Spring – Up and Out!

By Joop Brouwer

The waiting is nearly over; from the cold, dark depths of winter, spring will follow. The seasons are the cycles of life, each with its own particular energetics, flavour, and quality, following the laws of nature.

According to Huangdi Neijing, the earliest existing Chinese medicine classic dating back over two thousand years, the three months of spring are a time for life to recover and spread. It is also a season for people to welcome life and revitalise their body and mind.

The ancient Chinese observed that each season is a manifestation of a particular energy. This energy, qi, is the underlying force of life, unfolding in nature and in our body, mind, and spirit. The qi in spring makes things grow; the ancients associated this with wood, as in spring, we see new life surging out of the stillness of winter. It is a time of birth and regeneration. Seeds thrust their way through the earth full of strength, first growing a root down, then shooting up to the light above. It has the power to penetrate through the soil and can grow around obstacles to find its way. There is also a new surge of life in the animal world – it is always a hopeful sight to see the new lambs jumping about in the green fields!

Although it is a great time to feel and be invigorated by it, the spirit of the wood qi is not only present during spring. Throughout the year, wood gives us the ability to start new projects, to grow, to be able to change and be flexible, to be assertive, to be creative, to have a sense of direction and vision, to connect with your uniqueness and your path in life, to be decisive, and to have a hopeful outlook for the future.

As the seed unfolds, it does so according to a predetermined plan, a blueprint, an inner purpose. To do that, it needs vigour, assertion, and determination. This is the energy you feel when you get fed up with the waiting in winter, and you want to get going. Perhaps we all can associate with being stuck in a traffic jam, that building up of energy, but not being able to do anything with it. The resulting frustration and anger will give us the energy to come up with a plan: “Shall we find another route? Can we get off at the next junction? Anything as long as we are moving — let’s decide now!” And yes, we do need that ‘up and go’ energy when starting a project or changing a plan. Too little of this appropriate anger will make us passive and timid, too much of it will result in overreacting and lashing out. Therefore, the ability to deal with change comes from the healthy wood qi within us.

A great way to strengthen our wood qi is to go out in nature, walk in a park, in the woods, or in the forest. Start a new project, make holiday plans, do something creative like painting or drawing, and practice tai chi and qigong!

Tai chi gives us that uprightness, being rooted in the earth below and in the heavens above. It helps us to relax, particularly releasing the tendons and ligaments, so our movements can become more flexible. Tai chi gives us a sense of direction, both on a vertical plane between heaven and earth and on a horizontal plane, on all sides of the compass, helping us know where we are and where we want to go. Learning tai chi can be challenging, but in this challenge lies the growing as new nerve connections and paths are created. In our tai chi and qigong, we can become creative and imaginative by becoming a tree, firmly rooted below through our feet, an upright body with our arms as flexible branches, and our fingers as leaves and buds searching for the light. If a storm blows, we will not be uprooted, but we will be able to move with the force without breaking.

Lao Tze, author of the Tao Te Ching (600 BC), reminds us of this:

The living are soft and supple;

the dead are rigid and stiff.

In life, plants are flexible and tender;

in death, they are brittle and dry.

Stiffness is thus a companion of death;

flexibility a companion of life.

An army that cannot yield

will be defeated.

A tree that cannot bend

will crack in the wind.

The hard and stiff will be broken.

The soft and supple will prevail.

Joop is a senior teacher with the Tai Chi Foundation and a practitioner and teacher of Five Element Acupuncture. He teaches with his wife, Lucy, in Lancaster (UK), and at various other TCF locations both in the UK and abroad.

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