus seed ribs soup, Chinese yam rib soup, white fungus lotus seed soup, lily lotus seed ribs soup, and lotus root ribs soup. Fried and smoked foods should be avoided because they consume Yin and Jin. For the same reason, the amount of spicy food should be reduced.
Massaging the following four points benefits the health: Hegu (on the dorsum of the hand, in the middle of the second metacarpal bone on the radial side) enhances immunity, reduces the chance for colds and suppresses cough.
Sanyinjiao (on the medial aspect of the lower leg, three cun* above the medial malleolus) enriches fluid and reduces constipation.
Zusanli (three cun below lateral depression of the knee) harmonizes gastrointestinal functions, and enhances immunity.
Neiguan (two cun above the wrist crease between the tendons of palmaris longus and flexor carpi radialis) stabilizes the mood.
* The cun is a traditional Chinese unit of length. It’s traditional measure is the width of a person’s thumb at the knuckle, whereas the width of the two forefingers dentoes 1.5 cun and the width of all fingers side-by-side is three cuns.
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Lingling Wang is a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner at Cornerstone Healing. Her knowledge of different modalities enables her to come up with a protocol that improves your health and happiness.
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