On Seasonal Energetics
In China and many other East Asian cultures, every year is divided into 24 "solar nodes" (jieqi 節氣). 15-18 days long, these nodes are marked by specific seasonal changes: some mark solstice or equinox points, others indicate the correct time for planting or harvesting cereals, or celebrate seasonal rains. Each node within the solar year is it's own micro-season, further broken down into 3 distinct periods (72 hou 七十二候), each of which was associated with more specific changes like the activity of particular birds or the blossoming of a certain kind of flower.
As the year unfolds, and temperatures cycle up and down over the seasons, the external world changes. Following (because existing within) these macro-cosmic changes, individual bodily needs change, too.
Information about these seasonal changes is fairly widespread or popular in Chinese media. Taiwanese Magazines such as Marie Clare or Cosmopolitan publish articles on the seasonal nodes that resemble a generalized/collective horoscope for the coming solar term. Bookstores are full of self-help titles on popular Chinese medicine and traditional approaches to health drawn from older "nourishing life" classics. These ideas are somewhat harder to access in English-language online media, however, and short form health tips often elide critical differential detail that marks effective from ineffective therapies, or obscures core dynamics of thinking about health, ailment, and recovery within a framework distinct from our own, on its own terms.
The kind of collective health advice found in writings on the 24 solar nodes may feel far distant from how we think about health today, but I think it need not be. As an experiment, over the coming year, I will gather info about each of the 24 seasonal nodes from my growing collection of popular health guidebooks, translate it, and distill it through my own former experience as a clinician of TCM in the United States, and publish the core takeaways here.
If like me you're interested in thinking about how to root yourself more sustainably in time and place, using cheap or free methods like dietary adjustments, acupressure, and exercise, subscribe to my newsletter for regular updates.