What

Paying attention to the cycles of the natural world and attuning ourselves to the shift in seasons both inside and out can be a curious way to be in conversation with your physical, mental, energetic, and emotional bodies. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the spring months are considered the season of the liver and the gallbladder. This 5 class series is inspired by the elemental and emotional links to the spring months: wood + anger.

Why

The springtime is a powerful time to bring balance, integration, and rejuvenation to the liver and gallbladder. The liver serves as a filter for our blood, a regulator of our mood, and is responsible for the movement of qi through the body. When the energy of the liver is in excess we tend to express anger, frustration, resentment, rage, and bitterness in unproductive ways.

The intention of our time together is to cool and relax the liver to reduce inflammation wherever it may exist in the physical, emotional, and energetic bodies. This program will support you in embodying the expansive and ascending qualities of the season. When we improve liver function through both physical and emotional detoxification we make room for a rebirth.

How

Each morning we’ll explore dynamic movement, breathing exercises, meditation, and journaling to remove liver stagnation, improve liver detoxification and drainage, relax the liver, and care for the gallbladder. Join live or practice along with recordings.

Let Your Liver Live

Insights and optional dietary guidelines//herbal support in the form of tea or tincture c/o Melanie Hill of Rosewood + Silver Holistic Studio

According to TCM, the liver is considered a yin organ and is paired with the gallbladder as a yang organ. This means that they share an internal//external relationship and are often closely related in treatment protocols. This pairing of organs is connected with the element of wood and is represented seasonally as spring - a time to cleanse and filter. It's a season of rebirth, renewal and new beginnings.

In terms of TCM physiology, the liver is considered a massively important organ and seen as the body's commander. It's responsible for all detoxification and clearing in the body, and is how our bodies are able to process and filter. The liver is single handedly the most important organ in women's health and hormone balancing due to its ability to affect our blood, as well as our processing of hormones. The liver is responsible for the smooth flow of qi, emotions, and blood. It's responsibilities also include controlling our tendons and our eyes, so issues of the eyes or inflexibility are common signs of imbalance. It's also important to note that the liver is the organ that is most easily affected by stress and emotions.

Linked to the colour green, the direction east, the flavour of sour, the liver is most active between 11pm-3am. As a sound it is calling out and as an emotion it is linked to anger and irritability.

Common signs + symptoms of a liver imbalance:

  • headaches and dizziness

  • teeth grinding

  • constant sighing

  • pain, distention or feelings of fullness along the ribs and breast area

  • eye issues: bloodshot eyes, dry eyes, floaters, blurry vision

  • PMS, painful menstruation, fibroids

  • tendon issues and overall tightness (especially in the hips)

  • anger, irritability, frustration and a general feeling of being "stuck"

  • craving sour foods

  • a tendency to feel hot, especially in the night

  • waking between 11pm and 3am

Some Food considerations for supporting your Liver

The springtime is the most ideal time for cleansing//fasting in order to cleanse the body of the fats and heavy foods our bodies naturally crave in winter. It’s the best time to incorporate yang energy food with expansive qualities (young, fresh, sprouts, green, raw, high energy foods). It’s a good time to avoid sinking//heavy foods like excessive amounts of salt, rich foods, or too many cooked, hot energy foods.

Focus on:

  • Pungent + sour food: watercress, onions (all varieties), mustard greens (and all spring greens), turmeric, basil, cumin, fennel, horseradish, vinegars, leeks, rose hips, honey

  • Anti-stagnancy foods: beets, taro root, strawberries, peaches, brassicas (kohlrabi, cauliflower, broccoli,broccolini, kale, brussel sprouts)

  • Raw foods: sprouted grains, beans and seeds, fresh fruit and vegetables, fresh juices

  • Bitter foods and Herbs: rye, romaine lettuce, asparagus, amaranth, quinoa, dandelion and radish greens, citrus, vinegar, chamomile, oregon grape, milk thistle, licorice root, etc

  • Detoxifying foods: mung beans, celery, seaweeds, lettuce, cucumber, watercress, millet, chlorophyll-rich foods (algae, parsley, kale, alfalfa, collards, watercress), mushrooms, rhubarb, radish

  • Herbal Ally : dandelion, burdock, buplereum, chamomile, ginger

Avoid:

  • Foods high in saturated or hydrogenated fat (red meat, cheese, eggs, margarine, refined oils)

  • Excessive nuts//seeds

  • Intoxicants and chemicals (alcohol, drugs, processed food, artificial preservatives, chemical skin care etc.)

Things to do to tonify and move your Liver Qi:

  • Process and tend to your emotions and stress - especially feelings of resentment//frustration//anger

  • Move your body in gentle, low impact ways (yoga//walking//swimming//tai chi//qi gong)

  • Spend time outdoors in green spaces

  • Colour therapy: bring green elements into your life (food//clothes//plants etc.)

  • Movement and meditation like kundalini breathwork and kriya to process stress//emotions and to move and regulate liver Qi

journal Prompts

  • How would you rate your sense of personal power?

  • How would you rate your ability to manifest your will?

  • How would you rate your self-confidence?

  • How would you rate your daily energy levels?

  • Do you experience digestive troubles, gas, bloating, candidiasis, ulcers etc.?

  • How would you rate your ability to deal with anger (ie. express it without loss of control)?

  • How would you rate your sense of healthy competition, without greed/envy?

  • How would you rate your ability to take initiative and lead others?

Is there a habit, unhealthy belief, outdated emotional response, trauma or memory related to an inability or hesitation on your part in standing up for yourself and using your personal power to make things happen?

What are the situations in your life past and present where you felt/feel disempowered? Describe how you or your life would be different if this were released.

Is there habit or practice, positive belief, or stance in life that you choose to embody to meet each situation from a place of assertiveness and self-empowerment? What are the actions that would follow from embodying this shift? Describe how you or your life would be different if you embodied this.

Are there ways past and present, in which you have been or are overly-aggressive, bully others or force your way to get what you want? What are the consequences of this behaviour? What are the effects on yourself, others and your relationships?

Is there another stance or approach you can use or develop that would be healthier and more respectful of others? How would you act out this new attitude, stance or approach? Describe how you or your life would be different if you embodied this.

[ adapted with permission from Sat Dharam Kaur, ND ]