Speaker 1: 0:37

This is Bronwyn. I am recording this on the morning of the spring equinox and wanting to talk a little bit about nature and the chi of this time of year and how we can have appropriate conduct to harmonize our energy with what is happening in the botanical world and the cycles of the seasons. There's a huge change going on around us in nature. You can see this in the buds of the trees and the insects that previously were underground during the winter have now emerged above ground. This bursting forth with life feeling is well represented by the Chinese brush paintings of flowering tree art, such as plum blossoms, and taking a walk in my garden yesterday, I was just amazed at all of the little buds on the trees and the greenness everywhere. The bursting forth of life is the young energy returning. It's that fantasy of the fruit that's to come from looking at the buds on the flowering fruit trees. A healthy lifestyle includes living and acting in harmony with what we are seeing around us, the seasons and cycles of nature. So with spring there is an amazing opportunity to replenish ourselves. The season itself represents the energy of fertility, newness and growth, as we see nature flourishing everywhere around us. As we see nature flourishing everywhere around us. Equinox in itself mean that yin and yang have become equal and this delineation indicates a special kind of harmony that does not mean the same amount per se, but points more to a state of equality and quality. Spring equinox represents the refresh or rebirth quality of the ongoing relationship between yin and yang. Yang is initiating this creative force and yin is nourishing it. So spring is a time of recalibration after the long winter months spent hunkered down and in our internal world. This new energy, cognitively, is not very intelligent. It's more physically intelligent. On a chi level. It doesn't bring forth new ideas very coherently. It's more of a recalibration process after the long months of winter. So as we transition out of winter we probably noticed that the lethargy is starting to dissipate.

Speaker 1: 3:24

Yang is now a little bit more stable and in ancient China, during the Tang Dynasty, the emperor now chose which son was to be crowned prince during spring equinox. I should just pause and say that most of this is coming from my teacher, lu Ming, who was an amazing Taoist adept and lineage holder for this tradition. During this time we can choose the way that the emperor chose to crown the prince. We can choose which projects we want to devote the rest of the year to. So if we've not cultivated self-knowledge during winter's repose, this process can be difficult as we won't be in touch with our deepest desires.

Speaker 1: 4:11

The knowing of our path comes from the quietness and stillness that we cultivate during the winter months. So during the winter months, so during the winter, yang goes internally and our inner world becomes very active, now yang is climbing out into the external world with this brightness and the approaching spring. So during the spring equinox, there's an adaptability quality, having gone through the dark winter, getting young, to recover, here it does recover. And that's when the magic happens, when the confidence returns. This confidence is not based on hard work, but it's based on a response to the spring, but it's based on their response to the spring. So through appropriate winter conduct, we have the ability to cultivate spring properly. And now there is a great deal of fertility available for us. Cultivating our yin over the winter means we now have enough energy to nourish the big burst in creativity, the bringing forth of new ideas, dreams and visions that have been cooking in the winter now come to fruition. Actually, this is the same reproductive energy that keeps us from premature aging. In this way, this reproductive, fertile energy can be used for fertility firstly. Secondly, to prevent premature aging and replenish ourselves, and thirdly, for creativity and bringing forth other kinds of fertile projects that are ready to happen projects that are ready to happen. So appropriate conduct during the spring means that of modesty and food and drink, reading books, listening to music. Discipline is made a lot easier without yin's winter senility. So if you're having habits that you're wishing to change or to start fresh exercises, this is a fantastic time to do that, because that old, lethargic, senile energy of the winter is now left and there's a freshness and an inspiration that supports us starting new ways of being in the world.

Speaker 1: 6:36

As far as kids go, at Spring Equinox, the yin and yang are still immature, which makes education very important. So when yang is on the rise, there can be a tendency towards outbursts, tantrums, anger, pushing on boundaries. This is really a time to train young properly and to cultivate respect. Appropriate behavior is really modest and well-educated and diverse, rather than chaotic and out of control. So at this time of year young can be managed because it's still immature. If we let it mature without properly educating it, the energy will be very difficult to handle if we wait until July. So this is an important time not to indulge our children, but rather educate them about respect and listening. If we don't assert those appropriate boundaries with children now, by summer they could be out of control, demanding and otherwise unmanageable. And education in this context can also be expressed through divination and strategizing.

Speaker 1: 7:47

It's a wonderful time of year to seek counsel and advice, as the immature young is prone to wasting energy and fluffy fantasies. We look at those flowering trees and think about the fruit that comes without actually being grounded necessarily, and appreciating the simplicity of what is now so, even though our ability to focus is back online, it's appropriate to augment this focus with sage wisdom and ancient philosophy Yang needs to be managed. So get involved in the predisposition of your fate. Consult the I Ching, get out your tarot cards, pay a visit to your local shaman, seek wise counsel, consult astrologers and fortune tellers, lean into the advice of your trusted sages, and it's a great time of year to read old philosophical texts. Gatherings this time of year can be light and playful. The crows and ravens we see flying about get playful in the spring and their frivolousness is symbolic of the sun's return.

Speaker 1: 9:03

During the Tang Dynasty springtime, court entertainments involved recitation of poetry and the playing of new music, especially poetry about love. So play and listen to new music, let your hair down, wear green. This is not the time for speeches or formality. It's a time for informal gatherings with lots of music and poetry and newness and rebirth Practice.

Speaker 1: 9:21

This year, the best time to practice is at dawn, with the rising sun. The chi available at this time of day is extremely replenishing. You know those moments when you've been awake at dawn in a forest or out with a view by the ocean. It's super magical. It's still damp outside, and especially if you've had a lot of rain, but the sun shining on that dampness is provocative. This is the yang shining on the yin. The dew is not hanging around all day, but it's starting to move upwards as the sun rises, and this is what our energy is doing as well. It's not stagnant anymore, but it's becoming vital that turbid yin is starting to dissipate. General counsel for spring is to rise at dawn, face east for your practices and greet the rising sun. A simple practice is to imagine you're inhaling the light and the dew and bring it down into your lower dantian as you exhale dry, stale, dusty air. Inhale the morning light.

Speaker 1: 10:30

As far as exercise goes. During this time of year it's best to practice a steady amount of modest exercise rather than large amounts or even small bursts of strenuous exercise. Making ourselves tired disperses the yang. We want to increase our exercise after the winter, but not to a point where we are sweaty and gasping for breath. If we tire ourselves out we drive off yang when we get a second wind. The second wind comes from too deep inside us and it depletes that yang. So we only want to exercise surface yang rather than delving into any sort of deep yang arousal place For food.

Speaker 1: 11:16

We still could have a little bit of that winter food leftover, but eating food that is fresh and matures quickly is also indicated in nature. In the botanical world there's not yet much to harvest during the spring equinox. We only have green herbs and asparagus and fresh green onions. So incorporating these fresh herbs into our meals is yummy and flavorful. Fresh herbs into our meals is yummy and flavorful and we can bring that spring freshness into our bodies in this way. Another great option is stir fry, as we can add those fresh greens and you can even make a paste with them. Go into the forest and collect some of that miner's lettuce any of the fresh springing up plants that are edible and make them into a kind of pesto. That's a way to preserve them. I've noticed in my garden that the oregano and the parsley, the za'atar, the thyme are all up and added already, and these are great digestive herbs that we can use. So they have the culinary influence of enhancing digestion and being flavorful, but they also have this freshness, yang sprouting chi, that we can bring into our bodies.

Speaker 1: 12:45

In the treatment of chronic illnesses there emerges new options with the freshness of spring. The quality of qi takes charge of the treatment. So, especially with younger patients, they'll have an amazing opportunity for recovery. At this time Everything is moving and the environmental qi is supporting this idea of the channel Qi not being lethargic. If you're practicing acupuncture, insert the needles this time of year to go along with the flow of the channel. There's a tug this way, even if we're trying a perpendicular insertion, there's a way where the needle just wants to go with the channel, even if it's only slightly. I'm going to end with some quotes from the Tongshu. These are coming from Lu Ming's book the Way of the Three Treasures that he published in 2008.

Speaker 1: 13:39

At the spring equinox, the yin and yang are equal A spring yang arises and a shaky yin submits. A covering yang arises and a shaky yin submits. The day and night are equal in length. This qi node marks one of the four annual pivots that rectify the annual qi. In lunar calendar terms, this is spring midpoint. A prince is crowned During this qi node.

Speaker 1: 14:01

The best qi is available at dawn and you should practice neigong, facing due east and greet the dawn. Imagine that you inhale the true yang of the sun from over the horizon as the light appears, have it enter your body and refresh all your organs, channels and joints. You will notice that all the winter's lethargy is gone and if you have been cultivating spring, yang is no longer shaky, plans and actions are enhanced. It is an ideal time for in-depth study, long walks and consulting with diviners and astrologers. Focus and go forward. Do not forget the advice of the sages. Crowns and ravens are sun creatures. In Chinese tradition, they will be rascally now all through spring and summer, and this quote is from the Neijing.

Speaker 1: 14:51

The three months of spring are time of birth and pervasiveness. Grasses sprout and trees bud. All living beings and things flourish. In the new dynamic chi that opens up and outward, people, like all phenomena are included To be synchronized with the seasonal chi. One should retire when night turns dark and rise early in the morning. At dawn One should practice ni gong in the courtyard wearing loose clothing and untied hair. One should breathe in the freshness of spring chi.

Speaker 1: 15:22

Since spring is the season of renewal, one must not interfere with new growth. One should offer one's chi to help the new and weak survive and not kill. One should not give, take reward or and not punish. Disobey the natural chi mandates of spring and it will harm the liver, the wood, the organ of spring. If one does not absorb the freshness of spring, one will contract the cold syndromes in the summer. Without spring qi, one is unable to adapt to summer. This is called inadequate offerings of freshness. And lastly, from the Zhang Jishan Yin Xu Spring days After waking in the morning, urinate, wash your hands, rinse the mouth and brush your teeth.

Speaker 1: 16:06

After waking in the morning, urinate, wash your hands, rinse the mouth and brush your teeth With unfastened hair, knock your teeth and stroll to the lower end of the hall to meet the purest dew, receive the jing of heaven, drink one cup of water. These are the methods to enhance harmony. Enter the palace from evening to greater midnight otherwise harms the qi. Entering the palace in this context probably means sexual intercourse. To summarize, the springtime is the ideal time for education, renewal and initiation. Try something new, take a new course, meet new people, eat fresh food, and this is the time when the resolutions of the new year should be instigated. If you don't do that, summer could be arduous and chronic patterns of illness start to harden again. Enjoy yourself, read poetry, make love and make art and meet new people. And make art and meet new people. This is Bronwyn Michaelis speaking on the spring equinox. If you'd like to find out more information about my offerings, please visit wwwreikiyogacom. That's R-E-I-K-I-Y-O-G-Acom. Happy spring.