Summer has arrived! Here in the north country the warmth and light make me want to dance in the streets, linger in outdoor cafes, and wander around the many lakes spread across our landscape like so many gold coins. The fiery and active nature of summer feels good for a number of reasons.
As we near the summer solstice, we are approaching the longest, most Yang time of the year. Like the sunny side of a hill, Yang is light, bright, and active. In Chinese medicine, summer is associated with the element of fire, and rightly so. Fueled by the wood element of spring, the fiery summer months are when everything in nature has expanded to its peak–flowers bloom, vegetables ripen, birds nest, and we humans just naturally want to go outside, move, and soak up the warm sunlight that we missed all winter long.
