08/03/2025
SPLEEN CHANNEL
As August sweeps in, we enter Chinese Medicine’s season of Late Summer. These lingering warm and sunny days are governed by the Spleen channel and Earth element. It is a time to be outside and let our bare feet be grounded to the earth.
Chinese Medicine’s Spleen channel plays a large role throughout our entire body. It is responsible for transforming everything we eat and drink into qi (energy) and blood. It is then responsible to transport it throughout the body as nutrients to your muscles, mind, gut, veins, and organs.
When the energy of the Spleen is weak we tend to have symptoms such as fatigue, loose stool, poor appetite, nausea, weak muscles and limbs, pale complexion, organ prolapse, bruising, light periods, infertility, and an overall feeling of cold.
The Spleen doesn’t like cold or damp. Foods that are frozen and raw take too long to break down. Dairy is a good example of something that can cause phlegm and bloating. Eating foods like soups, stews, and broth are easy to digest. Yellow is the color of the Spleen energy. Sweet is the flavor. A good snack is unsweetened yellow raisins. Make sure you are chewing your food and eating mindfully, without heightened emotions or while multitasking. Eat moderate amounts and walk after.
While the Spleen helps give energy to digest in the gut, it also helps digest in the mind. Emotionally it is in charge of digesting information and experiences. When the Spleen’s energy is weak people tend to have cluttered minds, ruminating and worrying, day and night. They talk excessively, overthink, over sympathize, struggle to say no, and have cluttered homes. The problem with overthinking is we worry without action. We solve nothing at the ground level, only in our head, and are frozen in reality. We need healthy Spleen qi to push us forward and take action.
So how do we boost our Spleen qi? We take a break. We say no. We clean and declutter our thoughts and environment. We make “to do” lists with small goals. We eat warm and nourishing food. Meditate to clear our thoughts. We get Acupuncture.
