April Self-Healing Tips

While winter was a time of storage and consolidation, in Spring the energy of Wood emerges.  Spring brings a sprouting, blooming, warming, and expanding.  It is the time of birth and rebirth.  In the next day or two, find a tree somewhere in your immediate environment where you can witness the progress of Spring.  You might see a few light green baby leaves bursting out of the branches.  Soon, there will be many more tiny leaves, and the first ones will grow bigger and darker. 

What part of you, what aspect of your life, wants to grow and evolve from a bare branch into a mature wonder?  Every couple of days for the month of April, go check out your tree; then nurture the part of you that comes up and says “that’s like me.”  Go with the energy of what is new in your life.  If there is nothing, take some time this month to seek out new things that you may have been curious about.  Spring is the time to renew and reinvent.

Because the inward energy of Winter is all about consolidation and storage, sometimes the oppositional energy of Spring – the outward expansion and cleansing – seems difficult.  We often get stuck, which leads to irritability and anger.  Instead of resisting the obstacles, try to breathe into them.  Spring is the best time to cleanse the body, to free up space and energy so that you can go with what is new in your life.

Fresh squeezed juices are very powerful any time of year, but especially in the Spring.  It is advised to eat less in order to cleanse the body, and juices give us extra nutritional support and cleansing power.  This April, try my personal favorite – beet, apple, lemon, ginger, and parsley juice.  Many local businesses have fresh juices – from Raw and Real Food Daily, to the Co-op and PC Greens.  The beets will nourish the Liver Blood, the lemon and ginger will move the Qi, the apples will make it palatable and aid digestion, and the parsley is a powerful cleanser for the Kidney and the Liver.

To further aid the body in it’s renewal, give yourself some acupressure massage on the point Gallbladder 34.  The name of this point is Yang Ling Quan, which means Yang Mound Spring.  It is an excellent point to relieve congestion in the Wood meridians – the Liver and the Gallbladder.  By relieving congestion, it facilitates movement and benefits the sinews and joints. 

To locate GB 34, slide your fingers up the narrow bone on the outer aspect of your lower leg.  Start with two fingers just above the outer part of your ankle bone.  You will feel a bone that starts there and rises up the outside of your lower leg.  Now, when you get to the top of this bone (called the fibula) you will land at a bony prominence.  Now move approximately one inch below that, and one inch towards your shin bone at the front of your lower leg.  Press into where it is tender and massage all around the immediate area on both sides.  This will help to detoxify your Liver and Gallbladder greatly, as well as to open up the lower leg, knee, and ankle.