A Wellness Breakdown of the Spring Season

Another season is upon us, can you feel the changes? In modern times, we often rebuff seasonal changes and their impact on us including our health, eating habits and everything around us. Remembering and acting with the energetics of each season helps to sustain us and keep us connected to nature. 

Spring season is the season of yin within yang. We’re coming out of the full yin season, winter, where we hibernated and conserved energy and into the outward-moving season of spring. In winter, we planted seeds and spent time in meditation, thinking and manifesting what to birth in the spring. Now, it’s time for those seeds to sprout and to fully throw yourself into your ideas. 

This outward-moving energy is the energy of connection, movement and activity. One of the best examples of what happens when we ignore this energy is what happened with the COVID lockdown. In the springtime, we were all made to stay inside and hibernate during a season of connection — and that’s really tough, let alone everything else that was going on. 

We noticed people feeling trapped inside, angsty about their situations and desperate to get out and connect. When the lockdowns softened, we saw how people wanted to make up for “lost time” and really connect with others. So, this season, go out and connect with nature and others! The energetics support you. 

Spring season belongs to the wood element, and the spring season organs are the liver and gallbladder. The color is green, which directly mirrors nature and all of the new plants. Looking at all the natural green plants outside is a great way to get connected with the seasons and work with the wood element. Meditating while looking at the naturally green earth is even better! The sense organ of the wood element is the eyes, so working to strengthen them by focusing on green plants in the distance is really helpful. 

To further see the connection between the eyes and the wood element, notice when someone has a temper or a burst of anger; you can see the redness in their eyes. This leads us to our next fact — the emotion of the wood element is anger or frustration. Tempers can start to flare as we all come out of hibernation and get a little angsty. 

The best way to move through this liver qi stagnation is to get your body moving. Go for a hike, get in nature and work yourself up to a sweat to get things moving. Alcohol is another way to move liver qi. Of course, this isn’t a sustainable solution. However, you do see that people who are angry or stressed out crave alcohol sometimes. This is your body being smart and wanting to move that stagnant energy. However, a better long-term solution is to up your movement and work out. Your body will learn to crave the movement over alcohol the more you reinforce this pattern. 

Some of my favorite springtime herbs are as follows:

• Mint: Great for cooling down people who are hot either physically or emotionally. It also helps with menstrual cramps, headaches, red eyes and sore throat.

• Goji berry: Great for dizziness and eye problems, chronic cough and overall liver health.

• Chrysanthemum: Great for headaches, irritability, spring seasonal transition, springtime colds and red eyes.

• Dandelion root: A solid choice for liver health, irritability, spring seasonal transition and red eyes. It also has anti-viral properties. 

Teas, in general, are also excellent in the springtime. A mint, dandelion or chrysanthemum tea is delicious and nourishing for your liver. Give it a try, and get out there and get moving this spring season! 

About the Author

Isabel Meijering, DACM, L.Ac is an acupuncturist in Austin and owner of Admiring You Wellness. She has her doctorate in acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine and specializes in cupping therapy, pain management, psycho-emotional support, menstruation support and allergies. She also has a B.S. in biomedical sciences with a minor in psychology and has a deep love for both Eastern and Western medicine.