In traditional Chinese medicine, optimum health is maintained by nourishing different organs during different seasons.
In the spring, when green shoots emerge from the previously frozen ground and buds return to the trees, it’s time to consider your liver.
Chinese medicine’s ideas about organ function are complex and extend beyond the organs’ chemical activities. Nevertheless, the rules are clear. According to the Nei Jing, a foundational treatise on wellness and disease from ancient China, “Those who disobey the laws of spring will be punished with an injury to the liver.”
So what are the “laws of spring?” Think leadership, growth, and an easy spirit.
Between the extremes of winter and summer, spring has a more relaxed spirit, and so do we when we have a healthy liver.timonko/iStock/Thinkstock
