We are coming up on my favorite day of the year, March 4th. Why March 4th? It’s an incredible day: March Forth! It’s in the early spring, and what more perfect day to have the spirit of March Forth in the Wood element? So what does it take to March Forth, with a sense of…
There are two different acupuncture points that are about being totally lost. One is more worldly, and the other is more in the realm of spirit. Gallbladder 40 is translated by J. R. Worsley as Wilderness Wound. I’m lost, and the GPS is just going “Huuuuuuuuuuh…” Lost. The image of the point is actually a…
The health of the will is a very big topic for this time of year. Stephen Cowan reminds me that the character for “will” could be translated as will, but it could more helpfully be translated as willingness. How’s your willingness? Let’s start with deceptively simple matters like, “Hi, you’re here. Are you willing to…
Here’s a quick tonification for your Bladder meridian, into a degree of stateliness and containedness that will not necessarily help increase your energy level immediately like a quick fix, but it will increase your efficiency and your wisdom, such that especially if you are already tired, you will not be shredding yourself further. You will…
There is an important connection between Bladder 1 and your lower dantian, the place in your lower body where you feel your gut wisdom. Let’s take a moment put one hand on our low belly, and with the other hand doing that thing that you see people doing when they’re totally exhausted, with their fingers…
In early October, I gave a short overview of the Five Element sheng (nourishing) cycle and discussed the transition from late summer to autumn (see How Earth Feeds Metal). Now we are coming to the end of autumn when we can most clearly see Metal feeding Water. In nature, it is not always easy to…
Winter into Spring Seasonal Resources The “energetic medicine” of late winter is not the same as early winter. While pre-solstice early winter is about greeting the darkness with a willingness to rest and relax into the mystery that surrounds us (rather than being afraid of the dark), post-solstice winter is about the slow steady return…
Water Practices at 3% You can’t make wisdom happen. It’s not like “Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to work we go… onto the internet, to search 500 things…” It doesn’t go that way. It’s a sitting in the dark that can’t be hurried. But boy, we can sure slow it down. And so we’re working with…
Healthy Certainty Not Knowing Not knowing is a skill. We can not-know in ways that destroy us. We can not-know in ways that just keep the balance. Or we can become spiritual athletes of not knowing. That’s the Path of Endarkenment. I’d love for you to take the time to notice, compassionately, from whatever your starting point…
The Nature of Darkness In response to my last blog about darkness and light, I was asked, “Is there a natural relationship between darkness and evil?” I can see how it is confusing, in a culture that oversimplifies, to make it all seem easy by taking all the subtlety and nuance out of the picture,…
