There's a place within yourself that renders power & healing.

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Cougar Spirit Newsletter
March 2006

Hi folks! Spring is back and it's time to do some cleanin'!

Don't forget about our Gift Certificates! Available for all those who want to blossom, relax and refresh before the onset of New England's gorgeous summer.

For the convenience of all Cougar clients we are at 2 locations:

Please call 617-407-4565 or view the rest of our website for more details: www.cougarspirit.com

Below is this season's protocol. Follow it faithfully and be well. Have fun!

The Spring season in Traditional Chinese Medicine is the time to make a new start! It is time to get up and clean out the body especially by way of the Liver and Gall Bladder organs. During the Spring season the appetite for food naturally decreases and physical activity is desired. Many people will start to feel a "nervous energy" to do something, to go out and walk or play. This is all in natural preparation to cleanse the body.

You're body knows instinctively what it needs and wants. The mind, if unrestrained, can deter the body from its natural process. A hyperactive, distracted, overworked mind can get temperamental, restless, unfocused and anxious. It is good to balance the mind and heart by getting massage, doing yoga, chanting or meditating during this season of cleansing. This will help you focus when engaging in vigorous moderate exercise. Sweating is one of liver's favorite bodily functions. So enjoy that powerful physical characteristic! It helps you stay young and calm.

When the liver energy is in disharmony:

Emotional: One of the first signs of liver disharmony is emotional difficulty related to anger: impatience, frustration, resentment, violence, belligerence, rudeness, edginess, arrogance, stubbornness, aggression and an impulsive and/or explosive personality. When these emotions are repressed without an opportunity for transformation, they cause depression. Mood swings as well as emotional excesses in general are liver-related.

Physical: alcoholism, drug-abuse, lack of exercise, overconsumption of intoxicants, fats, meats, cheese and eggs.

Remember, this season encourages one to adhere to one's true nature and give attention to self-awareness and self-expression.

For Spring eating less or even fasting to cleanse the body is ideal for this time. This process helps rid the body of the fats & heavy foods of winter that helped sustain warmth and energy. This is no longer needed. The diet should be the lightest of the year and contain foods, which emphasize the yang, ascending & expansive qualities of Spring. Eat more young plants, fresh greens, sprouts, and immature wheat or other cereal grasses (i.e. barley). Salty foods such as soy sauce, miso and sodium rich meats all have a strong component of sinking energy and are best limited during springtime. Too many heavy foods clog the liver resulting in spring fits and fevers.

The expansive, rising quality of sweet and pungent-flavored foods is recommended as a means of creating a personal spring within oneself. One can use a little concentrated sweetener and pungent herbs such as honey and mint tea. Other pungent herbs would be:

Complex Carbohydrates like grains, legumes and seeds have a sweet flavor that is heightened when sprouted (Growing Edible Sprouts at Home).

Chlorophyll rich foods like the cereal grasses (wheat, barley), the algaes (spirulina, blue-green algae, chlorella). These foods rejuvenate liver and help stimulate this organ out of stagnation. These foods are nutrient rich and immune enhancing partly due to their essential fatty acid content (omega 3, gamma linolenic acid).

Green foods such as kale, parsley, collard greens, alfalfa and watercress greatly benefit the liver.

Here are some herbal regimens for supporting and cleansing the liver:

Supporting digestion is key as well. Purchasing the Three Spice Sinus Formula by Planetary Formulas can be taken with the Bupleurum Liver Cleanse.

Green drinks are good cooling drinks for the liver. Try Phyto-pro by NF formulas, Ultra Greens and GFS 2000 both by Douglas Labs and Pro Greens by ARG. All powders can be added to a Lipoprotein drink and Vegetable juices. 

I wish everyone a very merry springtime! Live it well and be kind.

Cordially,
R. C. Tracy
Owner
mscougar@cougarspiritbodyworks.com

P.S. Please feel free to send this to anyone you know that would benefit from this information or who is interested in Shiatsu. If you would like to be removed from our mailing list reply to this newsletter with "PLEASE REMOVE" in the subject line.

Emerson Ecologics is a carrier of most of these products in Cougar Spirit's Newsletter this month. You can find them at http://www.emersonecologics.com. If you wish to order these products and are having problems please let me know. Cougar Spirit Bodyworks can make your order for a small processing fee.

* Healing With Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford and Dr. Linda Reynolds have provided some of the information in today's newsletter. If anyone is interested in Ayurvedic medicine you can inquire with Whole Health Consultants at 978-897-0042 owned by Dr. Reynolds. Please feel free to tell her Cougar Spirit Bodyworks referred you.

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