elements of nature

Water Element in Nature

✍️Wendy Brown, Lic. Ac.

Shuǐ 水

We are microcosms of the natural world, unfolding our human destiny on a beautiful blue planet where a mosaic of water nourishes and patterns life.

Attuned to nature’s rhythms and vibrations, in essence, we are one and the same.

Though this world seems stable and solid, nothing here is permanent; but like water, snow, and ice, life is always shifting and taking form.

Winter is the time of energy storage and of hibernation. Through resonance of water in its contracted state, very subtle patterns can emerge to be sensed in this phase of inward vision.

Ever-remembering that in a great storm the wise bird returns to her nest and waits patiently, surrendering to winter’s depths. Nature’s icy retreat instills hibernation and inner reflection.

The water element is expressed in the season of winter which carries information of recharging and renewing.

Reverently entering nature and observing the flow of streams, rivers, and waterfalls is, in itself, one of the natural remedies for a troubled mind. Water benefits the ten thousand things and yet does not compete with them. Water dwells in places the masses of people detest. People detest such places not because they are bad, but because they are unfamiliar; they are held back by fear of the unknown or thrust forward in fearful arrogance, in either manner not trusting in the Tao.

The emotion of fear ultimately causes difficulties. Learning to move gracefully around obstacles, like water does, is one of the aims of T’ai Chi.

The flow of Tao, wherever it may go, leads one to unusual places, but places meant to be visited by those who have devoted themselves to the Way.

Life is a dream and we can dream new dreams.

May all beneficent aspirations be fulfilled

Posted by Wendy in analytical

Chinese Tea

 

Lù Yǔ 陸羽

Tea has been enjoyed for millennia as a central aspect of culture, daily life, and health. China’s Yunnan province has pride in its lineage of tea plants, where the first tea plant survived the ice age. Cultivation of ceremonious tea drinking developed significantly in the Tang dynasty when Lù Yǔ 陸羽 composed the Cha Jing 茶經, early definitive compilation which advised the ceremonious consumption of fresh green tea using mainly the spring tips of Camellia sinensis tea leaves.

With its bitter sweet flavor, tea influences the heart and in so doing, expresses the heart’s  ability to stimulate the clear mind. As an instrument to open the heart, stimulating but calming at the same time, perception shifts and one absorbs the specific energy and minerals of the earth from where the tea grew, offering a meditative sense and poetic sight.

Fermenting enzymes of tea benefit digestion, wash the intestines and detoxify fats and cholesterol. Green teas are energetically cold and are best in summertime and for people with warmer constitutions, or balanced with warmer herbs. Darker, aged teas [Pu’erh and red teas] are fermenting. Like a living organism, they add to a person’s QI and are better for people with colder stomach QI. When tea is harvested, whether fermented, or not, or not processes at all, etc. determines the type of tea, its essence and its attributes. This revered plant, draws from the essence of the earth and imbues a heavenly sense that is revered by the countless many.

gaiwan

Tea drinking offers many health benefits that are validated by science, however, one should also recognize that drinking tea is something unto itself, to be done for its own sake and not to fulfill any ulterior purpose ~ Only in this way can the “taste of sunlight, wind, and clouds” mysteriously be sensed by the tea drinker. Tea drinking engenders empathy with nature and kinship with one’s fellow beings ~Taoist Sentiment

Enjoy!

 

Posted by Wendy in analytical