my approach

We are all familiar with the four seasons that make up our world — Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer.

“So why FIVE Season Vegan?”

“And what does it have to do with the vegan diet or lifestyle?”

Good questions! First off, my approach to wellness stems from my studies in Chinese medicine. You may have taken a tai chi class or had an acupuncture treatment, and perhaps at that acupuncture visit you were even given a concoction of dried herbs to make into a tea, or a bottle of capsules containing an herbal formula. But it’s not as widely known that Chinese medicine also includes dietary therapy and lifestyle recommendations as important branches of healing. These recommendations are tailored to each individual person by the acupuncturist or Chinese medicine practitioner, but there are general recommendations that we can follow as a whole, which are rooted in the classical Chinese worldview of harmony found by following the patterns and rhythm of nature.

The ancient Chinese viewed the world as having five seasons — Fall, Winter, Spring, Summer, and Late Summer. Late Summer being the time of year that seems to bridge Summer’s heat and Fall’s cool, where the days are long and warm as if Summer will never end, even though there are signs of Fall approaching with cooler nights, trees starting to turn, and the final chance to squeeze in a family vacation before everyone heads back to school and work in earnest.

By living our lives tailored to the energy and purpose of each season, we can invite a sense of ease and balance into our lives. Small tweaks in the foods we shop for, the way we prepare our meals, and even when to go to sleep and wake differ depending on what season we are currently in. Before we get into the specifics of each season, let’s first get an idea of the basic concepts rooted in Chinese dietary theory.

As much as Chinese medicine is a medical system, to me its concepts also provide a philosophy or way of living. A way of living that seeks to find and maintain a sense of balance, harmony, and healthful living in accordance with the world outside. 

Chinese medicine is one of the most ancient medical systems in the world. Its earliest records date back to the 2nd century BC, although it likely goes back even further as it developed out of Shamanic tradition which has few recorded texts. It arose out of classical Chinese philosophy, general perspective of the world, and of humanity’s place within it. Influenced by Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. 

The original scholars and practitioners of healing observed that a healthy family, natural ecosystem, community etc. occurred when there was a balance and flow. A system of checks and balances. They concluded, through observation and decades of finely-tuned clinical practice, that the human body is an ecosystem that must be balanced in order to be healthy; in fact, the body is a microcosm of the ecosystem of the natural world (a world within the world).

If Chinese medicine is so ancient, is it even relevant today? 

Yes. The teachings are ancient but are of a world that is constantly changing and evolving. A world that we certainly see today. The characteristics, customs, geography and cultural understandings may have changed, and will continue to change for future generations beyond us. But everything has always lived and played by the same rules.

Qi= Basic building block of all life and form

The Chinese character for Qi (above) indicates the steam coming off a boiling pot. Qi is the steam. Could be thought of as prana in yogic tradition, energy, life force, vitality, consciousness. The nature of Qi is to move. Similar to how energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transferred.

Qi takes on different properties, much like how water takes the shape of its container, and can be in liquid, frozen, or gas form. It may have different properties in various forms, but is still water. Same for Qi. 

Qi is the building block for all life on earth and all states of matter. It can be further differentiated into more complex and diverse states of being.

Qi

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Yin Yang

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Five Elements

Yin and Yang

Yin and Yang are manifestations of Qi, seen as “qualities” that we easily observe in the world. 

• Yin: dark, inert, passive, constricted, cold, solid
• Yang: light, fast, moving, hot, expansive   

• Is something yin? Or is it yang? It depends! On what it is in relation to.

• Yin and Yang are completely relative and used to understand things conceptually. For example, you can understand the nature of something by comparing it to something it is not. Evening is “yang” compared to midnight, because it has more light in the sky and warmth in the air compared with midnight which is very dark and cooler. But, evening is “yin” compared to midday, because midday has more light and warmth than evening does.

• A dot of yang in yin, and yin in yang because there can never be one without the other.

FIVE ELEMENTS / FIVE PHASES

Qi as categorized by different qualities we see in nature, especially helpful in understanding the seasons: “As above, so below”

• A cycle of generation and control
• An observation of nature, the cycle of seasons, and how the behavior of systems in the human body follow the patterns of behavior of elements in nature.

Fire

Nature: Summer. Heat. Expansion. Joy. Body organ: The Heart

Earth

Nature: Late Summer. Stability. Nourishment.  Body organ: Spleen/Stomach.

Metal

Nature: Fall. Harvest. Grief. Letting Go. Body organ: Lung

Water

Nature: Winter. Storage. Cold. Depth. Body organ: Kidney

Wood

Nature: Spring. Growth. Renewal. Body organ: Liver.