In the Chinese calendar, April 5, 2023, is the first day of Yang Fire Dragon month. The Chinese calendar assigns one of the twelve animals, five elements, and the polarity of yin or yang to each year, month, day, and hour. The Yang Fire Dragon month extends till May 5, 2023.
The Yang Fire Dragon refers to the 56th hexagram described in the I Ching and used in Feng Shui. Its image is Fire over Mountain. The Yang Fire Dragon signifies "Wanderer". It represents an image of heat ascending and damp descending.
The Yang Fire Dragon hexagram:
From the perspective of the body and health, the Yang Fire Dragon hexagram continues a dramatic shift from what was observed in previous months. The environmental influences have shifted to the Spring season. The Yang Fire Dragon is a highly energetic hexagram. Its image is the Fire over Mountain. The Yang Fire Dragon represents an imbalance of the cardiovascular and digestive systems. The pathological influences are now moving away from external environmental factors to more internal organ problems. The dominant pathological influences are characterized by heat and dampness. During the Yang Fire Dragon month damp heat patterns have their root in internal organ problems.
The Fire trigram originates in the Fire element and is related to the Heart, Small Intestine, and Spleen. Its nature is heat rising. The Mountain trigram originates in the Yang aspect of the Earth element. Its nature is unmoving dampness or stagnant accumulation of phlegm and dampness. Combined with heat, this becomes Damp or Phlegm Heat
In Chinese medicine, Damp Heat is the image of infection. Most of the time it is without fever but can include severe infections including small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), sinus infections, upper respiratory infections (URI), urinary tract infections (UTI), liver diseases such as hepatitis and cirrhosis, and gallbladder disease or cholecystitis.
Damp or Phlegm Heat many times is the result of consuming foods incompatible with each other, one's constitution, or due to a weakness in the Spleen, Pancreas, Stomach, or Small Intestine. Here in Texas, where I live, popular foods this time of year tend to promote Damp Heat conditions in the gastrointestinal tract. Cusines like Mexican food, Italian, barbeque, kolaches, and the like tend to create excessive internal heat and dampness.
Each season consists of various energetic states, often in conflict. These energetic states will be reflected in nature and more importantly in our bodies. As mentioned before, the Yang Fire Dragon represents a generalized pattern of Damp Heat that affect various organs. Each of these patterns has its own set of signs and symptoms.
Heart Phlegm Heat: caused by irregular or incorrect diet, stress, and frustration leading to irritability, palpitations restlessness, insomnia, dream-disturbed sleep, agitation, and depression
Large Intestine Damp Heat: caused by unrestrained diet, excessive consumption of raw or cold food, spicy hot greasy food, or spoiled food leading to heaviness and fatigue in the body and limbs, diarrhea, or frequent small quantity stools, burning sensation in the anus, dark scanty or red urination, fullness in the chest
Liver & Gallbladder Damp Damp: caused by excessive consumption of alcohol, greasy fried food, long-standing emotional anger or stress leading to abdominal distention and pain, bloating, nausea, genital pain
Spleen Damp Damp: caused by excessive consumption of alcohol, fatty or sweet foods leading to abdominal distension, bloating, and pain; nausea or vomiting, foul smelling diarrhea or constipation
Spleen & Stomach Damp Heat: excess consumption of greasy, fried foods or alcohol leading to fatigue, low-grade fever, heaviness sensation in the body, palpitations, scanty yellow during, constipation or foul smelling loose stools, chest fullness,
In spite of the highly energetic nature of the Yang Fire Dragon hexagram, there is an indication of weakness indicated by the broken bars in the first, second, and fifth positions. The weaknesses occur in the Shaoyin, Jueyin, and Yangming levels of the body.
Weakness in the Shaoyin level is reflected in heart and kidney problems, with common issues of palpitations, fatigue, chest pain, urinary issues, stubborn skin rashes, and low back pain.
Weakness in the Jueyin level causes inhibited blood circulation which in turn causes a buildup of toxicity and heat in the blood, swelling, and edema.
Weakness in the Yangming level affects the Large Intestine and Stomach leading to constipation or diarrhea, bloating, gas, fullness in the chest, abdominal pain, low-grade fever, and fatigue.
As you can see, common conditions seen during the Yang Fire Dragon month are, primarily, problems with digestion and elimination.
The Yang Fire Dragon month is a sign that changes have arrived. Fortunately, Chinese medicine has been treating Yang Fire Dragon conditions for thousands of years.
In previous posts, we've been relating important ideas our family uses to keep and maintain optimum health. We continue this discussion this month by discussing the effect of the Yang Fire Dragon on the gastrointestinal tract.
As mentioned before, the Yang Fire Dragon comprises the Fire trigram in the upper trigram and the Mountain trigram in the lower portion of the hexagram. The Fire trigram is the third most energetic trigram of the Ba Gwa. It is related to the Heart, Small Intestine, and Spleen in Chinese medicine.
Yang Fire represents the Small Intestine within the Five Element theory of Chinese medicine. Small Intestine inflammation is a common problem in our modern culture. This is due to the food choices made that are often contraindicated for a person's constitution or the particular health challenges they face. As such, the inflammation here is easily transferred to the Liver, Heart, Spleen, Urinary Bladder, Kidneys, and nervous system. To protect ourselves from systemic inflammation that has its root in the Small Intestine it is necessary to modify one's diet to prevent inflammation from escalating. This often means including bitter green vegetables in the diet which aid in clearing and draining inflammation from the Small Intestine. Another strategy we use in our family is limiting or avoiding excessively hot, spicy foods.
The Mountain trigram in the lower portion of the hexagram for this month corresponds to the Yang aspect of the Earth element in Chinese medicine. Its nature is Damp Heat or Phlegm Heat. The Mountain trigram is related to the Stomach, Spleen, Small Intestine, lymphatic, and endocrine systems. The Mountain trigram is the fourth most energetic of the eight trigrams. The Mountain warns us to be careful when consuming overly fried, greasy, sticky, sweet, salty, or rich foods. These are the foods that contribute to damp or phlegmy conditions in the body.
The key to the Yang Fire Dragon is the Small Intestine. For many people, this is where inflammation tends to have its source. As mentioned before, this is due, primarily, to dietary choices, and incompatible foods with a person's constitution. I recommend patients schedule a personal consultation to determine the correct foods for them as most diet programs miss the mark. Michelle offers a free 20-minute Ayurvedic Health Consultation to help with identifying those foods that will promote Small imbalance health specifically for you.
Chinese herbal medicine is very effective in treating gastrointestinal inflammation. schedule a herbal consultation
If you are in need of remedies from our herbal compounding pharmacy, for any condition, please reach out to us. In most cases, we can schedule a telemedicine visit for you.
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