“Huangdi Neijing” is the earliest Chinese medical classic, and it is also a treasure of wisdom to guide our work and life. There are many well-known TCM Professionals in China who explain the “Huangdi Neijing”. My favourite version of “Huangdi Neijing” is interpreted by TCM Dr. Xu Wenbing from Hopu Traditional Chinese Medicine School. In the next few months, I will extract and translate some unique insights of Dr. Xu Wenbing on the “Huangdi Neijing” in English. I hope that everyone will fall in love with “Huangdi Neijing” and Chinese medicine as much as I do.
Four Seasons Health Regimen – Summer Regimen
夏三月，此謂蕃秀，天地氣交，萬物華實，夜卧早起，無厭於日，使志無怒，使華英成秀，使氣得泄，若所愛在外，此夏氣之應，養長之道也。
—《黃帝內經 · 素問 · 四氣調神大論》
In the three months of summer, the qi of heaven and earth intersects, and all things are full of flowers. Human Beings lie down late at night and get up early in the morning, they are not fed up with the sun, they make their aspirations free of anger, and their qi is vented, showing their love, this follows the summer qi. It is a healthy way to grow up for summer.
— “HuangdiNeijing • Simple Answer• Si Qi Tiao Shen Da Lun”
Part I.
Never Be Fed Up With The Sun
The healthy lifestyle for summer is mentioned in the ” Huangdi Neijing “-never be fed up with the sun. In summer, it is not recommended to be exposed to direct sunlight too much, but it is also not recommended to hide in the house all day with air conditioning and drinking cold beverages.
The heat in summer is beneficial to the growth and development of animals and plants. Spring is the season of flowering, and summer is the season of gestating fruits. If the summer is not hot, the process of gestating the fruit will be difficult to complete, and there will be no harvest in autumn. Therefore, what farmers are most afraid of is that there will be always cloudy days in summer and insufficient sunlight. The same is true for human beings. The yang energy of our body, the so-called vitality, all comes from the sun. Therefore, it is recommended that you choose an appropriate time in summer to receive the sunshine. When basking in the sun, cover your head and bask on your back. This can encourage and invigorate the yang energy in the body and drive out the evil energy of yin and cold in the body.
Sweating
In summer, under normal circumstances, people’s yang energy transpires on the surface, which can open the skin pores, and people will sweat. We should follow the trend of the body’s yang energy moving towards the body surface, sweat a few times, and expel some evil energy from our body, which is beneficial to our physical and mental health.
The biggest problem in modern society is the overuse of air conditioners. Summer is supposed to be a hot, unrestrained season that makes the skin vent and sweat, but in order to avoid the heat, we lower the temperature of the air conditioner in the house, which is an unnatural state caused by humans. The state where the yang energy should disperse and move outward in summer has been frozen.
Part II
Summer Diet
In winter, people’s yang qi converges into the body, and the gastrointestinal function will become stronger than in other seasons, so some high-nutrition foods eaten can be digested and absorbed relatively more easily. In spring, people’s yang energy will gradually move from the internal organs to the extremities, and the yang energy will start to grow; In summer, the skin pores are open, and the yang energy will go out more. At this time, the qi and blood of the internal organs will be relatively insufficient. In summer, people’s appetites are not very good. Therefore, when it is very hot outside in summer and you feel very thirsty, you should pay more attention to the temperature and nature of your diet. More heat in the summer, fewer raw and cold things we can have. Raw/cold beverages and foods are less easily digested and absorbed. The real quenching of thirst is when you convert the water in drinks, soups, or food into your own body fluids, you will not feel thirsty. If the water you drink cannot be converted into your body fluids, the more you drink, the more dehydrated you become. Therefore, drinking cold drinks in summer is just a quick way to satisfy the desire, but in fact, it does not quench thirst at all. When a person is young, his digestion is strong, his yang energy is strong, and he can transform the cold food that he eats into his own body fluid. However, many people do not pay attention when they are young and start to fall ill after middle age.
In summer, we should also pay attention to the problem of raw and cold food. In summer, people’s stomach energy and blood are not enough, so we should pay attention to eating less food in low temperatures and cold nature. The common people say, “Eat radish in winter and ginger in summer, no need for a doctor’s prescription”, and ginger can be used as a food and medicine that is often eaten in summer. When travelling to the seaside, we often eat seafood. Seafood is a high-protein food. Our bodies consume a lot of energy to digest them and convert them into amino acids that the body needs. Therefore, many people may have diarrhea when eating seafood, and there is another kind of people who do not vomit or have diarrhea, and keep this cold stuff in their bodies, forming allergens in the body and causing allergies. At this time, it is suggested that first, eat less seafood; second, should eat cooked seafood, and third should be eaten with ginger, or if you feel uncomfortable after eating, you should boil some ginger soup to drink.
Part III
Dehumidification In Summer
One of the obvious features of the summer climate is high temperature and high humidity. The temperature is very high and the humidity in the air is also heavy. At the same time, there is no wind, and the air is poorly ventilated. So, a kind of sauna day is formed, which is stuffy and hot. This has just become one of the etiology “dampness evil” that external climate change causes disease.
Traditional Chinese medicine divides dampness into exogenous dampness and internal dampness. Exogenous dampness is the impact of moisture in the external environment on the human body, and internal dampness is the damage to the human body’s digestive function caused by improper diet, which then forms damp turbidity and phlegm. Here we mainly talk about the impact of exogenous dampness in summer on the human body.
First, dampness is water vapour, which is yin evil. Yin evil can easily harm the Yang Qi of the human body, which is the same as cold air. After the outside moisture damages the yang energy of the human body, it is like dark clouds covering the sun and the moon, causing people to be confused and groggy. This kind of person will feel “as if something is wrapped around my head”. Secondly, when moisture invades the human body, it will return to its yin and cold nature, manifested as heavy turbidity and stickiness. Some body fluids secreted by the human body are originally very clear, but after being attacked by exogenous dampness, such dirty and sticky things will appear. Some people say that I have phlegm in my throat, but it is always sticky, and I can’t cough it out. Some people urinate cloudily, and some people always defecate uncleanly and feel unfinished. The defecation is so sticky that they can’t even flush the toilet cleanly. Some people show that they have sticky sweat, that even sticks to their clothes.
Another trend is that the moisture will go down and become dirty, and some people will have rotten feet and beriberi.
The last characteristic of dampness pathogenicity is that it is lingering and difficult to heal. Traditional Chinese medicine describes it as “like oil entering the flour”. It’s just that after the flour and oil are wrapped together, they can’t be distinguished. After many people get this kind of disease mixed with dampness, the treatment cycle is relatively long. It’s not like suffering from a cold, taking some medicine, sweating a little, feeling uncomfortable the first day, and recovering the next day. However, after experiencing dampness, the course of the disease will be longer, and it will be more difficult to cure.
Therefore, from the viewpoint of ” Senior doctors to prevent diseases”, we still focus on prevention. In the humid and hot seasons, we must pay attention to the control of air humidity. For example, we must pay attention to ventilation, and we can also prepare some things such as charcoal at home. Things that can absorb moisture.
Honey + Garlic Is Here For You
Experience the rejuvenating power of traditional acupuncture at Honey + Garlic Health Studio. Nestled in the heart of Fraser St., our studio is your sanctuary for holistic well-being.
We offer expert acupuncture treatments designed to alleviate stress, balance energy, and improve overall health. Our experienced acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner Eva Yuan believe in caring for every individual, tailoring each treatment to your unique needs.
At Honey + Garlic your wellness is our priority. We create an environment that is warm, soothing, and inviting, ensuring you feel at ease the moment you step through our doors.
Book a visit with us on Fraser St. and unlock the path to holistic health. Click here to book an acupuncture appointment.
Feel the difference that caring acupuncture can make in your life.
[cta id=’811′]
