Strengthening Your Mettle (and Metal) in the Fall Season: Tips from Our Acupuncturist
By Mark Larsen, Licensed Acupuncturist, Natural Health Center
How’s your mettle, and how is your Metal? The seasonal cycles of nature that inform the Five-Element tradition of acupuncture can provide guidance for how we can live in harmony and health according to our surroundings. I’ll elaborate on mettle and Metal later, but first some context:
A patient, “Autumn,” has been coming for acupuncture every couple weeks, seeking help with diminished energy, cold extremities and sluggish digestion. After growing up in a milder climate, Autumn’s family moved to Alaska two years ago. The loss of connection with her former community, our cold climate and increased isolation due to Covid that she experienced in her first winter here enhanced the sense of dread that crept in as her second fall approached.
During a recent treatment, my gentle suggestion of “embracing the seasons” was met with good humored eye-rolling and a snarky “yeah right!…” followed up with a sigh combined with a half-hearted commitment to “fake it til I make it.”
In the last six weeks of receiving regular acupuncture treatments, Autumn’s overall vitality has improved and with it, an uptick in her orientation to fall activities. She has been picking and freezing berries, has fish put away and is talking about getting her kids better outdoor gear for being active in the snow. She might be still on the way to faking it til she makes it, but her former sighs have been replaced by a quiet, albeit grudging, enthusiasm.
What does all of this have to do with health? Back to mettle and Metal …
Mettle, noun defined as a person’s ability to cope with difficulties or to face a demanding situation in a spirited and resilient way. Close relatives of mettle are courage, resolution, spirit, tenacity and grit.
Metal, one of five elements in East Asian philosophy whose character resembles the qualities of autumn; it is associated with a descending energy; its emotional orientation is toward connection and grief or loss; its virtue is appreciation or judgement; and its power is balance.
The activities of trees, bears and squirrels can offer guidance in how to best approach the Metal season of fall. Trees respond to decreased sunlight by shedding their leaves, which are not only unnecessary, but can be a hazard, as each leaf on a tree catches wind, threatening to topple trees during the stronger autumn winds. Bears are focused on storing fat and scoping out winter dens. Squirrels are busy caching away spruce cones to be recovered as a winter food source. For many humans, fall is the time to get real about the lengthy and ambitious to-do lists we generated in the spring, and attend to the essential tasks of winterizing before snow falls.
Matching the rhythm of nature in the Metal season of fall involves slowing down, turning inward and seeking quiet. By doing this, we have a better chance of gaining insight as to our priorities. With renewed clarity, we can determine what aspects of our lives we want to devote energy to. In turn, we can take a hard look at what no longer serves, and consider what we could let go of.
Going into our second autumn of the pandemic, our collective mettle is being tested in unprecedented ways. Many feel fatigue and foreboding at the thought of going into another fall with rising case numbers, an exhausted healthcare system and a leadership divided as to how to meet the challenge being presented by a very smart virus. This challenge is calling up the need for deeper reserves of mettle than are usually required.
Looking to the qualities that the Metal element embodies can serve as an antidote to feeling scattered and hopeless. In order to enhance our effectiveness in pursuing our chosen endeavors, the spirit of Metal, which guides our ability to discern and set priorities, helps us to manage our reserves and be most effective in accomplishing what is near and dear to us.
Happy fall, everyone, and here’s to embracing the season!
About Mark Larsen, Anchorage Acupuncturist
Mark Larsen is a licensed and national board-certified Anchorage acupuncturist working to help patients of all ages optimize their health and access vitality through acupuncture. When treating patients, Mark draws upon the wisdom of Five-Element tradition combined with principles of East Asian Medicine. Learn more about Mark or schedule your acupuncture appointment.