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Seasonal Rhythms Wellness Programs

In traditional cultures there was an awareness that no matter where they lived they were continuously affected by the changing seasons. Even in extremes of environmental conditions they noticed that seasonal differences affected their bodies. Seasonal remedies do not need to be major. Basic health care routines can remain the same but there is a shift in emphasis. These seasonal shifts in health care routine help to maintain balance in the face of the seasonal changes.

Quantum physics has shown us that our bodies do not stop at our skin. Our dynamics extend in an expanding range and our physiology is linked to the world / universe at large. Our bodies change with the seasons, with the weather, with the atmospheric conditions. Many people can tell in their bones when a change in weather is coming. Our bodies keep in synch with the gravitational forces, planetary shifts, the cold and heat, light and dark, humidity and all the other variations that the seasons bring. Our bodies respond and shift their functioning according to these natural earthly dynamics. They increase and decrease certain functions in response to surrounding influences.

Biological and Geophysical Rhythms and Frequencies

All living organisms are composites of different rhythms and frequencies.

The heart beats approximately once per second but this rate speeds up in the morning and slows down at night; the electrical activity of the human brain cycles in fractions of a second; breathing occurs about sixteen times per minute; many hormones are released in pulses lasting several hours.

Across all species the natural daily rhythmic cycles run in about twenty to twenty-eight hours for a natural day. In most mammals the span is about twenty-three to twenty-six hours. The most conspicuous cycles in plants and animals are these daily rhythms (Circadian). They intermesh with other cycles that are longer or shorter than a day. The seven day weekly rhythms may at first appear to have no obvious geophysical correlate but research suggests that this cultural convention may reflect deep biological rhythms. Seven day rhythms are seen in many illnesses, for example the common cold; beard growth in men follows a seven day cycle. Biological activities and processes are tied to lunar cycling as in monthly processes such as menstruation and also to the earth's rotation around the sun as is seen in such yearly activities as hibernation, migration, reproduction.

Annual seasonal rhythms are less noticeable in humans than in other animals but they do exist. Secretion of the male hormone testosterone surges in the fall, sperm concentration and activity is highest in the winter, and rates of conception peak in the winter. More babies are born in August and September than in other months. Babies born in summer and fall tend to weigh slightly more than babies born in other seasons and they have a greater likelihood of survival. Miscarriages are greater in the fall.

Deaths also have a seasonal pattern. Fatal heart attacks are more common in winter. This is true even in climates that are mild such as Hawaii and even in the southern hemisphere where seasons are reversed. Winter months are the time of lower resistance to infections and of higher cholesterol levels.

Disorders and Seasonal Rhythms

It has been found that people who suffer from depression have a large number of body rhythms and cycles, including circadian rhythms, askew. These include the rhythms of sleep, body temperature, and hormone release. Seasonal rhythms have also come under scrutiny. Suicides peak in the spring usually in May. Admissions to mental hospital for depression also soar in the spring. There is another smaller surge in suicides and hospital admissions in the fall. An external environmental factor - the length of daylight -is believed to an influencing factor.

Master Clock of the Body

In the 1960's researchers found that the hypothalamus is the key generator of body rhythms. Injuring part of a tiny region at the center of the brain known as the hypothalamus caused the lose of many normal rhythms. In humans, the hypothalamus - the size of a pea- commands the sympathetic nervous system. It speeds up breathing and heart rate in moments of danger, regulates body temperature, stimulates appetite and reproduction and controls hormone secretion. Further research found that a critical area of the hypothalamus the suprachiasmatic nucleus -SCN-, a tiny cluster of nerve cells that sits on top of the optic chasm, is the body's master clock. The SCN directs the body's various rhythms to work together. The SCN uses daylight signals picked up by the eyes to direct each body rhythm to do its part at the appropriate time, day after day.

Seasonal Changes

In those cultures which practice seasonal changes in health care it is believed that you will live longer and be more healthy if you adapt your health care to the natural rhythms of the earth. Learning to live within the seasonal fluctuations is believed to bring health, harmony and strength to the body. It also provides a natural timetable and rhythm for a good service check and health care program for maintenance and upkeep to prevent accumulated stress from degenerating body responses.

Many people get the flu in the switch from the summer to the fall. In the peak of winter many suffer from depressive moods. Some people find that if they drink fruit juices or eat a lot of fruit in the winter they will feel cold and damp and get a cold. When it is difficult to adjust from one season to the next our bodies may react through lowered immune responses which leave us more vulnerable to later illness.

Sometimes the body is a bit out of step with all the changes from one season to another. That's why many people tend to get sick during those shifting times. Sometimes we fail to adapt our habits to be more compatible to our changing body functions in response to the seasonal changes. By being aware of some of these cyclical changes throughout the year we can support shifting body dynamics so as to assist the changes. We can also take advantage of these natural shifting points to expand those dynamics that are increasing/flowing and rest those that are decreasing/ebbing. Many traditional cultures have set up associations of food, drink, activities, energies, dress, organs of the body, emotions, that are related to and affected by the seasonal shifts.

The Yearly Seasonal Cycle

The year is divided into four seasons: winter, spring, summer, and autumn. The first part of winter is cold and if you eat only a little your physical strength will diminish. Some cultural prescriptions dictate that it is a time to eat foods strong in the tastes of sourness, saltiness, and sweetness. As the nights start to get longer you may become hungrier and your physical constitution may diminish. In the winter you should eat more fatty meats, oily foods, butter and meat broth. You should dress warmly but be careful to not get overheated. Be careful to stay out of drafts. During winter phlegm accumulates in the body because the cold interferes with its free flowing .

At the end of spring and the beginning of summer, the light of the sun is hot. This may rob the body of its strength and it is important to eat foods that are sweet, cool, light, and a bit oily. You should avoid salty, hot, and sour food. Avoid exerting yourself in a lot of exercise. Do not stay out in the sunlight for long and use cool water to bath in and cool drinks to drink. Wear light clothes, let in lots of air in the house, wear pleasant odors and have them in your environment.

In late summer it may be cool, and cloudy. If dampness predominates the digestion may become weak and it is important to eat foods that are sour, salty, and sweet to strengthen digestion. Bile from eating oily foods may accumulate during autumn in the form of allergies, colds, and flu. So during the last month of summer it is good to eat foods that are sweet, bitter, and astringent. Surround yourself with fragrant, cool odors.

In rainy seasons and winter you should eat warm foods that are hot, salty, and sour. In the spring eat rough foods that are bitter, hot, and astringent. In the fall sweet, bitter and astringent. In early summer eat cool food.

“There are times to cultivate and create, when you nurture your world and give birth to new ideas and ventures. There are times of flourishing and abundance, when life feels in full bloom, energized and expanding. And there are times of fruition, when things come to an end. They have reached their climax and must be harvested before they begin to fade. And finally of course, there are times that are cold, and cutting and empty, times when the spring of new beginnings seems like a distant dream. Those rhythms in life are natural events. They weave into one another as day follows night, bringing, not messages of hope and fear, but messages of how things are.”
--Chogyam Trungpa

E-mail or call me at 434-263-4996 or to set up your personalized Seasonal Wellness Program.

Winter Physical and Emotional Replenishment
  Spring Cleansing
    Summer Heart Wellness
    Fall Respiratory and Digestive Wellness

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