How to Live in Alignment This Spring
What does it mean to live in alignment?
It means being in good health. It means appreciating life and the beauty that is all around you. It means love. It means walking gracefully through life because you know who you are, where you are meant to be, and how to live.
Living in alignment means a good life.
Through the lens of feng shui, we must live in alignment with the natural world. And so, as the seasons change, we too find ourselves shifting with the energy of the world around us. Spring is the season of life; it is the season of growth. Spring brings warmer days and shorter nights. It brings the smell of dew on fresh grass; it brings change, birth, new beginnings, and new experiences.
So what does that mean for us?
I believe the energy of spring is most beautifully stated in The Yellow Emperors Classic of Internal Medicine 《黄帝内经》. A 2000-year-old medicinal text that underscores the philosophy of the Way, of a life in alignment.
In the Chinese philosophical tradition, the Way — the Dao (道) — is the natural rhythm of life. It’s not something we force, but something we return to, align with, and trust.
Su Wen 《素问》contains a passage all about the energy of spring and how we live in alignment with it:
《四气调神大论》
The Great Treatise on Regulating the Spirit According to the Four Seasons: Spring
春三月，此谓发陈。天地俱生，万物以荣；
夜卧早起，广步于庭；被发缓形，以使志生；
生而勿杀，予而勿夺，赏而勿罚。此春气之应，养生之道也。
逆之则伤肝；夏为寒变，奉长者少。
Translation:
The three months of spring are called “the time of birth and renewal.”
Heaven and Earth come alive; all things flourish.
Go to bed later, rise early, and take long walks in the courtyard.
Let your hair down and loosen your body, allow your spirit to expand freely.
Give life, do not kill.
Give generously, do not take.
Reward, do not punish.
This is the way of nourishing life in spring, the response to spring’s energy.
If you act contrary to it, you will harm the liver.
In summer, this imbalance will cause cold in the body, and your ability to grow and thrive will be diminished.
Here are the timeless practices we can take from this text:
1. Adjust to the rhythm of rising
As the days get longer and the yang energy begins to rise, the environment is asking you to extend your days along with it. Spring is embodied by the wood element in feng shui. Like a tree or a bud emerging from the ground, it is characterised by yang: the rising energy. Embrace this.
Wake earlier. Rest later.
To harness the rising energy of this season, embody your entrepreneurial spirit.
What is it that you wish to begin?
The energy of the season will support you in creating.
2. Like the branches of the willow, or the flutter of leaves, practice movement.
Gentle movement and practices are enough to bring you into tune with the energy of spring. Dancing in your kitchen while performing your best rendition of Dancing Queen by ABBA?
Sounds perfect to me!
Let your hair down. Feel the fluidity of life. Feel the beauty of movement and unhindered growth. Relax the body and allow the energy to rise within you.
Gentle movement can also include fluid exercises like tai chi, qi gong, yoga, or a gentle walk in the spring air to nourish the inner wood energy.
3. Kindness is alignment, get rid of what constrains you.
Let go of what constricts your heart. Greif in feng shui and TCM is related to the metal element, which destroys the energy of wood and springtime. To live in alignment we must practice kindness, not only to others but also to ourselves.
Embody the abundance of life. (After all, spring is the season of abundance and new life.) Give freely, knowing that you live a beautiful and abundant life.
Choose kindness. Choose love. Choose happiness.
4. Let your home breathe
In springtime, the Earth inhales after the long hibernation of winter. As the world stirs with the pulse of new life, bring your home into alignment with this rising energy.
Open your windows and doors to allow fresh air and energy in.
A perfect morning ritual to allow the rising energy in.
Clear your pathways so energy can move fluidly through your space
Remove the unnecessary.
We call it spring cleaning for a reason!Refresh what has lied dormant in winter.
Shake out your winter linens, adorn your bed with bamboo and cotton. Fill your home with the abundance of fresh fruit and cut flowers.
This is the way what we live in alignment with the seasons.
This is the way we live an aligned life. Knowing ourselves, the world around us and the relationship between the two is how we thrive in life.
