Excerpt from "Huang Di Nei Jing" about spring health preservation

    I know that we have entered mid-spring at this moment as I have been bad about updating my content while I was in my retreat in China.    
    
    The following text is excerpted from <<Huang Di Nei Jing>>-"Su Wen", Chapter 2 : "Si Qi Tiao Shen Da Lun". Although it is short, it covers the core spirits of how to live healthily in the spring season.

"春三月，此謂發陳，天地俱生，萬物以榮，夜臥早起，廣步於庭，被髮緩形，以使志生，生而勿殺，予而勿奪，賞而勿罰，此春氣之應養生之道也。逆之則傷肝，夏為寒變，奉長者少。"

    Directly translated as:

    "...The three months of spring, they are mean to be renewing from the old, sky and earth both becomes full of vitality, everything is flourishing. (Human being) Shall go to sleep later and get up earlier, take slow walk in the courtyard, move slow with loosened hair, in order to allow the mind and spirit to be awaken, protect lives but do not kill, give and praise more but do not take by force, grant and appreciate more but do not punish, this is the way to preserve the energy of "born" in the spring.  If disobey the liver energy will be harmed, and it will not be able to provide energy foundation for summer, there will be cold related disease and very little energy for "grow" will be provided..."

    The key word for spring is "Born". After a long storing and hiding winter season, now it's time to start a new round of life. All the energy we have stored and preserved is ready to work for us for the new season again. That's why a new "energy birth" is expected.
    
    "...they are mean to be renewing from the old, sky and earth both becomes full of vitality, everything is flourishing." This is the visible scene of spring when we start to notice the changes of everything in nature around us.  TCM uses the term "Yang energy" to describe the force behinds all these changes. The Yang energy of the universe is born, so should our body Yang energy. To make this happen, we must:

    "...go to sleep later and get up earlier, take slow walk in the courtyard, move slow with loosened hair, in order to allow the mind and spirit to be awaken....". Here it may be confusing to say "go to sleep late" because what the text really means is "go to sleep right after the sunset". So the true meaning is, go to sleep not too late, and get up early, to take full advantage of the new universal Yang energy and nourish our body Yang energy. Walk slowly to exercise the body gradually. "loosened hair" indicates the idea of freeing the body physically, meaning, no tight clothes, allow the blood and energy circulation to happen easily. Only when our physical body is healthy and comfortable, so can our mind and spirit to "wake up" and "born" easily. 

    "...protect lives but do not kill, give and praise more but do not take by force, grant and appreciate more but do not punish, this is the way to preserve the energy of "born" in the spring. " Since the way of spring energy is "born", any activity that goes against it is prohibited since we believe all visible physical behaviors and our spirit and mind are interactive. Here we can tell since "kill" is not allowed in spring, animal food, especially meat, should not be the main diet in spring. Eat more greens instead. 

    " If disobey the liver energy will be harmed, and it will not be able to provide energy foundation for summer...". Liver-Gall bladder is the spring organ system. Any harm we do to the body will go to this system first. As the "mother organ", a unhealthy liver system will affect the next seasonal organ "heart". Heart is the "fire" organ and if it is not getting enough support from the liver, the harmful "cold" energy will be able to affect our body easily. That's why "there will be cold related disease and very little energy for "grow" will be provided...".