May Self-Healing Tips

In May, flowers bloom, weather warms up, and Spring expands its long, outstretched arms toward Summer. The peak of this season has arrived. If you haven't already been inspired, now is the time to clean out those cupboards and create space for new things to enter your life. If you did that weeks ago, you may already be nurturing the new – a class you wanted to try, a recipe, a trip planned to somewhere you've never been. Some of us find ourselves able to take advantage of slashed prices and great deals to seize new opportunities this Spring. Others of us find ourselves stuck, wanting to flow and expand, yet feeling our wallets, worlds, even our hopes a little, contracting.

It is times like these that remind us how important it is to create space in our lives. Not only so that the fresh and new can come in, but also so that we can remember how essential to our well-being cleansing, simplicity, and space are. They are the potential for all new things. Wishing you had more? – It may sound glib, but trust me, cleaning out those closets may be the most satisfying, health-nurturing, wellness-inducing action you can take.

To support this nutritionally this month, get yourself to the Co-Opportunity market or any other healthy-food store and pick up some buckwheat from the bulk food bins. Despite its name, buckwheat is not wheat – in fact, it isn't even a grain (it's a fruit!). Follow the instructions for cooking – you will wind up with a pot of cooked grain-like grub, not unlike oatmeal or rice. Add some cinnamon and eat with breakfast, or add sea salt and eat with dinner. Either way, you will be enjoying a nourishing, gluten-free power-food for wellbeing. Buckwheat has high amounts of fiber, B vitamins, and protein. It also contains all 8 essential amino acids and lowers cholesterol. One of the most amazing qualities of buckwheat is its damp-draining ability. When you clear the congestion, clutter, and damp out of your body, your home environment, office, and the rest of your life will naturally thrive.

Acupressure-wise this month, let's just get right down into it. Gallbladder 41 is the opening point of the Dai Mai – the body's ultimate closet and storage facility for unprocessed overload. For men, the point is on the left. For women, it's on the right. Trace the depression between the 4th and 5th toe up the foot from the webbing. Just before you get to a place where it feels like the two bones meet you will land in a very tender painful nook. That is Zu Ling Qi, or Foot Overlooking Tears. Give yourself 5 minutes of solid acupressure on that point daily – more if you have headaches, migraines, eye, breast, or foot issues.