I spent 2022 immersed in a Yang Sheng course with Alex Jacobs. Yang means nourishing or nurturing and Sheng means life, growth or vitality. It’s a Daoist self-cultivation practice to ‘nourish life’. Yang Sheng draws on a range of practices including food and culinary herbs, movement and exercise, meditation and other forms of self-care to balance and support energy, or Qi. As energy flows through the natural cycle of the seasons our self-care changes season to season and is linked to the following principles:
· Spring – Sheng – energy moves upwards and outwards
· Summer – Zhang – energy matures
· Autumn – Shou – energy gathers inwards
· Winter – Cang – energy is stored in the centre.
The seasonal approach I’m adopting is based on the solar terms, which places Li Chun - the Start of Spring on or around 4 February. This pretty much coincides with Imbolc, from the Celtic tradition, which celebrates the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, heralding the return of light and the start of spring.
My year in Yang Sheng starts a year later than my originally plan. I’m one year post knee op and I’ve used the year to build my skills in movement and food. I completed my Qigong Mentorship Programme and I’m half way through the Northern College of Acupuncture’s Chinese Medicine Nutrition Diploma. Like a few other people I know – I’m ‘doing’ Zoe and I am learning how certain foods impact my general wellbeing. This coming year allows me to experiment with seasonal living.
In addition to the practices I mention above – food, movement, meditation and other forms of self-care, my year will dip into chapters from the Nei Jing Su Wen, The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Chinese Medicine, which includes commentary on the seasons and suggestions for how to live seasonally.
Interested? Join me and let the experiment begin!
