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The end of summer: the fifth season
Here we are, back from our holidays. The weather is still fine and still warm, but we can feel that summer is drawing to a close. Autumn is on its way, but not quite here yet: we are in between, between summer and autumn, and this in-between season is called the inter-season: the fifth Chinese season.
The fifth season is the season of the Earth element, associated with the spleen/pancreas and the stomach.
The spleen-pancreas meridian includes the function of all the organs that secrete digestive enzymes (gallbladder, small intestine and mouth),
as well as the cerebral cortex and, in women, the reproductive glands.
The stomach meridian corresponds to the whole digestive tract, from the mouth to the jejunum.
While we are well acquainted with the functions of the stomach (receiving raw food and turning it into a more liquid substance that continues its journey into the small intestine), we know much less about the functions of the spleen/pancreas.
In reality, the stomach’s role doesn’t stop at turning food into substances: thanks to the enzymes secreted by the spleen, it helps to extract the 5 flavours from food.
The spleen: a hard-working labourer, a tireless servant devoted night and day to thankless but, oh, so vital tasks!
It is the spleen that extracts the breaths and flavours from food in order to nourish all the other organs and our whole body!
In the Su-Wen, the great book of Chinese medicine, it is written:
“The spleen and the stomach are in charge of the barns and granaries; the five flavours come from them.”
And it is indeed at the end of summer that the summer harvest is stored in barns and granaries to prepare for winter.
Each organ is nourished by its own particular flavour, so there are five flavours that need to be present in our food for all our organs to receive their nourishment.
Sour for the Liver, bitter for the heart, pungent for the lungs, salty for the kidneys and sweet for the spleen.
“Through decomposition (stomach + digestive juices), the most subtle and most fundamental essences of food are released; they can then become my own essences, divided into 5 flavours, stored in the 5 Zang, and the unity of life is recomposed within me.”
The spleen and stomach, the Earth element, are transformation, just as the earth turns the seed into wheat.
They turn what we eat into “me”: without the spleen/stomach, there is no nourishment in our food.
The main obstacles to the proper functioning of the spleen and stomach are:
processed, lifeless food, lack of physical exercise and overthinking.
The spleen and stomach meridians also digest the “facts” we live through and our emotions. Overthinking and lack of physical exercise reduce the production of gastric juices, leading to poor digestion and, at the same time, poor nourishment of the other organs and of the body as a whole.
This shows up as the following symptoms (not necessarily all of them):
constant worrying, always feeling hungry, restlessness, eating quickly, not exercising, a liking for sweet things and foods with a high water content, eating between meals, taking naps, drowsiness, sore knees, heavy legs, pain in the shoulders and neck (at the extreme: frozen shoulder), an appetite influenced by mood, excessive worry about trivial details, burping, hyperacidity, bloating, flatulence, colds with a blocked nose, sores at the corners of the mouth, pain in the solar plexus.
So the inter-season is a time when we shouldn’t scatter our energy. We need to re-centre ourselves, exercise steadily without tiring ourselves out, avoid drinking too much and staying out late at night, put our thoughts and our home in order, and enjoy the present moment without being swept away by the waves of the mind. Just as in the countryside the ripe wheat is gathered and stored in the barn, within ourselves we take the time to savour what summer has given us while storing it up for winter.
In other words, we hold on to the relaxation of summer: we don’t squander the energy and well-being gained over the summer on stress and anxious thoughts. No, we let the spleen and stomach do their work in peace!
So, for a smooth return to everyday life after the holidays, this is my wish for you:
Be your own ally by taking care of yourself.
