Back to School Supplies

In a more natural world, fall is a time of harvest when we gather in the rewards of hard work and the busy, growth-producing activity of the previous seasons.  Historically, we would be less active and more celebratory spending uninterrupted time with family and friends. Simply enjoying. 

Yet, for many, autumn becomes a time of extreme activity. We begin to move indoors where we encounter numerous demands upon our systems. Children start school. There is an onslaught of holidays. Though often enjoyable, the harvest/consolidation time becomes filled with cooking, shopping, driving, doing, and on and on. Our holidays are a little more full than we might wish them to be. Our more hectic, western lifestyles require strong particularly at this time of year. 

Righteous chi is weakened as invading forces become stronger. We lose connection with our nourishment and our root as we are invaded rather deeply by responsibilities, financial concerns, and social obligations. There is increased stress and an increased number of viral and bacterial invasions. Chinese medical philosophy is highly tuned to seasonal shifts and it would benefit us to pay attention to them and anticipate their effect.

The back-to-school season starts early in our mountain community. The classroom acts as an incubation chamber for all kinds of invasions. You may not have kids but you're standing in line next to people who do. Some supplies you purchase for the classroom; other supplies you purchase to get you to the classroom.

When our daughter, Lauren, was younger, we always put her on Cold Snap for several days before she went back to school. That way she began the school year as strong as she could be. This strategy worked well until the teenage years when Lauren magically became smarter than her parents. Sixteen was also the first year she was out with an illness at the beginning of the school year. Needless to say at seventeen, her parents once again became smart (in some ways). Now as a college student, she sees Cold Snap as a valuable and indispensable study aid.

Some younger children have trouble digesting those first few days of school. Stomach Chi can provide a foundation to take on new challenges. OHCO-Motion, OHCO-Flow, and The Spray provide help with mobility as school sports start up again.

Building righteous chi supports the idea that you can be in charge of your life and not live in a prison of negative expectations and stress. Obligations can give way to creativity and then become endeavors that are more fulfilling. With health and strong chi there is movement, change, and growth. Oriental herbs focus on nourishing a functional and well-designed system. Cast away the pattern of chasing the symptoms that are the result of a failure of the system.

Celebrate this time. Gather the gifts that you already possess in order to fuel the work that your responsibilities require. Begin this cold and flu season with strong chi. Stock up on supplies and spend time appropriately so that your reservoir is full of enough good things to carry you until the time when the cycle shifts again.