Yin & Yang. and Tomato soup.

Last weekend I made my annual “First Snow Tomato Soup”. I learned about this tradition from a friend of mine, who would acquire the most amazing heirloom tomatoes they could find in August, and then make and freeze a soup, to be eaten on the first day snow fell in Brooklyn. This SO PERFECTLY encapsulates the yin and yang of Chinese medicine that I can't bear to skip a year!

In clinic, practitioners use this late-summer time to bring as much summer / yang energy into the body as possible, in order to support the body through the darker time of year. The prescriptions can be as simple as recommending a person sit in the bright sunlight for a short time each day and, when in clinic with your acupuncturist, to moxa (heat with use of a burning herb) certain acupuncture points to increase strength and perseverance. For those of you that have been with me a while, this is packing a flashlight against future darkness. (For new ones, you can read about that reference here.)

Both practices emphasize the burrowing away of something valuable, so that it is available during a time when that particular treasure isn't quite as available. We all do this when we put money into our savings accounts – I would like to suggest that you do it for your energetic savings accounts as well!

Here's another way to look at it – take a minute to picture the yin yang symbol: It's split in half – one half is white with a small center of black, and the other half is the opposite. The small black center is the seed of yang that exists within a terrain of yin – it is the small bowl of warm tomato soup, steeped with the sunlight of August, being eaten in the midst of a snow storm.

Even though we're a little late, (did the weather turn early or did my CSA tomatoes harvest late?) making that tomato soup now, still counts. Make enough to eat some now too! Food is one of the best ways to bring warmth into our body. Therefore: Stop your iced beverages immediately! Actually, Chinese medicine would say to never have started them. Ever. Ice is a chunk of water that can't move. This isn't a quality we want in our bodies. If you complain of stiffness a lot, you should not be drinking iced liquids. You also don't want frozen / not-moving stuff in your digestive system – this is weight you can't lose, water retention and a sluggish, overwhelmed feeling. If you can't think clearly, or you need tons of coffee to counter your brain fog, it's time to switch to warm drinks only.

As a redhead, while I loooove the feel of sunlight on my skin, I do have trouble recommending it freely as I have too often suffered for it! But I do sit, (with sun lotion, long sleeves and a hat) in the sun with my hot coffee during these late summer days, reveling in what is, and leveraging it as a spiritual retaining wall against what is to come.

Lastly, and most importantly, acupuncture treatments now have maximized benefits. Since our body already holds a lot of warmth and energy from the summer, it's easier to build interest on that and start a savings account for winter. If you have the time, the best recommendation is to come for two treatments – one now(ish) (as soon as you can) and one around the time of the autumnal equinox, this year on September 22nd. Timing can be flexible, but you get the idea – come for treatments!