Tips to Balance Digestion, Reduce Stress & Get Glowing Skin
If your struggling with bouts of fatigue, low energy or motivation and/or lack of sleep and breakouts your body is probably responding to the fifth season-late summer. In Chinese medicine, the late or Indian summer is linked to the Earth element, described as the peaceful and tranquil element of life. The Earth element acts as the transition from Yang(masculine) to Yin (feminine) energy, and corresponds to the spleen-stomach organ channels. During this time of long active days it is especially important to nourish the earth element when our digestive health comes to focus.
The Earth is our support and is "central" to all other elements. It is essential to shift our focus, become more centered or grounded and find steadiness to transition the mind and body from all your summer abundance (Fire Element) and regain balance to move inward towards the much cooler energy of fall and winter. It's a good time to get clarity in your diet, exercise and skincare routine to support your health, beauty, and wellness. This will see you through external problems and through seasonal transitions to reduce stress, lift your energy, aid in digestive balance and enjoy radiant, glowing skin naturally!
Nutrition For Late Summer:
Balance and harmonize the spleen and stomach, they work together supporting nutrients from the food that you eat and responsible for much of our digestive process. Eating correctly will lift your energy and nourish digestion.
Eat fresh, local foods.
Cook lightly and with minimal ingredients , keeping flavors moderate- this will all be easier on the digestive system.
Avoid overeating, especially in hot, humid weather. Eat sour or pungent flavors to help disperse dampness and regulate digestion.
Avoid artificially sweetened, sugary and refined foods which can aggravate and cause imbalance in the pancreas and spleen, irritate the stomach creating excessive acidity and “dampness”, all of which makes us feel more tired and anxious.
Add a splash of orange and yellow color to your plate! These colors are connected with the season of late summer when natural sweetness abounds and all have a different effect on the digestive system. All Squash (acorn, butternut, hubbard, spaghetti, pumpkin) sweet potatoes, carrots, sweet apples, figs, dates will help tone and enhance the spleen's transformative function. Cooling foods like pears, apricots and peaches, papaya, sweet corn and melon can all clear summer heat and digestive fire. Besides these colorful foods there are many others which should be included -shiitake mushrooms, beets, parsnips, rutabaga, collards, chard they will all enhance the earth element. Animal protein should be neutral and low in fat- fish and chicken would be appropriate sources.
Take the time to eat in a peaceful non-stressed way and food should be chewed thoroughly to avoid digestive upset and to impart the natural quality of sweetness in the foods.
Five Yoga Poses To Practice In Late Summer:
Balance and practice yoga with the intention of softness this will help create space in your body and mind. Explore more grounding "yin" poses and opt for a gentler practice to help calm your mind, treat fatigue and stress reduction. If your energy is doing well but you want to help your digestive system -exploring yoga poses with twists can work to stimulate the spleen and help your overall physiological body function more effectively. Yoga, has a strong effect on the physical body, but an even stronger effect on regulating the emotional and subtle energies of the body.
1) Wide Legged Standing Forward Bend - This pose can relieve stress and anxiety by placing the head beneath the heart. The wide stance requires the feet to be solid and grounded. If you can, place both palms flat and the top of the head on the earth for even more of a grounded sensation. ( not good if you have blood pressure problems, frequent headaches or lower back injuries)
2)Downward Facing Dog - One of the standard poses in almost every yoga class can also be one of the best grounding yoga poses. As a mild inversion, it increases blood flow to the brain, which can quiet the mind and relieve anxiety. When performed correctly, the weight is distributed evenly between the hands and feet, creating a very solid and grounding stance.
3) Pigeon Pose - Elongates the back, opens the hips, groin, hamstrings, and relieves pressure on the lower back and sciatica. Your hips are a keystone to your body and its proper functioning. Open hips also release the negative feelings and energy from your system since stress, tension and anxiety are often stored there. It is a primal response to tighten up when under excessive stress or trauma. This tension releases easily with pigeon pose and many meridians and organs are stimulated.Liver and Kidney lines as they pass through the inner grointhe Stomach and Spleen meridians (from the line on the top of the back leg)the Gall Bladder line on outer leg
4) Both Big Toe Pose - The pose is named after the circuit created in the body by connecting the fingers and toes. I usually teach this pose toward the end of a practice, when I want to ground my students’ energy. This pose simultaneously engages the core (stomach/ spleen), grounds energy, revitalizes the body and mind and stabilizes balance, a perfect combination to generate and celebrate late summer’s Earth energy.
5) Legs-Up-The-Wall Pose - is an excellent restorative yoga pose that calms the mind, relieves stress and anxiety and increases downward flowing energy. This pose fully stretches and aids in your spleen's proper function. Legs-Up-the-Wall Pose is a basic inversion where your body resembles a "L" shape with your legs supported by a wall and your upper back pressed into the floor.
Skin In Late Summer:
The face is like a mirror of the body and mind. Issues showing up on your face can be indicative of much deeper issues. Blemishes on your face don't pop up randomly, they can reveal a disharmony in the body that gives you clues to what is going on internally. Particular areas of the face also relate to certain organs and each organ carries with it a connection to related body systems. For this discussion let us focus on the Earth Element organ channels. Blemishes, dryness, cracking, dull and lack luster skin can all be signs of spleen or stomach deficiencies and digestive problems in the facial zones they represent. Congestion such as white-spots, or hard, granular like feeling under the skin, blotchy areas can be an indication of yeast, too much dairy or sugar in the diet. If there is redness or inflammation this could be a sign of stomach acidity caused by not enough digestive enzymes and an inappropriate diet.
Nose - corresponds to the earth element, indicating a connection to the stomach, spleen and pancreas network.
The portion of the nose closest to the head and the left eye also corresponds to the spleen.
Temples - spleen
Upper lip - stomach.
The area under your nose and above your upper lip - spleen.
If your body is healthy and nourished your skin will glow. If you are unwell, lacking vital nutrients, or unable to digest nutrients properly, your skin may show stress or vulnerability and show early signs of aging. Following stress reducing activities including more exercise, yoga ,meditation- less sugar with better food combining strategies to "cool" down the excessive fire and inflammation in the skin and body is wise. Maintaining the skin's integrity with natural products can really keep skin healthy, topically and internally staying free from chemicals. Striving for three bowel movements a day and working with a skincare professional and or acupuncturist to get you on the right program to achieve beautiful glowing skin in no time!
Cheers to your true radiant beauty!
Claudia Colombo
LME, CHHC, RYT
(Photo posted with permission and licensed by depositphotos.com)