Summer Buying Guide

The Joys of Summer

Lazy summer days drinking iced lemonade, bathing in the hot sun, soaking up all of that natural vitamin D. Delicious!

Sports and activity abound as the summer heat activates your body making it naturally want to be more free, alive and expansive!

Circulation of your blood and energy flows easier, making our skin heal faster and glisten with greater luminescence.

Even those usually plagued with cold hands and feet may find that these “daily nuisances” are relieved.

As the flowers bloom, so do the moods of many people. A literal “sunnier disposition” is bestowed upon many, especially those with typical maladies that include “SAD” (Seasonal Affect Disorder).

But Wait... There's More

OK, so these are the pros of summer. Yet, even the season of summer has both a Pro & a Con… right?

So, what about those cons?

What happens when those lazy summer days of soaking up the sun turn into an intolerance of the heat? A few minutes in those bright rays and suddenly you become perpetually overheated. Even worse, a serious case of sun stroke may occur.

What about those times when the heat makes your joints and muscles swell and ache…making the time of activity not so active at all. Instead, the heat becomes a burden, causing you to want to hide from the day and stay indoors.

How about those summer rashes? For some, the times of benefiting from naturally greater blood circulation are long past, as the natural outward movement of your blood moving to the surface brings with it all sorts of “goodies” like the release of heat toxins. This releasing of heat through your blood can make life absolutely miserable with the occurrence of:

redness
inflammation
irritation
itchiness
and severe dryness

Maybe for you, warming your cold hands and feet in the hot summer sun might seem like a good idea. A good idea, until you start to realize that you are naturally more sensitive to the intense heat. Snapping at someone is easier, mood swings are more frequent and erratic, bringing about a sense of “losing your cool”.

Then there are those of you whose anxiety and panic attacks can occur in much greater frequency during the summer season. The increased heat accelerates what may already be a baseline emotion tendency of panic and anxiety. Those summer social picnics are no longer a pleasure, but dreaded social interactions that must be avoided at all costs!

What's Really Going On?

Most people can relate to a lot of these situations…if not all!

Did you see yourself in some of the above illustrations?

Perhaps you are close to someone who might have experienced a positive, or negative reaction to the summer heat as mentioned above? If not recently, then perhaps in the past.

So, what’s really going on here?

Why the extreme, polarized contrasts?

How can one environmental change create both pleasurable experiences and truly awful ones?

Once again, if you’ve read any of our other Heaven & Earth CMHC content, you would be familiar with the natural interaction of how the human body relates to the Earth’s climate and seasonal environments.

Yes, we are a microcosm of the Earth–comprised of the “all the elements”. We are thereby subjected to the same experiences, and affected by those experiences in a very similar matter.

More importantly, we get to see how the environment acts as a mirror to health issues. This mirror reveals to us conditions that are existing on the inside of our physical, emotional and mental states. These conditions may not have ever been noticed had we not had the seasonal stimuli that brought out these specific aspects and dimensions of who we are.

Fascinating, isn’t it?!!

The Specific Factors in Detail

So, what exactly is the Summer Season to an organic, human being?

How exactly does it affect you in regards to Chinese Herbal Medicine? To really understand these questions, we first need to understand Summer as an environment.

What are Summer’s various attributes? What are it’s specific movements, energies, temperature, and more?

To quote the oldest medical text in the world… The Nei Jing or “Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine”, a vital text on Chinese Medicine’s health and healing, Summer is:

Element: Fire

Direction: South

Weather: Heat

Grain: Corn

Musical Tone: Pipe Organ

Color: Red

Flavor: Bitter

Smell: Scorched

Major Organ: Heart

Orifice: Ear

Body Tissue: Vessels

Sound: Laughter

Emotion: Joy

Pathological Action: Anxious Look

Spirit: Shen/Spirit or Mind

And a few other’s not mentioned in the NeiJing:

Movement: High, Fast

Temperature: Hot

Energy: Intense Growth, Climax, Power

Creation Stage: Action, Manifestation

Pathological/Out of Balance: Burnout, Consumption/Consuming, Devouring, Devastation, Destruction

Minor Organ: Small Intestine

Seeing Summer in Your Body

A great deal of life is all about context.

To be able to apply the above dimensions to your physical body, we need to understand that every aspect mentioned above has both a positive and negative side.

More often than not, whether one of these dimensions is considered either positive or negative will usually have to do with the individual, and what is present with their specific, Chinese Medicine Patterns.

We must first ask what aspects, dimensions and qualities are present within this individual and what are lacking.

From there, we can begin to understand why the Season Summer, with all of it’s special qualities might be a wonderfully, enjoyed season…or utterly horrible.

For the person who is “well balanced”, they will likely experience and tolerate both the positive and negative qualities of summer simultaneously.

For the person who is “imbalanced”, it is a question of what internal parameters are existing.

To over simplify, if the person is dominantly a cold person, Summer will likely help them to feel normal.

Maladies such as:

low energy
slow digestion
excessive phlegm
joint pain

and the like may be diminished or relieved all together.

Whereas, if someone is dominantly always running warm, Summer will likely push them over the edge. The excess heat will accentuate their already hot and oppressive condition, manifesting the qualities of Fire associated in many health issues as understood by Chinese Medicine Methodologies.

Common Summer Dysfunctions & Their Solutions

Healthy Fire: The Balanced Individual

Internal Organ System balance is the answer to achieving super health and longevity.

And while achieving this balance is truly a great goal, it also something to be consistently MAINTAINED!

Oh yes…balance must be maintained. It can very easily be broken, especially if balanced was just recently attained.

Though, the good part is, the more you stay in balance, the stronger you become in that balanced state, taking greater root in your being. Over time, you become more tolerant of, and less susceptible to, outside factors and influences.

With that being said–balance must be maintained throughout the extremes of the Summer Season. When you are in maintenance mode, it is essential to strengthen and tonify almost all of the time. Keep in mind that most formulas do have maintenance uses, as well as anti-pathological uses.

We are now presenting some of our scientifically advanced, Heaven & Earth CMHC Chinese Herbal Formulas that are often used in balancing your Heart Organ System, which is especially important and useful during the Summer season.

Co Q10 Activator Formula

Our Heaven and Earth CMHC Co Q10 Activator Formula has been created to assist with patterns that present with:

Gives you an alternative to Co Q10 supplements made by other processes such as fermentation
Improving Organ and General Circulation
Moving and Assisting Digestion
Cleaning Blood Lipids
Strengthening and Supporting Heart Muscle
Improve Brain Circulation and Recall
Increase General Energy

Abundant Health Formula

Our Heaven and Earth CMHC Abundant Health Formula has been created to assist with patterns that present with:

Herbal “multi-vitamin”, designed to support all 4 of your vital body treasures: Chi (Vital Life-force Energy, Blood, Yin (Fluids/Coolant/Immune) and Yang (Metabolism).
Good to take to supplement your whole system during stressful times
Excellent for regenerating the whole system and keeping your body functioning at an optimum level
Highly recommended for preventing any type of dis-ease

Forever Youthful Anti-Aging Formula

Our Heaven and Earth CMHC Forever Youthful Anti-Aging Formula has been created to assist with patterns that present with:

Issues related to all aging pattern processes
Tonifys Blood, Yin, Yang & Chi [including the essential digestive processes], with a special focus and emphasis on the Yin
Helps to cool and disperse Rising Fire from a Yin DeficiencyPattern directly related to the aging and pre-mature aging processes
Helps to anchor the Excess Of Yang [overheating, irritability, hot flashes…]

Water on the Fire: The Heart-Cold Dominant Imbalanced Individual

Human beings have cold and hot aspects to their nature, co-existing, keeping each other in check. This is the definition of balance used by Chinese Herbal Medicine.

Going deeper into this idea, every aspect of your body has a “healthy zone” that is optimum for it to exist in. From that optimum place, if that aspect is pushed or pulled into either a “weaker” or a “stronger” state, it will create imbalance.

With that being said, the Heart is symbolized and likened to the element of Fire. This Fire can wain, not burning hot enough, which then creates a Cold State within the system.

When this condition is present, the following problems can be made manifest:

Heart edema, upper body edema and/or facial edema
Sinus congestion
Dry skin, especially of the upper body
Cataracts
Low endurance
Fatigue, even extreme fatigue
Heart palpitations
Cold hands and feet
Poor or no appetite
Anemia
Pale complexion
Tinnitus
Insomnia
Inability to focus or wandering mind
Slow digestive processes
Poor assimilation of food, often presented by undigested food in stool
Poor muscle tone, inability to build new muscle tissue
Underweight or overweight
Anxiety, nervousness, excessive worry, fright, and/or inappropriate laughter

The list could go on, but this should give you a good idea.

The following scientifically advanced, Heaven & Earth CMHC Chinese Herbal Formulas are solutions that may be employed when dealing with this type of pattern.

Blossoming Heart Formula (Enhanced Gui Pi Tang)

Our Heaven and Earth CMHC Blossoming Heart Formula (Enhanced Gui Pi Tang) has been created to assist with patterns that present with:

Palpitations with or without anxiety
Insomnia
Bruises easily
Dream-disturbed sleep
Nightmares
Restlessness
Agitation
Excessive thinking or worrying
Phobias
Forgetfulness
Poor memory & concentration