Cultivate Your Health and Garden This Spring

By Maureen M. Conant, L.Ac.

It’s almost officially spring and that means it’s time, once again, to get out in the garden and welcome the increase in sunlight, warmth and energy. Bulbs are coming up, plants are budding, the garden is thawing from a peaceful winter’s sleep and so are we. Now is the time to prune, weed, mow the lawn, fertilize and cultivate the soil. It is also a good time to cultivate your own health and well-being.

A landscape is composed of soil, water, plants, beneficial organisms (earth worms, good bacteria) and pests (weeds, insects). There are external influences as well: sunlight, warmth, moisture, and wind. The elegant combination of all these elements in the right amounts are necessary for the landscape to grow and flourish. The human body functions similarly.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is based on the Taoist principles that everything in the universe is connected and influenced by cycles of nature, including the human body. Ancient physicians studied the body by observing nature and then applied the same principles to explain the way the body functions.

Nature is designed to correct imbalances on its own, but some extra care is often needed to keep things running smoothly. This is where watering, pruning, weeding, planting, mowing and fertilizing come into play. If you don’t have the time yourself to keep up with these kinds of activities, the garden suffers. Some people hire a gardener or landscaper to help out. The same idea applies to your health, if you don’t take the time to maintain health with nutrition, rest, exercise and protection from the elements, your health suffers.

Imagine what could possibly go awry in your garden. Then visualize your body as a landscape and the same type of diagnostic principles apply. Here are a few examples:

Lack of moisture causes plants to wither and dry out. Lack of moisture in the body might lead to dry skin, dry or sore throat, insomnia, hot flashes or joint stiffness.

Too much moisture causes plant roots to rot or become damp and soggy. In the body, excess moisture can result in weight gain, lethargy, unclear thinking, or poor digestion.

If plants are healthy, then they will resist the effects of pests. But if they are weak and lacking the proper nutrients, they may succumb to an infestation of insects, bacteria or molds. The same is true of your body. If the immune system is strong, it will resist bacteria and viruses, but when weakened by lack of nutrients or too many harsh environmental factors, a nasty illness is often the result. Proper nutrition or an herbal formula will tune up your nutrient levels and immune system.

When a tree falls and blocks the flow of a river, the water gets stuck and stagnant in some areas and dries up in other parts. This is one way of visualizing the way acupuncture meridians act in the body. If a blockage occurs in one of our meridians, pain or disease is often the result.

Maintaining your heath requires some work. Some of us are lucky to be born with good ‘low-maintenance’ genes, but most of us need to put in a little time to keep our bodies flourishing and growing. The biggest complaint I hear when I talk to patients about taking time to evaluate and make adjustments to their lifestyle is that they “don’t have the time”. Either you sacrifice a healthy garden or body, or you adjust your schedule to make the time. It may also be worth hiring a health care practitioner to help out.

If you choose to work with a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine, acupuncture may be done to help remove any blockages you might have. In addition, herbal medicine or nutritional counseling might be advised to ‘enrich your soil’. Finally, there might be suggestions for exercise such as Qi gong or Tai Qi to ‘turn over and aerate your soil’ and keep your energy, oxygen and nutrients flowing properly.

It’s a good time of the year to weed out the things, people, and bad habits, that are preventing us from growing and thriving. Test your nutrients and check moisture levels. Evaluate your physical and mental health and decide if you are flourishing or whether your personal landscape is over-grown and ignored. If this task seems too daunting, visit a health care practitioner who can help treat and coach you to develop a personal maintenance schedule that will work for you. And remember, if you feel good, you will look good! Beauty and health are synonymous and are cultivated from the inside!

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