“METAL is the energy of autumn; it gives us our sense of quality and value, and our capacity to look at what lies beyond ourselves.” - Neil Gumenick

What the Five Phases of Chinese Medicine teach us:

The five phases, in Chinese Medicine philosophy, are a way of connecting to and acknowledging the transitions, the energies that the five elements move through in the constant transformation of life. Each phase is associated with a season, organ and meridian pairs, moods, colours, taste, energetic directions and more. By becoming aware of how the energetics works within all living things, we can apply it to how we digest and process life, how we treat our physical well being appropriately in each season and with our own energetic propensities and how we cook for ourselves in each season to optimize our ability to thrive in that season. The cycles of nature are manifested in how these elements transform in a macro level and a micro level, human cycles reflect the cycles of nature. The late summer was the earth phase, harvest time, time for enjoying the abundance of all our spring to summer growth and align with the sift to fall, and as we are moving into autumn, the late summer phase is birthing the metal phase. The metal phase is associated with fall and is the peak time to support the paired meridians associated with this season, the Lung and Large Intestine.

In autumn the red and yellow leaves are falling off the trees, the weather is becoming crisper, and the daylight becomes shorter as we starting the move towards the dark, internal, yin time of winter. In human beings the lung and large intestine represent the process of letting go, exhaling and excreting what we no longer need, leaving room to inhale inspiration and oxygen. This letting go is a process of discernment, which happens on the physical level and we can also apply it to a mental level.

What attributes, attitudes, activities in our lives can we drop like leaves because they don’t serve the core of who we are or transforming into?

Being less busy, drawing our energy inward to prepare for winter. The emotion of the metal phase, the autumn time is grief, letting go can carry a grief with it. We can support this grief process by also holding space for gratitude. Being grateful for how that which we are releasing served us until this time, or of lessons brought by people or situations that have given us an opportunity for growth and reflection. Trees don’t hold onto their leaves for next year, they let them go, trusting in the process, trusting that new growth will come when it is meant to.

Take an inventory of what is no longer serving you to be your most vibrant self, look at habits, mindsets, perspectives, relationships and material items that take up space in your living and work spaces. Write down how they served you in the past (did perspectives protect you, provide you with comfort, make you happy, let you believe you were accepted, what ever comes to mind), express your gratitude and let them go. Make space for the transformations, shifting perspectives and future beautiful relationships to form that are more in line with who you are becoming instead of being stuck in who you were.

Clear your closets and corners, let go of items you are no longer using and pass them on to someone who could benefit.

Lungs rule the wei qi, which is the protective qi, the qi closest to the surface. Because autumn is the peak time for lungs, if the lung qi is weak, we can be more susceptible to cold and flu or as TCM diagnosis goes, wind cold or wind heat. So ideally we have been eating, moving and living holistically in alignment with each season we are in so we are supporting the birthing of the next. Each season it is necessary to attune ourselves with the energetics of our environment, so moving into the cooler months, diet should reflect what is available naturally around us, what earth is providing us with, is what will help our bodies be able to function appropriately and optimally in that season. For fall we need to begin to start drawing our dispersed energy inwards, to begin being warmer in our bodies so as to feel comfortable in the cooler temperatures.

Foods that are great for fall

Root vegetables -, radish, burdock root, yams, beets, onions, sweet potatoes, yams, onions and Turnips Pungent roots like turnip and onion drain

Nuts & Seeds

Winter squashes - Hubbards, pumpkins, delacata, spaghetti, acorn - high in vitamins C, B1 and B6, niacin, fiber, potassium, folic acid and carotenes – which protect against cancers. They warm the core, drain damp and tonify Qi and their neutral, sweet flavour lends to either sweet or savoury dishes.

Autumn Fruits - apples and pears, pears help lungs, if you have a cough, make a warm pear compote juice to drink before bed. Apples nourish yin.

Lentils and Legumes - Legumes regulate blood sugar, Lentils and Legumes are high in fiber, protein and vitamins, they support the kidneys and adrenal glands and calm the nervous system.

Pungent foods (defend)- if you need to induce sweating to expel a wind cold, stimulate and clear the lungs use pungent foods like ginger, onion, cinnamon, horse raddish,

Sour foods (preserve)- preserve yin fluids, use foods like lemon, sour apple

Mushrooms - lots of minerals and great for the immune system

Broths - bring in the energetics of longer cooking, deeper heat into the body to prepare for colder winter months.

Another important practice to stay in alignment with the seasons is to spend time, appropriately dressed, outside. This lets your body stay present in space and time and turns on its natural rhythms of attuning allowing you to gradually acclimatize to each season. So for fall, put on those beautiful chunky wool sweaters and scarves, protect your neck from wind, throw on a cosy hat and some hiking boots and go for a wander, daily if possible, through the forests, or even down the streets as the trees blanket the pathways with their symphony of colour.

So go play in the crisp beautiful air of autumn, make yourself a delicious squash soup and some ginger tea, go see the symphony of colour that nature gifts us, let go of what ever is not worthy of what you would like carry forward with gratitude of what they brought. Breathe, Breathe, Breathe.