Comments on: Consolidation and the descent into winter

By: Franklin

Franklin — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 20:23:54 +0000

Eric -
I’m having the same troubles currently that you are. I just can’t seem to get grounded and focused, I feel like I’m getting pulled every which way with little direction. I’ve decided over the past weekend that it’s time to reground, and then pick up focus on the correct things that I should be filtering my energy to. It’s time to make a transition in my life for the better. Sometimes its the little things that make us rekindle or focus.
Franklin

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 18:50:31 +0000

Thanks everyone for all your great comments!

Karin – that’s really interesting. Where do you live? I wonder if it’s a seasonal Qi kind of thing. Autumn here is so classic – full of beautiful colors and scents and the descent into Winter is really quite gentle, since the winter is so gentle…

Anyway, good luck changing your relationship with this lovely season. :)

Eric

By: karin

karin — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 00:04:35 +0000

My experience is exactly the opposite. In summer I feel confident that I am capable of grocking the essence of this medicine, and enter the new term full of excitement and hope. But with the arrival of autumn my enthusiasm sinks and my confidence shatters. I feel I will never understand the medicine, and I become apathetic. Actually, I get really sick of myself!
I have lots of fire, lots of earth, and no metal in my chart, and my illnesses are all in metal organs, so I spose my response to autumn is in my stars to some degree…sigh. I hope, at the very least, by the end of school I will have developed a better relationship with autumn, on all levels.

By: George

George — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 18:06:20 +0000

There are times when I feel the same way. I just feel like going off track, and quite frequently I go too. It takes a lot of mental strength to regain energy. Yoga helps in my case. You are doing a ice job. I am glad that you are in the business. Take care friend.

By: Steamdusj

Steamdusj — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:37:39 +0000

Nice read. At he beginning of the post, the words were telling me that you are becoming a bit worried about everything. But the end says you are renewed, and thats great to hear. You are one of those who has been introducing chinese medicine to the world, and number of people who are inspired everyday through your writing must be very large. You should always feel energetic.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:27:54 +0000

Christy,

Thanks for your comment. Do come back to the PNW, it’s quite easy to get used to – you just have to allow your system time to adjust. I also spend plenty of time in the outdoors all year, do lots of breathing exercises, dive deep into my spiritual practice, daily moxa at ST 36 for 3-5 minutes and a course of Gui Zhi Tang every season. Works for me! :)

Eric

By: Christy

Christy — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:18:18 +0000

On a related note, I spent last year in the Pacific Northwest and am now in the Midwest. I can’t tell you how difficult it was to fire up my Qi out there! It’s such a beautiful region, but soooo damp and cold during winter. I find the sun is a natural source of Qi. Anyone have any tips for living in the Pacific Northwest during winter AND not letting it get to you, energy-wise? I may move back some day…

By: Abdallah B. Stickley

Abdallah B. Stickley — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 16:16:48 +0000

Julie,

I just had this very conversation with Dr. Hammer. Let us embrace the not-knowing, but hold fast to the rope of learning. Leon described the crux of the therapeutic relationship as simply “not running away.” Sure there is a descent into hell in every deep healing, and pain is necessary to growth, but it need not be faced alone, and must never be denigrated or dismissed. Or, for that matter, suppressed through treatment externally or through denial inwardly.

Abdallah