“Summer breeze, makes me feel fine, blowin’ through the jasmine in my mind.” (Seals & Croft)

Ah, the summer breeze. The one that makes me want to while my days away under a big willow tree and sleep outside under the stars. Kind, caressing and so inviting on the skin.

Mother Nature in all her magnificent glory knows to give us this beautiful breeze to counter the otherwise sometimes unbearable summer heat.

Heat in moderation is a wonderful thing. It energises us and brings out our passion and zest for life.  Creativity and growth flourishes during periods of our life when heat and fire is in abundance.

Doing anything introverted and indoors is challenging for me during these months of the year; I really struggle to sit at the computer and write. No wonder most of Europe closes shop for August.

This is because summer is really happening on the outside and all of our own energy is moving outwards to match the heat in the environment. So we also want to be out there. Whether it be days at the beach, barbecues in backyards, lazy afternoons by a pool or socialising at eateries with friends and family; we simply just want to play!

Frangipani love

In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) summer is known as the ‘Big Yang’. The time of the year characterised by fire and heat. Both feed on our bodily fluids and harm our Yin, which is our more receptive calming nature.

This is where heat in excess can make the joyous feel of summer turn into something more aggressive and/or exhausting.

As someone who has a bit of ‘fire’ ready to flame up in her, I’ve learnt to balance the Yang of summer by working with it.

I get up early and spend the first couple of hours of the day walking on the beach, followed by an ocean dip and a laze in the sun. All of this awakens and enlivens me and makes me feel as if I’ve had a dose of external life before I settle down to do some work for the morning.

When the sun is at its peak at midday and beyond, and therefore our own heat is at its peak too, I try and take some time to siesta and enjoy that tantalising feel of the summer breeze. Time spent under a big tree, amongst the lush greenness of a forest or by the soothing blue of the water helps counter the propensity for heat and outbursts of energy.

It seems logical to also consume cooling foods and drinks to disperse the heat and replenish body fluids. This is why nature’s bounty provides us with an array of delicious, juicy summer fruits and vegetables such as tomato, cucumber and zucchini.

But, and this is a big but, we all need to be very aware of not overdoing the cooling, especially cold, foods. This is where I personally became unstuck as the main challenge for all of us over the summer months is how to keep our body cool without putting out our digestive fire.

This is because the Yang of the body is more on our surface during summer, meaning that there is less heat within to light our internal digestive fire, in turn explaining why many of us simply feel like eating less.

Each of us will have differing strengths of digestive fire so it’s important to observe our own needs. In the most, a poor appetite, lethargy and fatigue, fluid retention, bloating and digestive concerns, together with a swollen and pale or white coated tongue is usually a good sign we’re stretching ourselves.

I can overheat in summer but also have a tendency towards a temperamental digestive fire, so I’ve spent a few years tackling and mastering this quandary of mine.

It was that sensual summer breeze I adore so much that gave me my initial lead on how to address this.

The breeze is cool, but not cold. Unless you live in my hometown of Melbourne, where seasons change in one day, generally speaking the summer breeze is of a temperature our body nicely responds to.

So too should our food. Not too hot, yet not too cold either.

Refrigeration was created so that our foods could last longer, not because it’s better to eat food at that temperature. It takes a massive amount of energy to breakdown and essentially ‘cook’ cold food in our stomachs. Extra energy we don’t necessarily have in the midst of raging summer heat.

By keeping our food warm, whether it be lightly cooked or at least returned to room temperature, we’ll ensure we keep our digestive fire lit.

Likewise the breeze is light and airy, so should our food in the main. Heavy foods and big meals that nourish us in the colder months tend to weigh us down in the warmer months.

Lots of cold and heavy foods will not only burden our already weaker digestive fire, but in some cases put it out all together. This is most common with elderly, young children and those recovering from an illness, but it’s also happening more often today with people of all ages due to the added stresses of the environment and foods we eat playing havoc with our digestion.

The main lifestyle change I made to deal with this was that when I get hot, rather than indulge in cold beverages, I opt for an ocean swim, cool shower or even splashing water or placing cold towels on my pulse points, back of neck or feet. This way I keep my digestive fire slowly humming away but manage to also soothe the heat on the surface of my body.

Summer plums

Here are some of the other things that particularly work for me in terms of diet:

• Choosing a warm drink that cools and cleanses the body, such as green tea. It has become my summer elixir. Known in TCM to disperse heat, cool heart fire, calm the mind and expel toxins, it really knows how to take the edge off a summer fire and eliminate damp-heat.  Other good options include mint and camomile teas and squeezes of lime or lemon in your warm beverage of choice. I also wait for the warm drinks to cool slightly so that I’m not getting a rush of heat in.

• If I’m really craving a cold drink, I have it between meals and drink it slowly. This way there is time for the digestive fire to recover and re-boot before needing to digest food again. And I always avoid ice.

• Including a nourishing sweet element to every meal to help warm the centre. This is something we ought to be doing all year round, but the key difference in summer is to just reduce the quantity. It could be adding a few pieces of roasted chicken, pumpkin or sweet potato to a salad, or even a trickle of honey into a lemon drink. A bland, bitter meal of steamed vegetables on its own may seem light for summer but will not keep our centre burner firing.

• I always have a warm breakfast, or at least the major component is warm. This is when we want to be moving in line with the Yang and rising sun. Starting the day with cold food is like putting out a fire before we’ve done the cooking.

• I eat raw food or salads at lunchtime when the digestive fire is naturally at its peak, but I will never have it on its own – there always needs to be a warming element.

• I enjoy fresh seasonal fruits that add fluids to the body but also give it a bit of an energy boost at the same time.

• The way I add ‘air’ into my meals is by including delicate and light foods such as herbs and green leaves or ones with a slight bitter or astringent bite. And wherever possible I like to bring that summer breeze into my meals by sitting outside or by an open window or door.

First blooming of Gardenias

Sleep can become an issue during summer. Not just hot sweaty nights when you really want to throw off any cover and take your bed outside, but wild dreams that wake you at regular intervals and leave for a restless night. I’ve known these only too well over the years…

Once again I like the TCM explanation for this, which essentially says our spirit, which resides in the heart and blood, is unsettled. Our spirit’s home gets harmed by excess heat and unless we do things to balance that heat during the day, our spirit will have nowhere to settle calmly at night.

Keeping hot, spicy food to a minimum, finding time during the day to rest, revive and do some heart-centred activity, such as meditation, singing or dancing, or even deep breathing, all helps.

For me, the colour white settles my spirit. I’m always opting for white sheets, white clothes and white flowers, such as jasmine, gardenia and frangipani, in my hair and house during the heated heart-centred summer.

And, for a little bit of alternate (even controversial) thought, one of the best foods to calm the heart-mind in summer is wheat! Both TCM and Ayurveda recommend it as the summer grain of choice, together with long-grain rice.

If we manage to keep excess heat at bay, summer can truly be the most luxurious, heart-warming and joyful time of the year. Enjoy its gifts!

I get high on spring. I love the potential and rising energy that comes with it. I’m enveloped in a type of childlike-glee as I watch the blossoming of the flowers and the lush greenness that accompanies the new season foliage.

In many cultures it’s considered the first season of the year and is akin to youth and renewal. I see spring, like mornings, as a chance to begin again. It has an almost intoxicating feel to it.

If you watch the plant life, everything is moving upwards and outwards. I desire to do the same. I rise early with the sun, take brisker and longer walks and generally tend to feel like getting off my backside more. My extroverted side craves a good old stretch and gradually takes the place of my winter introvert who preferred early nights, long sleeps and lots of introspection.

Symptom-wise, I know the seasons have finally turned when I start to get that first temporal headache and an all too familiar sensation of edginess. For me, it’s literally my body screaming, move Sharon’.

Yet as much as I love this glorious season, for many years it used to leave me completely unstuck. It’s like it would go past in some sort of flash; I’d be so excited for it to come and then December 1st would arrive and I’d wonder where the previous three months had gone! Not only that, I’d be feeling depleted and exhausted and not understanding why.

The characteristic that epitomises spring weather the most is the wind. It literally can carry you with it and have you flying, forgetting to stop to press the release button on your parachute. The great part of this is that it inspires creativity, the not so great part is that it may all come crashing down in a flurry.

To be honest, I think I used to have a spring fetish. I was addicted to beginnings – whether it be relationships or projects and had a tendency to start things and never finish them. I have a collection of notebooks jam packed with ideas and always wanted to create a company called The Ideas Business, where I could give someone my notebooks and they could bring them to life for me!

It was only through my illness that I realised why I was a master at incompletion. The ascending energy of spring needs to be rooted in the more grounding, heavy energy of the previous winter months. And I didn’t have much of that, physically or mentally.

Translated to health, if we haven’t cultivated our inner world during winter and built up our energy reserves through appropriate eating and resting, we may struggle with the more yang nature of the new season. It will drive us, rather than us drive it; leaving us trying to go in many directions without a home base to centre us. This is akin to running on adrenalin.

My experience is quite common in today’s world and spring is probably the most challenging season for most of us. In Ayurvedic practice, the wind is referred to as Vata-like, which means a prominence of the air’ element. Today’s society mirrors spring in that we have a lot of air going around – think internet, smartphones, social media, TV, light and dry processed foods, stimulants, drugs, bright colours and noisy environments.. Air plus air leads to well, nothing

It took me a long time with lots of stumbles and bumbles to appreciate that if I was going to be able to make the most of my creative, passionate personality, I needed to have it rising from my centre, not from my head.

I’ve managed to do this by using winter as my starting platform and also carefully monitoring my activity in spring. If it’s a windy day, like it is as I write this now, I ensure I spend less time on flighty things and try and eat foods that aren’t too heavy, but help centre me, like rice and sweet starchy vegetables.

I also have this habit of putting on my uggboots and a cosy jumper as I work at the computer, somehow the heaviness of both helping to balance the airy nature of the technology. I may also get up every now and then and smell the jasmines in the pots on my verandah or make an earl grey or mint tea; allowing the scents of both to somehow bring me back into my body. Often something a little sour can also settle the energy of an overactive mind.

This is also why, contrary to popular belief, I’ve found that spring isn’t the best season to detox and cleanse. It makes us even lighter in an already light environment. Many years ago I tried a few juice cleanses in early spring and I ended up not only feeling lacklustre but also quite heady and floaty. I’d tend towards fainting and craving sugar hits.

This is because we actually need energy to match the energy surrounding us. As with everything now, I try and look to nature as my guide and if it’s moving and rising, why should I be clearing and cleansing?

I appreciate the principle behind the cleansing is to lighten up from the winter months, and this is true and particularly relevant for those of us that tend to carry extra weight and baggage from that season. Yet rather than fast and starve, we can just cut back on our portions and change the nature of our food to something that feels and looks a little lighter.

Here are some of the ways I’ve learnt to do this:

• minimise the heavier, dense foods that tend to have a sinking nature such as meats, dairy and salty flavours
• in choosing animal products, opt for those that look a little lighter – for example goats dairy rather than cows, or baby spring lamb
• prioritise the sweet and pungent flavours that have an ascending nature such as starchy vegetables, grains, seeds, whole foods sweeteners and herbs such as rosemary, mint and dill
• follow nature and go green – select from the range of leafy greens that abound
• eat young plants, such as the baby root vegetables and sprouts
• include foods that have more vitality, rather than the stored ones we lean towards in winter – this means picking them earlier and not leaving them in storage for too long
• select upward growing vegetables like asparagus and broccolini
• start to cook meals for a shorter time on a higher temperature and with less water
• slowly increase raw and more cleansing and cooling foods in diet, but only if the climate is warm and not too damp and your digestion is strong.

Lifestyle-wise, the best tip I was ever given for flowing with the rhythm of spring is to spend more time amongst the trees. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), green is the colour of the season and it actually nourishes our body through the eyes. It’s as if we experience a natural cleanse and our appetite and excessive desire is calmed just by taking in this hue.

I’m lucky to live off the most amazing road, lined with tall majestic trees. On my early morning or evening walks, I feel like I’m in an Enid Blyton novel where the trees whisper their ancient wisdom to me. I somehow return home a little more connected with my own true nature after wondering around in this enchanted woods.

Another good way of releasing any suppressed energy from the cooler months is to have a sing-a-long or shout. I tend to find myself singing in the shower or car more often and putting on my favourite tracks and dancing around the house. I also try and include in my morning exercise routine a big haaaaa’ release coming straight from the centre of my belly. This assists me in moving any stuck energy without directing it, perhaps inappropriately, towards family, friends or even strangers.

I’ve discovered that the key to making the most of these months is to know how to move with the energy at a pace that suits you. Since I’ve started to become aware of my spring tendencies, I’ve learnt that if I balance out the energies, it can be a wonderful time to begin projects and build connections that can can come to their complete fruition as the year rolls on. If I don’t, I’ll tend to start things that are just as flighty in nature as the spring wind and they tend to never reach a crescendo and crash and burn about the time summer begins

#This article is the fourth in a series of pieces on Eating and living with the weather’. Others include:  Attuning to the nature of late summer., The autumnal shift, and Warming up to winter.

Although I love the expansive nature of the warmer months, my introvert side always thanks me when winter rolls around. Rather than having to ensure I make time for quiet and stillness, I actually crave it.

Introspection, meditation, log fires, cosy nights, long walks amongst the trees, cooking, reading and writing make up my winter schedule. I feel like talking less and grounding more. I seek nourishment, over excitement and entertainment, from all that I do.

I was born in winter, so in many ways, I guess it is my season. Interestingly, I chose to do my birth in typical winter style. Firstly, I was one month overdue, apparently happier snuggled up inside the warmth of my mother’s womb, than facing the cold of June in Melbourne.

Secondly, I arrived on the solstice, the shortest day of the year. I used to be really annoyed that I had what I thought was the shortest birth-day of the year, until I realised I also had the longest birth-night of the year. This in itself epitomises winter for me – the warm, peaceful silence of the darkness.

Winter is about going within. We just need to look at nature around us to know what to do.

If we observe a plant, we will notice that all the energy is on the inside; seeds are being cultivated and the essence is being nurtured. Likewise, it is the time to find our inner voice and cultivate our inner world. It really is a golden season for us if we allow our body and mind to attune to its rhythms.

Outdoor dining – 4 degrees

In line with this, winter is also a wonderful time for healing. Initially, this may seem like a contradiction in form, especially for those of us who have experienced chronic illnesses, and tend to get symptom flare-ups in the colder weather. This is usually due to the fact that we feel weaker, stagnant and perhaps even more fragile and vulnerable – ah, the very best time to heal

Even now, winters are when I really get to see what I’ve yet to deal with. It’s the time when the cracks show up and I notice what has been masked by the natural energy of the warmer months.

So despite the fact that in the depths of my illness, winters challenged my absolute core, they also provided me with an opportunity to shift.

The best explanation I ever got for this was through exploring Traditional Chinese Medicine, where winter is all about the health of the kidneys. The things that weaken our kidney essence the most are many of those that come alongside modern living’, such as: over-exertion or under-exertion, unbalanced diets, refined foods, artificial stimulants and contracted emotions; especially fear.

Therefore, even without a chronic illness, most of us on the treadmill of life, will start to feel a little more sensitive as the weather cools down. I have a couple of friends who cut back their alcohol consumption during winter; their bodies intuitively telling them that they have less reserves to deal with the aftermath.

Chai tea

Winter has taught me how to manage my energy levels; when you don’t have the heat’ of the sun lighting your path, you find out exactly what you do have in your own tank.

It was only during my illness years that I really learnt what it meant to warm myself from the inside out – from my belly and my heart.

Although it’s ideal to have your whole body at a nice temperature, if you have a choice, let me tell you, opt for a warm centre and cold extremities.

Sometimes, when I was really ill, my extremities would be freezing cold. I’d close my eyes and imagine a sun in my centre and its rays pouring out to my hands and feet. It was not only a beautiful feeling but it helped hone the concept of self healing. I felt less reliant on an external thing’ to heat me up and keep me warm.

As soon as we start to feel cold in our centre and lower back, it means our digestive system and kidneys are challenged, and that is when our bodies start to shut down.

Another sign that our kidneys are out of whack is usually fear. If you get a little more anxious or overwhelmed in the colder months, or find it harder to gain clarity, there is a good chance your kidneys are being challenged.

Warming breakfast porridge

Warmth is crucial – so no midriff tops, flimsy dresses, or imported watermelons – as otherwise our bodies have to use up energy to keep us physically warm; energy better utilised to create fuel and light our digestive fire.

I got to experience this first hand recently when I visited Melbourne; excited to wear a new dress I’d just purchased that day, I tossed aside my inner wisdom and went out in it that night anyway. My digestive system suffered for it the next two days.

Overheating is not a clever idea either as it can consume and irritate the grounding nature we need in the colder weather. This includes standing too close to fires, electric blankets, food that is too hot (yes, blow on that spoonful of soup first, as your grandmother once instructed!), excess spices, and really hot, long showers and baths.

We all need to find and work with our own inner balance; know when enough is enough for you. A good yardstick to use is when you start to feel cold or get cold/hot sweats after being around warmth. This is the power of extremes: hot eventually turns to cold, and everything you’ve just tried to warm up has been trumped.

On the contrary, a long-lasting fuelling warmth will feel just right, like the sensation you get after a nourishing bowl of soup, or being hugged by a loved one.

French toast

The way I opt to stay warm without overheating is to generate a neutral form of heat through:

• keeping my home at a good temperature and wearing appropriate seasonal clothes;
• getting some midday winter sun on my face and limbs;
• eating slow-cooked bowls of food such as porridges, bone broths, stews and soups;
• including kidney supporting, mineral-rich, high bone density foods, such as those from the sea, and good quality unrefined salt, in my diet;
• focusing on foods that help anchor me at my centre, such as root vegetables, wholegrains, legumes, nuts, concentrated whole food sweeteners and small amounts of dairy and animal products;
• using more warming cooking methods, such as roasting, sautéing, stewing and baking;
• and, most importantly, avoiding the extremes. Hot and spicy foods can disperse energy, while cold and raw foods can deplete it. Ditto for the environment around you.

Winter is also the time I allow myself to indulge in more home-baked treats; there is nothing better than the aromas of baking circulating throughout the house to fire up the middle burner.

Muffins

Other tips I have learnt include wearing darker clothes, especially around your lower back area, and deep belly breathing; focusing on that point between your navel and pubic bone.

Although, we all need to stimulate our kidneys a little in the cold season, the key is to know how much stimulation you personally need; in my case, when I was sick, I was so sensitive, it was like I was constantly adjusting the hot and cold taps on a shower in my own body.

The great part is, that if we discover how to manage our energy levels during winter, and take the time to move inwards, we can cultivate an inner strength and composure, that will keep us centred and on track throughout the rest of the year.