Eco-Medicine: Taking Care of Our Inner Tree
Spring and Liver Cleansing
Have you ever wondered why, all over the world, spring is considered a “cleaning” season and people choose that particular time to do an inner cleansing as well?
Do you know that, in Chinese medicine, spring is associated with Liver functions ? Liver and Gallbladder energy are ascribed “Tree” and “Wood” energy.
Why, you might ask.
The ancient Taoists might not have known the word “ecology” but their whole philosophy and medical principles were based on it, not just as a poetic image but as a deep understanding of how our body and nature interact and how each one is contained within the other one.
How can that knowledge help us?
It is my deep conviction that this ancient model of medicine is more than ever necessary and adapted to our times. Cutting our forests like we are doing is, literally, cutting the brand on which we are sitting. Our livers are suffering as much as our trees and forests are.
If we reconnect to that deep image of the Tree and its significance, we can glean from it not only a deep understanding of our Liver and