Fall Season – Entering Autumn’s Metal Energy
Have you ever noticed how the colors of autumn leaves reflect the warmth of the sun? Just as Mother Nature draws her life force back to her roots, your own vital energy does the same, preparing for the quiet of winter. Your body moves in harmony with nature’s rhythms.
In the heat of summer, you focus on keeping cool, nourishing your body with cooling foods. The Qi—your vital life force—expands outward and upward, full of yang energy. As late summer transitions into autumn, the grounding energy of the Earth helps settle that high yang within our Small Universe.Â
Remember, yang energy naturally rises and expands. As the air becomes cooler and drier, allow your high yang energy to flow inward, nurturing the water and moisture within you, just as nature does.
Qi, your vital life force, manifests as liquid moisture, nourishing, protecting, and lubricating all your tissues and organs. The blood in your body carries this essential moisture, delivering the nutrients needed to build bones, nerves, skin, muscles, and organs
As earth generates metal and metal is mined in the earth, the fall season draws energy downward and inward. This inward flow supports the kidneys, providing your body with water to balance the dryness of the season.
The METAL element is associated with the harvest of the autumn season, of taking in and letting go.
Metal corresponds to the Lung and Large Intestine energy channels, the color white, and the emotions of sadness and/or contentmentÂ
In this season, many reflect on the goals and visions they planted in the spring and nurtured through the summer. Autumn invites us to examine and refine, ensuring that we harvest the desires of our deepest heart—those that truly serve us, our lives, and the planet.
As you practice qigong daily to balance your energy, you may begin to feel a deeper connection—a desire for purity, often spiritual in nature.
In the flow of metal energy, you might feel drawn to set higher standards for yourself while honoring and respecting both yourself and others.
However, when energy is out of balance, and self-reflection without unconditional love isn’t practiced, it’s easy to fall into a sense of regret or ‘what could have been.’
By moving your energy each day through qigong, you harmonize the yin and yang within, bringing yourself into balance with others and the natural rhythms of the seasons.
One of the ways you can help balance and ground your energy and nurture moisture in your body, at this time of the year, is to eat foods that express this Qi.