Taoist principles of wellbeing, and wellness through exercise, diet and the four seasons.
In autumn yang wanes and yin grows, and wellness follows the principle of nurturing gathering-in. This article covers the mind, daily routine, diet, and exercise in autumn, explains “autumn cold,” and presents an autumn breathing exercise from the Taoist Canon.
Four classic autumn tonics—lotus seeds, fox nuts, chestnuts, and peanuts—with their natures and benefits, how to choose them, and common ways to eat them for the heart, spleen, kidneys, lungs, and blood.
Master Li Yulin of the White Cloud Temple Taoist Medicine Clinic explains spring wellness: rising early, loosening clothes, fostering life rather than harming it, the Five Phases correspondences of spring with the liver, wind, wood, sourness, the eyes, and anger, and how spring's pathogenic winds cause illness.
Nine Taoist pointers for eating well in spring: nourish the liver first, keep meals light with plenty of vegetables, eat to beat spring fatigue, use water and honey against spring dryness, and favor whole grains, dark greens, poultry, fresh foods, and antioxidant foods.
After the solar term Grain Buds, the weather turns hot and rainy. This article gives eight keys to wellness at this time, from strengthening the spleen and clearing dampness to massaging acupoints and calming the heart, with two food-therapy recipes.
A Taoist-medicine guide to summer wellness: nurturing yang in spring and summer, guarding against summer-heat at midsummer and dampness in the long summer, the six excesses of Chinese medicine, and avoiding air-conditioning illness and too much cold food.
Summer makes people prone to internal fire. This article describes the symptoms of fire in the heart, lungs, stomach, liver, and kidneys, with a Taoist-recommended food remedy for each, from lotus seed and gardenia soup to pork kidney soup with goji and cornus.
Rainy early autumn leaves the body heavy with dampness. This article introduces six acupoints suited to gua sha scraping for clearing dampness—Fenglong, Xuehai, Yinlingquan, Diji, Zhongwan, and Tianshu—with their locations and benefits, needing only three to five minutes a day.
The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic calls the three winter months the season of “closing and storing.” This article explains its guidance line by line, showing that winter wellness centers on storing yang qi and avoiding needless dispersal.
Major Snow is a prime season for tonics. This article explains the name of the solar term, urges moderation and balance in nurturing health, and advises on exercise, preparing the spleen and stomach, salt water and honey water, sleep, root vegetables, and choosing foods by nature and nutrition.
The dog days of summer bring the strongest yang and the heaviest damp-heat. Taoist medicine offers ten methods for this season, from clearing dampness and warming yang with moxibustion to fighting heat with heat, hot tea, well-timed meals, and moderate exercise.
Following the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, this article explains how to nurture health through the four seasons—when to sleep and rise, and which emotions to guard against in each—and why the Winter and Summer Solstices call for special care.