Of course I’m going to continue this because while I write these for you all, it gives me the opportunity to step away from the clinical aspect and learn, too! We may learn a lot in school, but it’s impossible to learn EVERYTHING!
We’ve chatted about winter and spring, but now as we enter into it, summer is on the table to chat!
The summer season is associated with the element of fire (naturally) and the channels are: Small Intestine and Heart, San Jiao and Pericardium. The latter two are conceptual for Westerners more-so than tangible since they aren’t really organs we can draw likeness from or to, but nevertheless, they are still affiliated with the summer in TCM.
Along with the elements, the emotion of summer is JOY! No wonder, right? It’s hard to be unhappy with the sun shining at its brightest. There is more socialization happening and overall human connectedness with gatherings and events most commonly taking place during the warmer months.
Strangely, however, unlike the other seasons that seemed to have obvious relationships with their flavors, the flavor of fire (or summer, as it stands) is bitter. I think it is safe to say that most people have aversions to bitter foods, they’re not foods that we readily seek out and have anticipation of enjoyment. But this is perhaps why writing these posts is helpful for me as is reading them for you.
I come from a place of deconstruction, so let me analyze this walking backwards, so to speak. As much as I practice acupuncture, I am a naturopathic doctor at my root and when I think of bitter I can’t help but think of digestive bitters, or just gastrointestinal (GI) functions in general. If you hail from the “roaring 20’s” you’ll well remember the bitters that were included in cocktails; they’re the same bitters I’m talking about right now.
What many people of that time didn’t know was that bitters activate the bitter receptors on one’s tongue. What this does is begin to stimulate the digestive process: secretion of digestive enzymes, stomach acid, and all the other triggers to assist in proper digestion and assimilation of our food into nutrients. While we may not use them as often in our cocktails today, they still exist in tincture form and I often prescribe them in my practice for the exact reasons just mentioned.
But how does this relate to fire, summer and the heart and small intestine?
I guess an obvious one would be the small intestine’s involvement in the digestive process? This is a reach, of course; while the Chinese Small Intestine does stake some claim in the digestive process, it has other more abstract purposes. You see, the small intestine in Chinese medicine has a purpose of separating the clear from the turbid. Yes, this can mean literally within the small intestine, but the same is true in life and mental capacity when we find difficulty sifting through the pros and cons of something, for example.
It’s also possible that we can juxtapose the flavor bitter with the feeling, too. The heart is easily damaged by bitter feelings, especially because it seeks out JOY! It’s probably worth noting that when utilizing bitters as a digestive aid, it provides an invigorating sensation, one that can help to awaken the circulatory system, of which the heart plays a role.
Even if this post wasn’t about digestion (my fave!) it somehow went there. Some could say it’s a myopic viewpoint, I just say that everything is related back to your gut :).
