The effervescent fuchsia and chartreuse gives the falling spring rain a soft pitter patter hush. So different from the water that falls straight out of a winter sky. Spring. The deep breathing of the year. You can taste it with your skin and it fills all the senses with a lush excitement. It is impossible not to feel the expansiveness that defines this particular slice of the year. Unless, you are a bit sensitive to these wild bursting influences that herald in the next phase of expansion and growth. In which case, read on!
Mold and pollen counts do not have determine your destiny
All medicine is legacy medicine. We can not float ourselves free from the stream of the past that winds down to our particular day. Nineteenth century France has had a huge impact on the way we think about medicine. It was then that Louis Pasteur came up with his “germ theory” and thus began the microbial wars. From his view there is something, something small and pernicious and it is out to get us. The solution? Murder.
Back in that day Louis had a colleague perhaps nemesis would be a better description Antoine Bechamp. His background was similar to Pasteur’s and they both delved into the micro-biologic world. But, where Pasteur saw invasion, Bechamp saw imbalance. Where Pasteur thought it best to take medical military action, Bechamp sought to harmonize the environment so all could live in a dynamic balance. Granted, in a surgical situation you want a sterile environment, however in the everyday world sterility is not an option. And in everyday life it is not possible to kill off invaders without a trainwreak of collateral damage, be it microbes or those with whom we disagree.
So, when it comes to our sensitivities that express as allergies we have a number of options. One is to shut ourselves away into a protected environment. Close the windows to spring’s fragrant song and ritually change the filters on our HEPA devices. Another is to suppress the symptoms with pharmaceutical interventions. This however does not solve the problem of why we have these sensitives, it simply shuts down their expression. Another option, granted you will not find it advertised on daytime TV or in full glossy color magazine ads, is to gently and over time shift the balance of your own immune system. Like Bechamp would suggest, you change your own internal environment and in this way lose your sensitivity to spring’s perfumed exhale of pollen and fertile dust.
Andy Ellis, the fellow that recommended I spend a bit of time in Taiwan if I wanted to learn Chinese had an “old school” doctor as his teacher when he lived on the mainland. Dr. Shi was a master of acupuncture, and he understood that the most robust health comes not from suppression, but from expression. Expression of our vitality. And in a delightful little book he details some of the ways we can gently stimulate certain acupuncture points to harmonize our internal environment. Below you will find a number of simple self massage exercises you can do that will over time help you to lose your oversensitivity to spring’s scented song. These are certainly cheaper than allergy shots (how did those for you anyway?) and unlike pharmaceutical medication they don’t suppress your system, they strengthen it. Take five minutes today, and tomorrow too, and the days after that, and watch how your own marvelous being can shape shift itself into one that can enjoy the scents of spring!
These points all help to strengthen your system against allergens. Do each one 36 times, once or twice a day. Don’t be surprised if this causes your sinuses drain, this is part of the clearing process.
Eyes-
Place the base joint of each thumb at the inner end of the eye brow, and massage in one smooth circular motion moving up and outward following the upper edge of the bone under the eyebrow, and then inward along the top bone of the cheek, and then upward along the bridge of the nose. One revolution should take about two seconds.
Nose-
Interlock the fingers of both hands with the thumbs touching at the tips and separated at the base. Clasp the hands in this position so that the base of each thumb touches the inner end of the eyebrow. Move the hands downward so that the nose gradually causes the thumb tips to separate and move apart. Continue the downward movement until the tips of the thumbs reach the bottom corner of the nose, then move upward without pressure to the original starting position. Each up and down movement should take about one second.
Ears-
Place the hands so that they straddle the ears with the index finger behind the ear and the middle finger along the front edge of the ear (lots of acupuncture points here) . Move downward toward the earlobe to the point where the index and middle finger will almost touch before moving upward (without pressure) to the starting position. Each up and down motion should take about one second.
Back of neck-
Acupuncture point DU16 (Wind Mansion) is in the depression under the occiput in the middle of the back of the neck. Use either hand and place three fingers, with the middle finger in the center, in the depression. Massage in a clockwise circular pattern.
Acupuncture point GB20 (Wind Pool). Repeat as for Wind Mansion above, but this time use the right hand on the right GB20, and the left hand on the left GB20. The right hand circles clockwise and the left goes counterclockwise.