Fall is upon us!

As the beautiful summer days have ended, and the leaves are changing, we must prepare ourselves for the winter months by making adjustments to our late summer routines.
Autumn in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), is a time when you may start to see colds creeping up on you, and coughing, sneezing and even just feel a little more fatigued. Autumn is the time of the lung, and the element metal. It is the emotion of sadness. The lung in TCM dominates the skin, so with lung dryness you may see skin dryness and other chronic skin ailments. Our bodies biorhythm is telling us to slow down, keep warm and conserve our energy so as we may awaken fresh with the spring thaw.
The lungs help circulate the whole body qi, so keeping your lung qi strong will certainly help power you through the fall and winter months.

What can you do to help nourish your lungs? Enjoy a nice dish of poached pears and barley with honey. Pears nourish the lungs and moisten dryness, barley helps to tonify the spleen qi and drain dampness, while honey acts as a lung moistening ingredient as well.
It's very simple. Cut the pears in two, scoop out the middle and put in the barley and honey mixture. Put the pears in a shallow dish with just enough water and poach them on low heat, adding more water carefully AROUND the pears as needed, but to not soak them. When they are nice and hot and soft, they are ready to be enjoyed!
Some other really great things to enjoy are cinnamon and ginger, two of my favorite ingredients. Buy some fresh ginger root in your local produce section and some raw organic honey.
Peel about an inch off of the ginger root, then cut off the newly peeled slice. Cut that piece into thin slices and boil in 16oz of fresh pure water. When the liquid starts to turn golden in color, pour the hot liquid carefully into your tea mug and add a tablespoon of raw honey. Sip slowly and enjoy. This simply elegant tea will warm even the coldest bodies. It is spicy and sweet, and sure to awaken your digestion and comfort your soul.

In addition to staying warm and dry, practice deep relaxation breathing. This will strengthen the lungs while oxygenating the body. Get plenty of rest and make sure to up your intake of citrus fruits rich in vitamins and antioxidants. Listen to your body, if you are tired, sleep. If you are hungry, eat. The body is a beautifully intelligent design. It knows what it needs, and the more we listen to what it wants, the healthier we grow!

To good health!