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Late summer · Stomach and Spleen
The Earth element
Earth is nourishment, support and stability: the harvest. It governs how we give and receive care, and how we take in and digest, both food and life's experiences. It's the element of sympathy and worry.
The officials
In Chinese medicine, the Stomach receives, and the Spleen turns what you take in into energy and carries it to the whole body. Again, these are Chinese medicine ideas about function.
In balance
- Caring, supportive and grounded
- Gives care, and can receive it too
- Understands what others need
- Feels secure and settled
Out of balance
- Worrying and overthinking
- Looking after everyone except yourself
- Feeling needy, unsettled or unsupported
- Finding it hard to let things go
Looking after your Earth
- Eat regular, warm meals, sitting down and without a screen
- Let other people look after you sometimes
- Practise grounding movement like qigong or tai chi
- Set kind boundaries around how much you give
- Spend time in nature, especially in the garden
What your acupuncturist notices
In Five Element acupuncture, a practitioner notices subtle signs like these to understand which element most needs support.
Late summer in the five seasons
Habits, seasonal food and the horary points of Earth.
Open the calendar →The other elements
From the blog
Read more about Earth
Late summer: the season of Earth, the fifth season
Why Chinese medicine has five seasons, how late summer and the Earth element fit in, and what the Huangdi Neijing says about them.
Read →Food in Chinese medicine: an old tradition of eating with the seasons
How traditional Chinese medicine thinks about food: warming and cooling foods, the five flavours and seasonal eating, alongside NHS healthy-eating advice.
Read →Keep, print or share
Download the Earth profile
The Five Seasons letter
A short letter at the start of each season
Five emails a year, one as each Five Element season begins: what the season asks of you, simple self-care, a seasonal acupressure point and anything new from the clinic. No spam, and you can unsubscribe any time.
Step by step
Your journey with White Willow
Is Earth your element?
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