MONDAY, MARCH 5, 2012

Awakening of insects

On March 5th starts Awakening of insects 15-day solar term

according to Chinese calendar. It denotes the start of the month of Rabbit
(Mao), which corresponds to hexagram 34 (Da Zhuang Great Vigour)
in Yi Jing. Great Vigor here means activation of the Yang energy. Now
everything in nature becomes more active and grows up full with energy.
The hibernating insects awaken and start to move. The energy and blood
within our body also starts to activate and move from the inner organs
outwards. But this is also a time of relapse of old diseases. Thats why
some TCM doctors in China say: With the start of Awakening of insects
watch for old diseases. Wherever there is a blockage in the movement of
qi and blood, there will be obvious feeling of pain. Very common is the
relapse of arthritis, chronic cough and liver diseases. Its not a time for
heavy tonification , but rather for a light moisturing methods. There is
an old tradition in China to eat pears during the Awakening of insects
time. I think this is very reasonable, because at this time the weather is
not very stable and fluctuates between cold and warm, and the throat and
lungs are more vulnerable to dryness and infections.