In Five Element theory, each element is given a season: Winter is Water, Spring is Wood, Summer is Fire, Autumn is Metal, and Earth is Doyo. What is doyo exactly? It’s the “change of season”. Instead of the Earth element getting 12 weeks in a row, there are 4 doyo periods a year – 2-3 weeks around the equinox or solstices as the seasons shift. Earth is most frequently associated with the Doyo from Summer to Fall, particularly the sunny warm days that come back after the first cold snap, those autumn heat waves. In the 5 Element creation cycle ...

No really, what is it? You can spell it qi, chi, or ki, depending on the cultural context. Books often will give the general definition of ‘life force energy’, which makes sense, but still doesn’t quite capture the essence of qi. In studying zen shiatsu, we learn about the muscles, tendons, and bones of the body as well as the meridians and acupoints, areas of the body where qi is concentrated or pathways for it to travel. During a session, my focus is on these energy channels as much as rotations of the joints or tension in the muscles ...

All vertebrate animals use sunlight to generate Vitamin D in their bodies. Including my dog, Olive. I prefer to eat my vitamins and nutrients (it makes cooking a delicious puzzle to solve!), but also, many vitamin supplements bombard us with large doses that get wasted, so to speak, on a party trick of neon yellow urine. There’s also not enough conclusive research for me personally on the safety and possible effects of long term high doses of vitamins on our bodies. I will take vitamins in the short-term for certain conditions – e.g. probiotics to help rebalance an upset ...

Napping together is nice too. March 10 is National Nap Day and I almost missed posting this today because I was busy taking a nap. There’s been a renaissance lately on the benefits of short periods of rest, they’re recommended in scientific reviews , TED talks, books, the Mayo Clinic , Harvard Health , and last year Slate featured a piece on artists who napped. But I don’t need any convincing. I love naps, they benefit my mental health, my energy levels, my work concentration, and my mood. But they didn’t start out that way, it required a few ...

All vertebrate animals use sunlight to generate Vitamin D in their bodies. Including my dog, Olive. I prefer to eat my vitamins and nutrients (it makes cooking a delicious puzzle to solve!), but also, many vitamin supplements bombard us with large doses that get wasted, so to speak, on a party trick of neon yellow urine. There's also not enough conclusive research for me personally on the safety and possible effects of long term high doses of vitamins on our bodies. I will take vitamins in the short-term for certain conditions - e.g. probiotics to help rebalance an upset ...