September 23rd, 2011, "Autumn Equinox", the 4th small Autumn season arrives

      The Autumn Equinox occurs at 9:04am UTC, that's 5:04am Eastern Time in US, on September 23rd, 2011. For general  information regarding this small season please see this article.


      Here are some additional information for the season of this year:


      I have been mentioning "dryness" for couple seasons, some of you might have already experienced some of the symptoms. If they were not severe enough to bother your daily life, then you don't have to worry too much about them. As our body needs some "challenge" to become stronger.


      There are in general 2 kinds of dryness, one is "warm dry", and the other is "cold dry". Dry symptoms that happen before the Autumn Equinox day are often caused by "warm dry", and those happen after the day are often caused by "cold dry". Different cause requires different solution. Food remedy is usually my first choice. For symptom caused by "warm dry", use pear as the solution. Pear is known for its functions of "reducing the heart fire, and moisturizing the lungs". Raw pear removes the harmful heat from the 6 Fu (hollow organs)and cooked pear nourishes the Yin energy of the 5 Zang (solid organs).

However because pear is cold in nature, it may not be suitable for everyone anymore after Autumn Equinox. So the solution for post Equinox day will be white radish.

White radish is warm in nature, juicy and slightly spicy. It "runs" the Qi (air/gas) inside of our body, so its juice will be carried around by the running Qi to moisturize our whole body. Most people can eat it except those who are very ill because the gas it generates may has negative effects for those people.


      Several major dry symptoms include coughing, constipation and dry skin.


      Like the dryness being different,autumn cough is also categorized into warm dry cough and cold dry cough. The easiest way to identify the difference is by observing the tongue fur. In general, white fur indicates the cold, and yellow or red fur indicates the warm. Easiest food remedy for cold cough is garlic water. Simply mince or smash the garlic and boil them (you can put a small piece of rock sugar if it's too spicy), drink the water while it's still warm. 2-3 times a day in small portion. Use coffee or tea (preferable U-Long tea for this season) to remove the smell in your mouth if needed. For warm dry cough, use cooked pear,preferable steamed pear to preserve the juice.


      Autumn constipation is considered as "seasonal", which is usually caused by dry lungs. Treating the lungs will be the solution for it. The number one food remedy for this will be "yin-er", often known as "white fungus" or "white wood mushroom".

I may have to say this is not a common American food, but you can find them easy in most the Asian markets, and they are very low at cost. They are dry before cooking and you can simply soak them for several hours then boil them with rock sugar till the white fungus becomes soft and the soup become sticky.


      So far, noticing that all the food I mention are in the same color---White, the color of "metal" and lungs. While you are eating them to help the lungs, make sure to eat less or no spicy foods such as hot pepper, onion, other strong spices or deep-fried food.


      The last part I want to mention is the skin. No surprise that the skin is also connect with the lungs. And skin quality depends on the "vaporization"  function of the lungs, which is a unique TCM term that includes many body functions. It is hard to explain, but at this moment we can understand it as: drinking the water-->absorbing the water-->transporting the water into our cells. Drinking is easy, but how much water actually is being "absorbed" then "transported" is the question. Therefore, the specialist who told you and your whole family to "drink a lot water" may NOT be right at this moment, it may even cause opposite effects (too much toilet-runs that makes you lose more water actually). Instead, moisturizing the lungs is preferred . Besides the food remedies I just gave, another simple method to directly "water" the lungs is "Inhale the Steam". Simply pour some hot water into a cup and inhale the steam, 10 minutes per session is enough. Of course, choose the right skin product for yourself is also necessary, I'm not knowledgeable in this field so I'll leave that part to you.

     Autumn is the season of "balance", and Autumn Equinox is in the center of the season. So keep yourself "balanced" is the general goal, which includes eating/drinking, physical activities and mental/emotional condition. It is also the season of harvest and storing. Starts now if you have not been doing so, trust me, you will need that extra "saving" for the winter.