Spring Cleaning in Your Body

After months inside a house closed against the storms and chill of winter, when spring arrives there’s an urge to throw open the windows, clear out the stale air, and shake the rugs free of dust. Our bodies need this no less than our living spaces.

The beginning of a new year, spring carries the energy of growth and movement. Moving out of our winter cocoon, we feel surges of life: our bodies want to move, our creative minds envision projects for the coming months. We plant seeds in both the earth and our lives. It is also an opportunity to look at old patterns with new awareness, as we move from the confine of winter into the opening of spring.

In Chinese medicine, spring is associated with the Wood element and the Liver organ (capitalized because there is more to it than just the actual organ; each organ is linked to a color, taste, emotion, and various other characteristics). A healthy Liver is like a young tree sapling, strong yet flexible, with solidly rooted and smoothly flowing energy. When the Liver is aggravated, its naturally smooth and harmonious movement becomes congested, leading to, for example, tension, stiffness, headaches, anger, frustration, irritability, and depression.

As plants grow slowly at the beginning, so also it is important for us to follow a thoughtful unfolding of our own energies. Herbalist Leslie Tierra writes that “spring’s new growth must be nurtured and allowed to occur slowly according to your own individual energy and needs. If you suddenly change from winter’s quietness to full outward activity, then you can feel ungrounded or uprooted.”

We also need to take care in the change in temperature. Although we northerners are more than ready by April to retire our long underwear and heavy socks, our internal fire is still low from the long hibernation. Continue to dress warmly, and wrap your neck to shield it from the winds that blow the winter away. (Chinese medicine maintains that wind at the back of the neck penetrates the protective energy of the body, lowering our resistance to illness.)

To build that internal fire, keep eating warm foods. Add more green vegetables, steamed greens, and some salads to your diet to help move sluggishness from the digestive system. If you have pets, you’ll notice your dog or cat nibbling on new grass; they know that spring greens are good for them. Limit raw fruits, which are cooler in nature; avoid heavy rich foods (oils, fats, nuts, dairy) as these congest the Liver.

Cleanses and fasts, to flush out and eliminate toxins and wastes that have accumulated over the months of less activity, are a great way to shift into the new season. Both are beyond the scope of this article, but there is plenty of information available through books and local practitioners of herbal medicine, nutrition, and alternative medicine.

When the liver releases toxins, we can feel irritable as the toxins try to make their way out of our bodies. Twisting yoga poses help our bodies cleanse by creating heat and releasing the liver. Yoga teacher Erich Schiffman writes that twists “wring out your body and thereby assist in releasing enormous amounts of tension. When you then release the twisting, wringing-out action, and the musculature relaxes again, that area becomes flooded with nutrients. This is both deeply cleansing and deeply nourishing.”

Let the fresh energy of the season rejuvenate your spirit and bring lightness to your step. Spring-clean your body to clear your mind, smooth your emotions, and give you a new lease on life.

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