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Asherah, Ancient Hebrew/Canaanite Goddess of Fertility & Renewal. Reprinted With Permission.

by Golda Poretsky, H.H.C.
www.bodylovewellness.com

Spring!  All Winter long you look forward to it.  You plan for it.  “As soon as the weather gets warmer, I’m going to go to the park all the time/rearrange the furniture in my apartment/ get new clothes/ never watch television again, etc. etc. etc.”

Then Spring comes and you feel kind of off.  Maybe you’ve got pollen allergies that knock you out.  Maybe the weather shift feels weirder than you expected. Maybe you find yourself getting angry at people or situations that hadn’t bothered you before.

Both of these seemingly contrary effects are part of the energy of Spring.  Spring is about newness, movement, and beginnings, but it’s also about clearing out the old as a way to transition into the new.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), springtime is the time when your liver is particularly activated.  Although the liver has about a gazillion functions in the body and even more functions in terms of TCM, anyone who took high school biology could tell you that the liver helps to detoxify the body.  When detoxification in the body goes into high gear, it can lead to both physical symptoms (digestive issues, skin issues, fatigue) and emotional symptoms (anger & sadness).

I know.  It’s a bummer!  So what do we do about it?

As a holistic health practitioner, I’m all about supporting the body rather than suppressing symptoms.  So here are some great ways to support your body and mind to release that which it needs to release.

5 Ways To Support Your Transition Into Spring

1) Add In Healing Foods & Water — What foods to you associate with Spring?  Chances are, those foods will support you and your liver.  Baby greens and parsley help your body to cleanse and tonify.  Citrus fruits are also cleansing and give you added immune support.  Adding these fruits and vegetables to your meals and snacks can give your body the added boost it needs to transition in to the new season.  In addition, drinking water at this detoxifying time of year is particularly important.  If you don’t love drinking water (or even if you do) add some lemon juice and a little agave nectar to create a delicious and cleansing lemonade that you can drink all day.

2) Get Your Anger Out Of You –It may not always be a good idea to communicate your anger to others, but it’s not a good idea to keep it to yourself either.  And, being that it’s Spring, writing in a journal about it might not be enough.  Do what you can to move the anger out of your body.  You can do this consciously by dancing and singing along to an angry song, adding some martial arts moves to your workout, or punching a pillow.  (Warning, you may feel incredibly goofy doing any of those things, but trust me, it’s invigorating to physically move your anger.)

3) Try This Healing Herb — Milk thistle is one of my favorite herbs.  It supports the liver in a very gentle way. Take it as a tea (available at every health food store), tincture, or supplement.

4) Wear More Colors — In the past, as a New Yorker, I had adopted the black and gray uniform.  And while black and gray may seem solemn and energetically protective in Winter, once Spring rolls around it just feels terrible.  Experiment with colors.  Wear what you like.  It can change your mood immensely.

5) Be Gentle With Yourself  — Just because it’s Spring, you needn’t overwhelm yourself with all the things you had intended to do when Spring arrived. Take it easy.  Enjoy the new season with all of your senses.  Be gentle with yourself as if you were the tender bud of a soon-to-bloom flower.

As always, lay some comments on me and let me know how it goes!

Golda is a certified holistic health counselor and founder of Body Love Wellness, a program designed for plus-sized women who are fed up with dieting and want support to stop obsessing about food and weight. To learn more about Golda and her work, click here.