Have you been noticing that you are feeling less hungry? Feeling hungry but then struggling to eat, or finding the thought of food appetising?
These could be symptoms of Stomach Dryness due to the seasonal dryness of the Autumn season.
Whilst we have talked about how the Lung and Large Intestine – which both correspond to Metal – might be affected by the dryness of Autumn, did you know the Stomach can also be affected?
This can occur either by the transmission of dryness from the Large Intestine to the Stomach by their connection as the Yang Ming (Yang Brightness) organ pair OR by the drying out of Stomach fluids due to the Stomach’s relationship to the Lung as an Earth organ which is the mother of Metal.
There are two Chinese sayings which describe these patterns and they are as follows:
“When the child is poor, the mother will be poor also” – this means that when Metal is deficient, in this case in Yin Fluids, so too will the Mother element, Earth.
“The Spleen hates moisture and loves dryness and the Stomach hates dryness and loves moisture” – the Stomach and Spleen are the two organs ruled by Earth and they have opposing states of good health as they relate to different functions.
The Stomach function of rotting and ripening the food – in preparation for the Spleen to separate the clear from the turbid and raise the clear to the Heart and Lung – relies on moisture (ie Gastric juices).
This Stomach Yin earns the Stomach the label of the Sea of Water and Grain.
