Summer and its Fire element(1) offer us the peak of yang energy for the year. Yang energy is about activity, sunlight, celebration, and social connections, for example. When Winter and Water come, we’ll descend deeply into yin energies. But as the year winds down, the natural cycle of the seasons must provide us with balance. Fall and Metal offer that balance between activity and rest. And so beginning August 7 energetic Fall and its Metal element introduce us to yin. Darkness, evening, the moon, meditation, quiet are all examples of yin energies.
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Lung is the yin organ of Metal according to traditional Chinese medicine. The yang organ of Metal is Large Intestine. And both of Metal’s organs share Metal’s fundamental tendency towards purity, precision, quality, perfectionism, and spirituality.
Energetic Fall opens a window of opportunity to take in new experience. It tells us it’s time to let go of the old. We begin to sense that a whole different time of year is afoot.
The weather is changing and a whole parade of holidays is on its way. All the activity of the holidays will seem contrary to the yin Winter time of year. We’re going to need balance in our lives more than ever. We also feel the imperative to keep our bodies strong and immune to Fall and Winter viruses.
The Metal Element Encourages Us to Create Structure In Our Lives.
We can achieve that much needed balance by creating structure in our lives. The characteristics of Metal are hard, strong and precise. Though Metal is rigid it can also be melted or remolded. This means we can be flexible with creating structure in our lives. But we have to work with Metal’s energy to do that.
The element of structure that Metal is will support us to restructure our lives. When we create a sensible structure we’ll enjoy more quality of life in the seasons ahead. We can encourage healthy order in our lives when we focus on new habits. Soften boundaries, develop the structure of an easy routine, and create inspiring spiritual rituals.
It’s very important to let go of certain attachments, beliefs, and habits that don’t serve us. We have to look at those honestly and then let them go. Metal and the falling leaves of autumn teach us this. The trees release their leaves to actively but gently fall back to Earth to rest.
Contrary to energetic Summer, rest is key at this time of year. In our article, yang energy and activity of Summer we wrote:
“In Summer, the Fire energy is very yang and all about action, movement and change. We’ll want to align physical activity with a similar kind of energy and action. Activity and exercise are especially important at this time. It keeps the pores open and chi flowing smoothly throughout the body.”
So much activity is perfect for Summer when there is little space for rest. This is why Metal and energetic Fall are so valuable at this time of year. It’s time to get the hang of resting once again.
We Should Find Balance Between Activity and Rest.
In energetic Fall, we transition from yang to yin and from activity to rest. Finding balance between activity and rest during energetic Fall builds us a foundation for life.
Make lifestyle adjustments during energetic Fall that speak to Metal’s energies. You’ll encourage this balance by doing so.
Change your skincare regimen. In fact, change your skincare regimen from season to season. PHYTO5 offers skincare for each of the five seasons of traditional Chinese medicine. This is good for the skin.
Also change your diet and the way you prepare your food. We offer all kinds of tips to do that here in our blogs.
We know that physical activity is very beneficial for proper circulation and health. It supports our ability to resist disease. But rest itself helps restore the body too.
Rest not only relieves physical and mental fatigue, it restores our physical strength. Both activity and rest are important, but it’s actually the balance between the two that’s key.
In fact, this balance creates a normal healthy active life at any time of year. But the energies of the Metal season absolutely support us to strike that balance. Without that balance we fall prone to the prevalent sicknesses of Fall and Winter.
Take Important Cues from Nature.
We’ve lived through the cycle of the seasons and we’ve adapted to each as it came. We’ve experienced the bounty of the Earth especially during Summer. We enjoyed its huge array of nourishing produce over the last many months. Without the natural cycles of activity and rest, we wouldn’t be able to enjoy such bounty.
Metal is the time to pause and appreciate this balance in perpetual motion. And as part of nature ourselves, we’re smart if we’ll take our cues from nature.
Metal offers a time to slow down and appreciate the sweetness of life. It invites us to cultivate our inner spirit in earnest.
Essential oils extracted from flora are perfect examples of nature’s bounty and the cycle of seasons. Consider PHYTO5’s Metal element Phyt’Ether serum. Our chemists blend a precise set of premium essential oils to improve slightly more mature skin.
Use it on skin and scalp to mineralize and support circulation. Inhale its fragrance to help balance emotions of grief, sadness, worry. All natural high grade essential oils are found in all PHYTO5 serums and skincare products.
These Exercises Help Strike a Balance Between Activity and Rest.
Exercise is still important during energetic Fall. It just won’t be the kind of all-out go-for-it exercise we suggested for Summer.
Exercise can support you as you process grief, build your immune system, develop clarity of mind. It helps release stagnation and stuck energy in the body too.
Adjust your exercise practice to line up with the energies of the season. The best exercises for energetic Fall include upper body training rather than lower body training.
Fall best exercises might be any of the following:
swimming
walking
walking meditation
rock climbing
Tai Chi
Qi Gong (especially exercises for clearing the Lung since Lung is the yin organ of Metal)
meridian stretches
Pilates
Pranayama (yogic breathing exercises)
Yoga
Practice yoga. It’s an ideal form of exercise for energetic Fall especially resting, standing or prone postures. This is because you must be very precise when holding a yoga pose. It forces you to let go of rigidity, both physical and mental.
Flowing movement yoga incorporates breathing practices that benefit Lung. Chest opening yoga poses very much support the energy of Metal.
Yoga is the essence of balance between activity and rest. In yoga, you will alternate between the activity of the pose and rest in the breath. You will follow each pose with a counterpose important for balance.
Some people thrive with yin yoga. It’s a slow-paced style of yoga that incorporates principles of traditional Chinese medicine (as does PHYTO5 skincare). In yin yoga, you hold postures longer than in other styles of yoga. But any yoga practice will help you achieve balance, flexibility, self-confidence, and roundedness in the body.
There’s No Better Time than Fall to Breathe Deeply and Properly.
Blend your yoga practice with outdoor gentle activity to stimulate Lung and strengthen your immune system.
The Lungs distribute oxygen to every cell of the body. We remove CO2 from the blood when we exhale.
When we inhale we call on the respiratory system to absorb and expand. When we exhale we allow that system to let go and clear out.
Both of these actions are essential to the energy of Metal. And one balances the other.
Since Lung is one of Metal’s organs, breathing is #1 during energetic Fall. Expand yourself into a regular breathing practice, called pranayama in yoga.
Breathe to where the chest rises, falls and spreads a proud openness across the collarbones.
ACTIVITY: Full chest breathing stimulates the sympathetic nervous system to supply the body with energy for activity.
REST: Deep, slow abdominal breathing activates the parasympathetic nervous system to relax both body and mind.
Both breathing methods above will help create the balance between activity and rest during energetic Fall.
Be sure to read our article, Six Breaths a Minute to Slow Aging and Its Causes. Here you will learn a simple breathing practice anyone can do that offers excellent health benefits.
Give the Body All It Needs to Create Balance Between Activity and Rest.
Care for your body as an intimate friend especially during energetic Fall. Tune in to it so you can detect the slightest change. Listen to what your body is telling you.
If you’re serious about tapping into the energy of Metal, go one step further. Treat your body like a temple. Metal types are quite spiritual and they understand the body as essential vehicle of their spirit. Act as if you’re a Metal type.
Make it your goal to create balance between activity and rest during energetic Fall— August 7 to October 20. The lifestyle tips in this article will definitely help.
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Endnotes:
(1) According to traditional Chinese medicine.
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Sources:
Duncan, Alaine D., and Kain, Kathy L.. The Tao of Trauma: A Practitioner's Guide for Integrating Five Element Theory and Trauma Treatment. United States, North Atlantic Books, 2019.