As the leaves turn yellow and red and shades of brown and orange here in Santa Rosa, CA there is an impending sense that the exuberance of summer and earlier times this year are about to fall way. Last year's leaves have little trouble with letting go when the time comes to shed them in preparation for the cold and barren times of winter. In Chinese Medicine autumn is associated with both the lungs and the large intestine. In addition to filling up with breath or with digesting food, both organs need to let go of what no longer serves the body, the carbon dioxide rich out breath and the indigestible feces. The emotional excess associated with the lung and large intestines is grief. When letting go becomes difficult, we mourn what has been. The joy of the heart can become hard to access when grief for loved ones who have passed or experiences that have completed their allotted time are coming to a close.
This fall I am struggling a bit with what is passing from my life. Although I am sure my old house in Rincon Valley will go to a great new family once it sells, its presence represents the closing of a fairly long and significant chapter in my life. Likewise, several clients moving on due to relocation or graduating from the issues they originally came for. I find when I am clinging to the past, movement and change become difficult to access. Perhaps my breathing becomes held or shallow. When I can acknowledge the loss I am experiencing, I may shed a few tears for my old house or my dear clients who are no longer part of my weekly experience in the same way it was when we were working intensely together. I find in the emptiness from this movement a new space is created. Perhaps with this new space, new clients will come, a new owner will buy my house. After we experience the death of winter and the passing of old chapters in life, new seeds can be planted in that darkness, and eventually Spring will bring new life and new experiences.
If you are facing loss and grief this fall, I am happy to support you. Perhaps you or someone you know has suffered a miscarriage and would like care around tending to this, preventing future loss. Perhaps you have been struggling with infertility. I am happy to hold you where you are, assist in the letting go, and when its time help prepare the fertile soil through acupuncture and herbs where new life can spring forth.
For a free mini consultation call me, Kat Delse Mardious at 707 775-8311 or visit me at www.santarosa-acupuncture.com for more information.
