Hello, and welcome to my podcast series Menopause Balance. This is where I get to explore how classical East Asian medicine views and treats the human body. These episodes cover specific symptoms, theoretical frameworks, and foundational classical East Asian medicine concepts to help you better understand your health and your wellbeing. It is important, however, for you to understand that the information covered in these podcasts is not to be taken or used for diagnostic purposes. It is for general information only, and as a general guide, if these podcasts raise any health issues that are of concern to you, then you need to have a full and proper consult with your appropriate healthcare professional. Okay. I'm your host, Dr. Ian, and I'm a doctor of Chinese medicine. With degrees in human biology and Chinese medicine, as well as a postgraduate diploma in classical East Asian medicine. Now, I have been treating people in regional Australia with East Asian Medicine for over 20 years, and I have helped them through classical East Asian Medicine to see their symptoms in a new way. I see them through the lens that is classical East Asian medicine. With its warm, rich, insightful, functional, and above all practical ways with its use of lifestyle, diet, and then combine that with herbal medicine and acupuncture so as to enable you to reach the balance within. Now, I assume that if you have found me here, then you are someone who is looking for answers to your health issues, answers that make sense. Give you an understanding, a clarity, and allows you to have control of your health problems and provides practical solutions that can make you your own health champion. I also understand that you are somebody who is looking for some ancient wisdom to give you an understanding of your modern health issues, and that can show you how to reach the balance within. Classical Easter Asian medicine can provide that different lens for which to see the issues of health, women's health, menopause, dietary issues, stress, sleep issues, some seasonal awareness, even men's health or straight pain management. You can do this through the lens that is east asian east asian medicine and help. It can help you achieve the balance within. So please join me now as we journey through the ancient wisdom that is classical East Asian Medicine and discover how it can be a positive impact on your modern life and bring your health back to balance. Let's explore the ancient wisdom and reach the balance within together. So let's start this month's podcast spring. So welcome back to my podcast and I'm Dr. Ian. And today we are diving into the vibrant energy of spring and its connection to the wood element in classical East Asian 📍 Medicine . Now, this season is all about renewal. It's about expansion and movement both in nature and within your body. You may well, and if you've been feeling a little sluggish, that's fine because you're coming outta winter, or you may be experiencing some seasonal shifts in your health, and I hope this episode will help you realign and rejuvenate and explain why those things might be happening. So let's explore how you can support your body and your mind as we step into the energy that is spring. Spring is the wood element, and in east asian east asian medicine, spring is linked to that wood element representing growth, flexibility, and vision. Now the wood element is made up of the liver and the gallbladder organs and there's supporting systems and these correspond with wood playing key roles in detox. Playing key roles in detoxification, in decision making, and ensuring the smooth flow of Q or energy. When these organs are balanced, we feel motivated, clearheaded, and adaptable. However, when they are imbalanced, you may be experiencing such things as frustration, headaches, irritability. Or even some digestive issues, some signs that the liver, isn't moving properly is that you might be feeling stuck. You've lost your motivation. You're, you know, you really are, you're stagnant. You're sitting still, you're not moving forward and you can get easily frustrated feeling that sense that just things just. Not working. You may suffer some physical symptoms like abdominal bloating, headaches that seem to come on really quickly, suddenly some muscle stiffness, and you're going, I haven't done anything to warrant this stiffness, or Your allergies seem to be even more sensitive, or you have some that you've never had before. You might be waking in the middle of the night feeling, why am I waking up? And it seems to be the same time every night. You know, it's somewhere around one o'clock, two o'clock, something like that. So that's the one to three O am liver time according to the body clock, that is a sign that the liver. Is not being happy. It needs some attention. It's trying to tell you something. You may combine that and you have cravings for sour foods. Sour is associated with the liver. That's the taste of the liver. So the liver responds well to that sour food flavor and when you start thinking about it. Sour food flavor can lead us into what should we be eating? So how can we support our, your, our liver and our gallbladder through this spring period? In the early spring, you want to be looking really to new shoots, fresh shoots. So, and a lot of those are going to have a slightly sour. Paste to them, or a sour energy. So you eat for the seasons, so you need to increase your fresh greens and those slightly sour foods like leafy greens, some lemon water even, or fermented foods, they're all going to help stimulate the liver to be in. Its help stimulate the liver to be in its appropriate condition. Now we talked about the liver is responsible for the movement of energy or qi. Well, we can help that by having daily move that are daily movements that are simple, slow, gentle. We need to incorporate stretching. So what am I talking about? You could be doing out, you know, getting outdoors now after winter. We're talking initially is particularly in the early stages of spring gentle movements, so just gentle walks. Gentle tai chi, gentle yoga, not vigorous hard. Go out like a bullet, a gate. That's LA for later in the year. This time we're talking about waking our bodies up, if you like, gently moving it towards that. Stage that was winter, which was inactivity, internalness. Now we're looking to start moving about. We need to manage our stress. This can be done through journaling. Health journaling is something I really strongly recommend. This is where you journal everything about you, your sleep patterns. As I say, what time are you waking up? If you're waking up, is it the same time every night? Are you waking up with feelings of anxiety, depression, anger, a sense of doom? These symptoms all can help start to make patterns. Are you sleeping badly after eating something? What is it that you're eating? Are you finding that you're feeling bloated, sluggish, depressed? After eating. So what are you eating? If you're not recording it, you don't know. We're not talking about allergies. We're talking about things that may cause you to have adverse reactions. So a sensitivity to something, and you may not see it necessarily unless you go looking for it. And the longer you've been journaling, the more detailed you journal, the more you can see. You might wanna start incorporating mindfulness techniques like meditation and meditation is anything really that helps your mind become clear and unfettered. What we're looking to do is teach our mind to not run away with itself so that you have control, you have the ability to say to yourself. I'm not talking about or thinking about the dishes right now. What I'm doing is I'm breathing in and out slowly. Or it might be that you meditate by reading, so that you get so deep into the book you are reading, that you forget about all other things. That is a type of meditation. It could be that you go out and you're a gardener, so you can sit there and garden and literally stick your hands in the dirt, put your toes in the dirt. You are earthing yourself, grounding yourself, and that ability to set aside all other concerns. Your mind is now yours to control. That's the aim of meditation and mindfulness technique. It allows you to give yourself the energy to support and be emotionally flexible. You may need external professional help in the form of acupuncture and or herbal medicine support, and this is where classical East Asian treatments can help balance the flow of Q and support the transition into spring. Part of the classical way of treating in classical East Asian medicine is that everybody should attend to their doctor at the change of seasons. If only just to be told everything's okay, you are on track, your body is balanced. If not. Herbs and or acupuncture, and perhaps to talk about what you're not doing in the way of eating correctly or you've forgotten to do something. That support can come through the professional, east asian Asian medicine practitioner, seasonal adjustments going to keep you healthy so that you don't need long-term treatments. Okay, you should now have an idea of spring its connection to the liver and gallbladder and how you may be able to help manage your transition from winter into spring, through spring and beyond. Now, as part of this, as we step into spring, please take a moment to reflect. Where do you feel the need to for renewal in your life? That's spring. What small changes can you make to align with this season of movement and growth? Now, if you'd like deeper guidance, join my Sagire Health community. This is where we explore seasonal transitions together. It's like a Facebook page, but it's private. It's a place where you can get to talk to other like-minded people, host questions, answer other people's questions, tell people what you've been doing and what's been working for you. Ask questions of me and then help me to create more info
