Late Summer is a separate season in TCM theory. It is situated between Summer and Autumn and said to begin around the mid-point of August until the leaves begin to fall. It is a time of harvest and reaping what has been sown in the first half of the year. This phase belongs to the Earth element. A neutral energy, supportive, secure and stabilising- just as the Earth and the ground beneath us is to it’s inhabitants.
One of the most intriguing theories ( in my opinion) in TCM is that of The Five Spirits or The Five Shen. They each represent different elements of human consciousness and particularly relate to mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing. The high vibrational side of Shiatsu treatment is often experienced when working with these energies in treatment.
The spirits and where they are housed in the body are as follows-
The Shen of the Heart, The Po of the Lungs, The Hun of the Liver, The Yi of The Spleen and The Zhi of the Kidneys.
The health and harmony of each is integral to our overall well-being and how well the other spirits function too. In Late Summer, being a time of the Earth phase, an unsettled Yi may present itself more to us. The Yi is the thought or the intellect and conditions such as mental fatigue, brain fog, OCD, ADHD, and ADD have some relation to the workings of the Yi. There will usually be other spirits involved for example, OCD also suggest an imbalance of the Hun. ADHD is also linked to the Shen or the Hun, each situation as unique as the individual and one unsettled spirit affecting the other. Essentially where the issue is mental cognition with particular relation to the thoughts; focusing the mind and retaining information and the intellectual process, we look to the Yi. Rumination, worry and over-thinking are indicative of the Yi being unsettled- the external information is not being digested and transformed with ease.
Advice for a healthy Yi include good habits around eating and sleeping. There is strong link in TCM with the Yi and the attachments and stability we experienced in early life. Treating ourselves as we would a small child with regular, healthy routines around nurture and nourishment are fundamentally important to a sense of grounding the Yi. Equally in consideration of what we are ‘taking in’ on an intellectual level, just as we would with a young person in our care. An interesting concept is the link between the churning function of The Stomach, the Yang partner of the Spleen, also belonging to the Earth element and the churning of information in the mind. For this reason, it is advised to begin the digestive process well in the mouth, breaking down the food fully and mindfully to allow the Stomach to digest with more ease and subsequently affecting the digestive energetics of the mind.
Some food for thought for the Late Summer season. Wishing you a healthy and happy one, secure and at ease in your Earth element