The summer season has started and slowly the days are getting warmer and sunnier. The sunlight is the basic component from which all life originates, develops, heals, and evolves and the human body depends on a twenty-four hour cycle of light and darkness, depending on the light that enters the body.
The sunlight triggers an overall feel-good atmosphere for most people. This is because sunlight stimulates the production of serotonin, which controls our sleep patters, body temperature and sex drive. A lack of sufficient sunlight and thereby less serotonin is enough reason for people to fall into depression, especially Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Sunlight also triggers the body to produce its own vitamin D, which increases the oxygen-count in the blood and results in increased energy, sharp mind, strong bones, and healthy teeth. The ultraviolet rays of sunlight help in breaking down cholesterol, which at high levels damages the lining of arteries and cause serious heart disease. However, an over exposure to sunlight has also a side effect as the risk of skin cancer, and looking directly at the sun can cause long-term vision damage.
As the sun is the center of our solar system so is the heart the center of our body system. In the world of scientific materialism, the heart is merely an important muscle. Though in Chinese medicine, the heart is considered the center of wisdom, and, in the ancient Vedic tradition, the heart is the mediator between Heaven and Earth. Nevertheless, the sun and the heart make life possible. They represent the fire element and radiate warmth, light and energy. I invite you to take a moment to tune into that energy. Feel the power, dynamic, and life force, which influence every cell of you. Feel the warmth of your heart and the sun, the microcosm and the macrocosm, sense the rays of the sun, the pulse of your blood in the rhythm of your heart. What do they mean to you? What does it feel like? How much strength and fire do you have? How much passion is spreading out from that source into the world around you?
If your fire element is balanced and strong you love to reach out, be in relationship with people, like laughing and joy. A lack of fire might physically show up as stiff joints, dry skin, bad eye sight, and poor circulation. Do you feel tired, have a lack of passion and experience panic, anxiety and fear about the future?
What might help if you have low fire energy:
• go outside during the day and take in the light of the sun.
• build a fire, light candles or incenses
• bring red flowers into your life.
Too much fire energy in your body can manifest as volatile, critical thoughts and actions, which angrily incites disputes and arguments. You might see red, have inflamed thinking, anger, frustration or fear. On a physical level it might manifest as an acute or chronic inflammation. An inflammation expresses the increased heat, showing too high a pace with a lack of relaxation and cooling down.
What might help if you have high fire energy:
• slow down and let the body cool and regenerate
• get enough sleep and rest
• drink a lot of fresh water
• visit lakes, rivers, streams, oceans, and water fountains
• walk and exercise outside
• be outside during the evening and take in the light of the moon
• relax, meditate and reflect on your inner heat
Whenever you are out of balance, strive for shifting your perspective and reconnect with yourself. Shift from fear and survival energy to an evolving energy of unity and love. Give yourself compas- sion and loving kindness. Hold yourself in your heart and allow yourself to feel that you are evolving to the new you. YOU CAN DO IT!!!
Summer Diet Suggestions
During the summer months, life is at its most expansive, full manifestation. Take advantage of all the fresh and abundant foods full of vital life force. You might use quick cooking methods like sautéing, steaming and blanching and enjoy more salads and raw foods. Live raw foods can provide the enzymes needed for healthy digestion and assimilation and have a positive impact on heart health.
Foods that nourish and support the fire element
Grains: Corn, amaranth, quinoa
Vegetables: Asparagus, chives, endive, okra, scallions, dandelion greens, kale, collard greens, watercress, mustard greens, arugula, radicchio, frisée, eggplant, artichokes, corn, cauliflower, peas, green beans, sprouted mung beans and lentils
Beans and legumes: red lentils, chickpeas
Fruits: wild berries, blackberries, strawberries, elderberries, mulberries apricot, peaches, cherries, apples. Depending on where you life: papaya, mango, pineapple, melons, guava, persimmon, banana
Herbs and spices: chili, curry, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, cayenne, ginseng, sorrel, hawthorn, paprika, nettle, rosemary. Spices in general are considered fire foods
Nuts: Particularly almonds, pecans and walnuts. Nuts can reduce the risk of heart disease and a good source of healthy fats that can lower bad cholesterol and are also high in antioxidants, essential for cardiovascular health.
The best medicines to get your fire burning bright are love and friendship, the company of good friends, a sense of humor and a good laugh.
HEALING PLANTS
Star of Bethlehem (Ornithogalum umbellatum)
The Comfort Flower – shifting from shock to reorientation
Key Questions:
• Are you numbed or withdrawn as a result of traumatic events in your life?
• Have you suffered a loss or grief that you have never recovered from?
• Have you suffered a shock in your life such as an accident, loss of a loved one, terrible news, illness?
• Are you frozen by what is going on in the world?
Many people experience a crisis these days through huge personal changes and the global shift we are part of. The Bach-Flower Star of Bethlehem is very comforting in this phase on an emotional, spiritual and physical level, as well as for traumas experienced recently or in the past.
Star of Bethlehem is a beautiful six-petalled starlike flower, displayed in a perfect geometry of a hexagram. The shape symbolizes matter and divinity: one triangle represents the divine world touching to earth, the other the material world reaching towards the divine. The perfect relationship in the geometric form represents an ideal attunement. If we are out of harmony and balance due to shock and crisis, Star of Bethlehem can realign the energies. The word shock here means any impact of energy on us that is too strong for our energetic systems to handle so that distortions result. Shocks often live on in our energetic system and cause a certain degree of paralysis, frozen tension or a kind of inner numbness. All the impressions we haven’t integrated can become poisonous psychotoxins, and over time might cause parts of our system to cease proper functioning.
Star of Bethlehem relates to the soul potential for resurrection. It has the strength in its bright white flowers to re-harmonize and unify us so that the natural healing process can take place. It vitalizes energy links so that the psycho-toxins begin to dissolve. This means in practical terms, you
• feel comforted and soothed so that your pain and trauma are eased
• will reintegrate on all levels, become livelier again
• find that you can breathe again and release tension
• grow mental clarity, and inner strength
• use crisis as opportunities for transformation
• can handle extreme situations without allowing harm to your soul
• regain the ability to cope with normal external energies
• know the right moment to take action and the moment to let go
If you have any questions about the use and dosage of the Star of Bethlehem essence or want my counseling in Indianola or the Pioneer Building in Seattle, please call for an appointment: 360.697.2288.
May we all have a heart-full summer with plenty of warmth and inner light. May you have a summer blossoming that leads to a rich harvest season. L i s a
