Listen to Your Liver!

How to get your body, mind and spirit ready for Spring

Jean Edelman: Great to be with you this week. Finally, we're seeing a little shift in the weather. This is the time that we know as spring. It means we renew and new beginnings and we talk about spring cleaning and opening the windows, decluttering, cleaning out, freshening up in traditional Chinese medicine. And if you remember, I've spoken about this in the past that each season has organs that are related to it.

And so this time of year is our time of liver and gallbladder. This is when they're most active. As we clean our homes, we also tend to detox and clean our body from the heavy winter. Our heavy winter clothes start changing and our heavy winter foods start changing. You know what? Our liver loves the outdoors. If we find ourselves irritated and easily angered, this is a message that we need to listen to and we need to get outside and give our liver some love. It wants fresh air. It wants movement. We have had our time of sitting and watching movies and being in front of the computer. If we don't listen and love our liver as spring emerges, we will stay agitated and unhappy. And I don't think we want that. As the air warms and we have longer days, it's time for outside activity.  

Another aspect of the spring is changing how we eat. It's time for lighter, fresher greens, light salads, wonderful fresh fruit, no more heavy stews and comfort food. It's time to lighten it up. Remember to chew our food and we want to stop eating by 7:00 pm so we have time to digest our food and have good sleep.

So the action item for this week is make a list. What needs to be decluttered, cleared and cleaned? Set a time in our schedule to tackle it. Think about how we can change our meals. Start noticing all the new vegetables and fruits that are coming out and change up our menus a little bit. The spring and summer are so wonderful because the colors are wonderful. If we eat a beautiful, colorful plate, we will feel healthy and be happy and be in more balance. Think of the flowers blooming and stretching into the sun. This is what our body needs. We want to love our liver and give it movement and breath and flexibility. Stretch and try to put some stretching and movement into our morning routine.

You know what? Our eyes are very connected to our liver because our liver meridian actually opens up in our eyes. And we want good eye function. So remember to take breaks when we're sitting at the computer for too long. We can do some eye exercises or you can actually put your hands over your eyes and let them rest. You'll be surprised how good it feels.  

What’s next? We want to be outside. We want to be out walking. We want to notice all the beautiful flowers that are coming up, the crocus and the daffodils. It is time of upward energy. It is spring. The sun is out. Nature is coming back to life. And as in nature, it's the same for our bodies. So get outside and get some fresh air.

So my word for the week is SPRING. 

The S is for our Senses. We want to wake up our senses. And we do this with a color, movement, breath, cooking wonderful fresh foods and being in nature. 

The P is for Prepare. Maybe we're prepping our garden. Or maybe we're taking time to plan ahead some vacation, some nice new meals. 

The R is to Revitalize, to bring fresh energy and oxygen into our bodies. Soak in that sun. 

The I for Infinite. The beauty of the spring and the infinite colors and scents and sounds and the birds. It's just wonderful. The crickets, everything. It's just wonderful as nature comes back to life. 

And then the N is for Nature. When we follow nature's lead, when we stay healthy and in balance, that is for a good life. 

And the G is Giddy because we love to smile and laugh and be outside and barbecues and grilling and just enjoying the warm weather and the sun.

So appreciate that life is coming back from this dormant winter. And embrace all the colors that spring has to offer. Have a wonderful week, everyone. 

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