Moving Into Spring
Reiki Practitioner,Rest & Relaxation Coaching
While Minnesota winter can feel interminable, come March we start to feel the stirrings of spring. By late March we arrive at the spring equinox: the official first day of spring, when day and night are exactly the same length. Although we typically wait many weeks before buds and blooms appear on these lands, the seasonal shift is unmistakable–in the light, the natural world, and our bodies.
Spring: Wood, Liver and Gallbladder
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is rooted in nature itself. As human beings, we are not separate from nature. Indeed, we are nature, interconnected with all of life on our planet. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), each season is connected to an element and an organ system. Spring is associated with the element wood and the organs liver and gallbladder.
Consider the origin of the English word “spring” itself: to leap, to jump, to burst forward. Spring is a time for regeneration, new growth, and renewal. MIHS co-owner Larissa Vados PhD LAc says “this is easily seen when looking at the new growth and movement showing up all around us as leaves start to bud, plants start to grow and expand, and people and animals start to come out of their hibernation.”
“As we come to spring, we are leaving the long dark season of contemplation, respite, and consolidation.Those parts which are beneficial were fortified with nutrients from this time, and those branches no longer collecting light or bearing fruit fall to fuel the fire.”
In biomedical terms, the liver and gallbladder govern hundreds of functions in the human body. The human liver is a large organ under the right side of the ribs, the tiny gallbladder tucked underneath, storing and releasing liver bile for digestion. Indeed, the most critical jobs performed by this duo relate to digestion, detoxification, and blood flow.
However, as Larissa points out, “when we speak about the liver in TCM philosophy, we are not necessarily speaking about the anatomical liver and its biomedical functions in the body. The liver encompasses an entire system in TCM that can include our anatomical liver’s biomedical functions, but is much more than this in scope.”
Ultimately, the liver is about flow–physiologically, but also mentally, emotionally, energetically, and spiritually. In TCM philosophy, the liver governs the flow of qi, or vital life force, in the body (for more, see our article What Is Qi?) “When liver qi flows smoothly, so does everything within our bodies. The liver helps keep things running, both physically and emotionally, and helps us to ‘take things in stride’ when it is functioning well.” For deeper understanding, we return to the energies of springtime. Larissa explains, “picture a young tree growing - wood here is strong, yet able to be supple and bend with strong winds. This is a quality we want to see in the liver system- strong, yet flexible and free-flowing.”
Liver Imbalance in Spring
Ashley Steffensen LAc shares that moving from winter to spring is arguably the most challenging of the seasonal transitions. In Larissa’s words, “our bodies and minds, and our Qi, are starting to ‘wake up’ from the deep, dark, cold winter, and are adapting to this new season.” This significant shift can take a toll on the liver. The term “spring fever” historically describes parallel phenomena. Larissa notes that spring is a common time to experience a surge in symptoms related to liver imbalance. When liver qi is “stuck” or inflexible, we might experience:
Muscle tension (especially in neck and shoulders)
Headaches
Difficulty sleeping
Painful or irregular menstrual symptoms
Emotional symptoms such as increased irritability and frustration
From Imbalance to Balance: Supporting the Liver In Springtime
How does one address stuck liver qi? “You move it,” says Emily Nyberg DC LAc. Just as nature stirs and sprouts in springtime, our human systems favor movement.
Some of our practitioners’ recommendations for moving liver qi:
“Move your body! This includes any kind of exercise you find enjoyable, walking outside and enjoying the more mild temperatures and increased sunlight, playing with children or pets.” Larissa Vados PhD LAc
“Yoga, Pilates, Tai Chi, and Qi Gong are all excellent for this time of year to incorporate flowing movements and gentle stretching.” Larissa Vados PhD LAc
Incorporate more green, bitter, and sour foods, as these are associated with the liver and gallbladder systems in TCM. Emily Nyberg DC LAc notes that “sour foods help move liver qi, bitter foods drain heat from the body (on the biomedical side, these flavors can help with detoxification).” Examples of green foods include leafy green vegetables, broccoli, peas, and bitter greens (e.g. dandelion greens, mustard greens, and arugula). Sour foods can include fermented foods, lemon, plain yogurt, goji berries, and vinegar.
Acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, and other TCM-based bodywork can help keep the liver supported and flowing smoothly during this seasonal shift.
Bodywork can help relax muscle tension, move the qi, as well as calm the mind.
“Incorporate activities that get your heart pumping like jogging/running, boxing, or a HIIT workout or try a tai chi or qigong practice to spread stagnant liver and gallbladder qi.” Larissa Vados PhD LAc
Liver and Expressions of Anger
Imagine the liver supporting the digestion, detoxification, and flow of not only physical matter, but also challenging emotions and stagnant energy. In terms of the liver, this means processing anger.
Emily Nyberg DC LAc notes there are many ways that anger can be expressed. Emily says so-called “pathological” anger might manifest as:
“too much anger being expressed/bubbling up that is impacting how an individual engages with their life (this could be considered an excess)
a lot of stagnant/unexpressed anger being restrained by the individual for a variety of reasons, including not having an outlet to healthfully express it e.g. irritability, frustration (another excess with possibly some deficiency presentation) or
the complete inability to recognize and express anger/frustration/irritability (a deficiency)”
Depending on our identities, socialization, and upbringings, there are vast differences in how we experience anger, whether we repress or express it, and its costs to ourselves and others. In his book Love and Rage: the Path of Liberation Through Anger, Lama Rod Owens notes that “as Black-bodied people…we know the consequences of being angry outwardly…I was really working with that kind of etiquette of not performing anger, because I needed to stay alive.” Repressing anger is a health risk factor associated with significant negative outcomes. On the other hand, expressing anger recklessly presents its own dangers. In an extreme example, a 2020 analysis found that “externalized” anger was overwhelmingly associated with mass shootings.
Regardless of how it is expressed, anger is endemic in the United States these days. A 2024 poll revealed 91% of Americans identify as “angry” about politics, with 46% “extremely angry.” A late January poll cites 73% of all likely US voters thinking billionaires have “too much influence” over federal government decisions. Combining this pervasiveness of anger and distaste for billionaires, the real-time massive transfer of wealth from working people upward toward the very richest of the rich looms as a collective emotional powder keg.
Even if you try to entirely tune out politics, it is difficult to avoid the societal pulse of anger. In a recent article “Your Anger is Legitimate,” JP Hill writes of “a simmering rage in the belly of America. It breaks through the veneer of order in fits and starts, manifesting in violence, graffiti, road rage – incoherent and disorganized, the anger that boils in so many of us almost never coalesces into a potent force.” Despite precarious political polarization and the multitude of critical differences among us, in TCM terms we are arguably a nation of liver imbalance: interconnected and united by a massive-scale, collective need for healing.
Working With Anger, Individually and Collectively
“The anger you feel is valid. Don’t let anyone tell you it’s not. Anger at the rapid advance of fascism, anger at those who hoard so much they crowd the rest of us out, anger at those who ought to fight for us but wallow in the status quo — all of it is legitimate. But without a channel that anger is merely poison. Without a way to shape hot rage into action and power we wallow in the fire and are consumed.” JP Hill
Ashley Steffensen, LAc told me that from a TCM perspective, “anger is the most difficult emotion to work with.” While anger is pervasive in our society, we can empower ourselves by choosing how we move it. Traditional Chinese Medicine offers age-old, yet prescient wisdom for our current predicament.
How do we address anger? With acknowledgement and acceptance. We can start with the assumption that there is no such thing as a “bad” emotion. As Emily says that the first step is to, “not[e] your relationship with anger…make peace with anger and start to appreciate it.” In Derrick’s words, “behind every emotion is an unmet need…all emotions are meant to be like the internal compass of our soul, guiding us towards a balanced life.”
Emily continues:
“Anger and grief are powerful emotions—they help us recognize things we've lost and what is important to us/worth fighting for. It's important to make space to feel more "difficult" emotions and allow them to be the teachers and mobilizers they are. Once we feel into what they're revealing for us, we can begin to take steps to transmute them into actions that help contribute to co-creating the communities and society we want to be in.”
Transforming Anger: Moving Toward Joy, Love, and Liberation
But how do we transmute anger? For insight, we can return to meeting the needs of our liver–not only physically, but holistically. Honoring the liver means embodying the mental, emotional, energetic flexibility of the wood element.
Laughter, Play, Creativity
Ashley says that laughing can be especially useful for alchemizing anger into joyful creativity. Indeed, research substantiates the health benefits of laughter. Derrick adds, “the unmet need of the wood element corresponds to the need to be out in nature and to Play: go explore, express yourself creatively and create something new.”
Honoring the Wisdom of Anger
In Love and Rage, Lama Rod Owens proposes practices that include meditation, yoga, energy work, and mindfulness–not to bypass anger, but rather to honor and harness its power. Owens notes that “anger is full of wisdom; and with the appropriate practice, anger can actually transform into wisdom, and that wisdom is deeply liberating.”
Heart-centered Emotions
Transforming anger can be supported by embracing heart-centered emotions like gratitude, joy, and love. In the renowned text Healing with Whole Foods, Paul Pitchford writes that
“[o]ne of the most efficient ways of improving the condition of the liver is to give its excess a place to go, and the obvious places is where it naturally flows..to…the heart….by strengthening the heart and encouraging it to receive energy, the liver is encouraged to release its excess…the resentment and repressed emotions of a stagnant liver being transformed to the joy and compassion of the newly opened and focused heart.”
Practice Healthy Self-expression, Boundaries, Values
Derrick highlights hun, a central spiritual concept in TCM that is deeply tied to liver energy, explaining that “hun spirit wants to grow upward and outward freely. When this opportunity is confined and resulting anger and irritability is like an animal stuck in a cage. Every hand looks like a hand pushing down instead of reaching out to support.” Derrick counsels, “when anger arises, express it. I had a teacher that would say, you can yell at things but do not yell at people! Practically, the healthy reason for expressing anger is to draw boundaries-- stand up for what you believe in and firmly root yourself in your morals.”
Feel Your Interconnectedness
JP Hill notes that the work of transmuting anger:
“can only be done with others. So set aside your quarrels and come together. It may be anger that first unites us, but as we organize we alchemize our rage. We combine it with love for our neighbors and families and for a life worth living and we radically shake and transform society and find ourselves able to create something new: a society filled with meaning, where life isn’t hard to live and where our anger is, at long last, no longer necessary.”
In Derrick’s words, when we embody wood element to the fullest,
“those soft and supple parts [find] their way to fit within the biosphere of the forest, growing with their neighbors, sharing the light column, and finding the perfect balance creating the crown shyness as each member finds their place among the trees: Bearing our unique fruits to those around us, and providing shelter from the elements to those still developing below us.”
Men are born soft and supple;
dead, they are stiff and hard.
Plants are born tender and pliant;
dead, they are brittle and dry.
Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible
is a disciple of death.
Whoever is soft and yielding
is a disciple of life.
The hard and stiff will be broken.
The soft and supple will prevail.
[Tao Te Ching Chapter] 76
…….….……..
To find out more about Minnesota Integrative Health Studio services, check out our website. You can book online here. Questions? Feel free to contact us, call (612.345.5648), at or stop by “the studio” on our corner of northeast Minneapolis.
