 The thing that has honestly impressed me the most, studying Chinese medicine and really dedicating my life to it, is that we have these fundamental texts, these ancient medical texts, that have a very distinct medical philosophy on why people get sick or why they live to be a hundred or live out their allotted, quote unquote, lifespan. And these ancient texts written by ancient doctors break down what is so essential to know on a fundamental level in terms of how human illness mirrors the laws of nature and how illness in our body, symptoms in our body are almost like the weather patterns of nature. And if you can understand those laws, you can understand why people get sick and how not to get sick. Now in this video, I thought I would share one of our most essential texts and the second chapter of the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon. Hey guys, Dr. Alex Hine, Doctor of Chinese Medicine, author of the health book Master the Day on Amazon and Audible. Now before we jump into this video today, two very important links right below this video. The first is for a free download, which is four daily rituals that can potentially help you add years to your life with traditional or classical Chinese medicine. The second is if you'd like to become a patient of mine locally or online via telemedicine, the link below this video has the link to my private practice and the contact info to get in contact with us. Now I want to introduce you to the second chapter of one of our famous medical texts, going back 2000 years roughly. Now the second chapter has this amazing and interesting name. It's called Se Qi Tiao Shen Da Lun, which roughly means the discourse or treatise on regulating the spirit in accordance with the Four Seasons. Now this text and this chapter is so essential because it describes how a human being should live in alignment with that season, with the patterns of nature and what they mean about the patterns within the human being that can predispose oneself to illness or to wellness. Now you may know that in each season an organ is typically related with the season and an organ has a certain tendency based on its nature and its physiological function. So these ancient doctors clearly observed that humans mirror nature and nature, you know, you know the whole thing in the Dao De Jing and it mirrors itself and there's a much bigger pattern going on there. But our physiological laws that govern illness are the same patterns that exist in nature that govern harmony in nature. So this second chapter is all about regulating yourself in accordance with these seasons and I wanted to share some direct sources and some direct quotes from this chapter. Let's first talk about springtime. Now here's what the naging says in this chapter about the quality and the nature of spring's energy or the way of spring. It says the three months of spring they denote effusion and spreading. Heaven and earth together generate life. The myriad beings flourish. Go to rest late at night and rise early. Move through the courtyard with long strides, dishevel the hair or let down the hair and relax the physical appearance thereby causing the mind to orient itself on life. This is correspondence with the chi of spring and it is the way to nourish life i.e. to ensure longevity and to ensure good health. Going counter to this principle harms the liver. So this translation from Paul Unschul talks about how in the springtime what is the nature or quality of spring? It's plants bursting through the ground. It's bunnies you know having a litter of 20 little babies and they're all running around going crazy. It's reproduction. It's growth. It's freshness and so human beings should mirror there should be this resonance with that quality in nature right this visual of going out in the courtyard let your hair down just like leisurely sprawl and walk around it has that kind of spring finally let's get out i want to get out of the doors get out of the house after winter and that kind of outward growth and expansion. So let's talk about summer the energy or the way of nature in the summer. The three months of summer they denote opulence and blossoming. The chi of heaven and earth interact and the myriad beings bloom and bear fruit. Go to rest late at night and rise early never get enough of the sun and let the mind have no anger it causes the chi to float away as if that what you loved were located outside of you. This is correspondence with the chi of summer and it is the way to nourish growth opposing it harms the heart. Now what about the fall the three months of autumn they denote taking in and balance the chi of heaven becomes tense the chi of the earth becomes bright go to rest early and rise early get up together with the chicken let the mind be peaceful and tranquil so as to temper the punishment carried out in the autumn collect the spirit chi and cause the autumn chi to be balanced do not direct your mind to the outside and cause the lung chi to be clear this is correspondence with the chi of autumn and it is the way to nourish gathering opposing it harms the lung so we see spring time and summer are young times of the year where humans should be living life in a young way it's hard for modern people to understand what that means because if you sit on a computer all day you don't really even notice the seasons potentially but if you're a farmer there is really obvious right where the days get longer the birds are singing the animals are reproducing you hear the robins and their mating calls that you didn't hear in winter the robins are migrating and they're going back and forth summer and spring are young times of year so humans should be exhibiting young qualities more doing more out and about more it said stay up and get as much sun as possible these qualities of opening moving outward young and doing and activity now as we go into fall and winter these are the yin parts of the year now the yin parts of the year when it says gathering that's a very distinct quality in the yin parts of the year the goal is to decrease energy expenditures to not work so hard not exhaust oneself to rest to contemplate to sleep longer and to gather one's reserves in the same way that a deciduous tree in new england sheds its leaves in the fall so that it can conserve energy in the trunk and the roots going into winter because otherwise it can die that's the reason why evolutionarily these trees deciduous trees have done that to conserve resources as it goes into winter so that it can protect itself to you know regarding the cold elements so human beings what this ancient text is saying human beings need to mirror that quality as well to go inward conserve the resources and then as spring comes get out in the courtyard and let your hair down now the wintertime energetics or the wintertime way of nature the three months of winter they denote securing and storing the water is frozen and the earth breaks open do not disturb the yang chi go to rest early and rise late you must wait for the sun to shine let the mind enter a state as if hidden as if shut in as if you had secret intentions as if you had already made gains avoid cold and seek warmth and do not allow sweat to flow away through the skin this would cause the chi to be carried away quickly this is the correspondence with the chi of winter and it is the way of nourishing storage opposing it harms the kidneys so winter being the peak of yin the coldest time where animals hibernate that is the most extreme version of energy conservation right animals know this because they live literally in the middle of nature they are literally forced to do that or else there are repercussions but humans and our temperature controlled microclimates and our food that's beautiful and green and yellow and orange every time of the year our fruit from Costa Rica on the dead of winter it kind of betrays that to a certain degree and so it seems less relevant but winter is about storage maximal rest maximal recovery maximal energy conservation so what happens if you go against this right what happens if it's wintertime but it's 79 degrees in la so you're hitting the beach and you're hitting the salsa club what does it do all right here's what this text says when you ignore the flow of the dow the way of that season illnesses result and here's a direct quote hence yin chi and yang chi and the four seasons they constitute the ending and the beginning of the myriad beings they are the basis of death and life opposing them results in catastrophe and harms life if one follows them severe diseases will not emerge this is called to achieve the way or the term used here is the dow as if to attain the dow in a certain sense that means to grasp what the way is that we are supposed to be living so this text implies that following these seasons is not something theoretical it's not something cutesy it's not a optional thing it's not an optional thing it's a must have to attain good health and longevity now also in this chapter there's one final quote in the middle that i love about how the sage lives and why that is essential and it says only the sages follow the way therefore their bodies do not even have minor illnesses now this term dow is very common in dowism but in these ancient medical classics they use this term as well and it is not so easy to translate it's often translated as the way or the path the dow the flow whatever you want to call it i'm not a sinologist but the implication that there is a dow there is a certain way one is supposed to live in the seasons animals are attuned to this because they live directly in nature but humans are not and to go counter to this is something that produces disease and illness now this chapter is very fundamental and just implies that in each of the four seasons humans should have this resonance in the way one lives in the way one's mind works the way one's spirit is working do we chase and go after those desires in the spring and the summer the young seasons get things done and then in the winter we relax we restore read a book by the fire drink some hot cocoa take it easy and we hit the hay early or i'll be pushing hard all year round these are essential lessons that are very very chinese medicine right it's so customized it's very different at each time of year and even then for each person that will be different in each time of year so i hope this chapter two is something that will help you something that you'll think in this season i should be living more like this for the maximal health for feeling well and for maximal longevity now for you guys go again don't forget those two very important links below this video the first is for a free download four daily rituals that can potentially help you add years to your life with chinese medicine and if you'd like to become a patient of mine locally or online via telemedicine the link below this video is for my private practice my phone number and my clinic contact info be at a hold of me all right otherwise i'll see you in these two related videos right here