Moistening and Cooling for Fire and Smoke
While it may not feel like it yet, August 7 was the official beginning of fall, marked by the seasonal node lì qiū 立秋 in the traditional East Asian agricultural calendar. At the same time, most people in the northern hemisphere have already had to deal with smoke from wildfires in this exceptionally dry and hot summer in one form or another, and at least for Sabine in the Pacific Northwest, fire and smoke season is far from over. For Leo in Vietnam, on the other hand, the burning of trash is a constant and inescapable reality of daily life. In this episode we are therefore considering how we can mitigate this unpleasant and even dangerous reality with the tools of Chinese medicine. Here are some questions we considered:
- How do we support our own bodies and those of our family and community members most effectively?
- How do we balance the benefits of universal formulas for smokey times in a practical one-size-fits-all approach with the requirement to address each individual person's unique constellation of signs and symptoms and strengths and weaknesses?
- What are some links between the burning macrocosm and our suffering bodily microcosms?
- How can we differentiate individual physical responses to air pollution, such as dry versus phlegmy cough, and use that information in treatment?
- How do we weigh the benefits of purified indoor air against the need for movement, and exposure to sunshine and social interaction?
- On a deeper level, what are potential healthy adaptions to the way in which a permeable human body responds to an outside environment that has become toxic?
- How do we use substances like cucumber, mint, lavender, marshmallow, pears, aloe, seaweed, jellies, and pig skin to cool, moisten, uplift, lubricate, and unbind constraint?
- Lastly, how can we tap into the collective wisdom of an active, ever-changing medical tradition that spans millennia and continents, all in service of relieving suffering?
If this episode has tickled your curiosity, we continue this conversation in an enticing medley of video recordings, original translations, written posts, and ongoing member discussions in our Golden Koi School membership. For this month, we explore the semantic range of 毒 dú (poison, toxin, venom), with special attention to its meaning in early Chinese alchemical versus medical texts, discuss the power of Pig Skin Decoction (Zhufutang 豬膚湯), share jelly recipes, explore the cultural meaning of the Monkey Month, and more.... We hope you consider signing up at happygoatproductions/frolickingfish.com.
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