In Traditional Thai Medicine, understanding one’s elemental constitution is fundamental to achieving balance and wellness. This ancient holistic approach posits humans are composed of four primary elements: earth, water, wind, and fire. Each individual possesses a unique blend of these elements, determining their physical attributes, emotional temperaments, and potential health predispositions.
Traditional Thai Medicine identifies external factors that can disrupt the body’s equilibrium, significantly impacting an individual’s health. Environmental changes, such as shifts in weather, play a crucial role in this imbalance. Lifestyle choices, including diet, sleep patterns, and physical activity, also exert significant influence on one’s physical and mental health.
How Seasonal Change Affects The Body
Integrative Diagnostics Wherein Body Elements And External Factors Are Taken Into Account
Identifying your elemental makeup is the first step towards personalised healing. First, Traditional Thai Medicine practitioners will calculate your natal chart, according to the lunar calendar, to identify your elements and predict the tendency that you will experience imbalance based on the time of fertilisation and birth.
Apart from that, you may experience symptoms
when your body is unable to adapt to external changes as follows:
- Winter: The wintry dryness and coldness can throw the system of fluid regulation (Semha system) off balance, causing increased sticky mucous production in the respiratory system, chesty cough, runny nose, and respiratory tract infections such as common cold and flu.
- Spring/Autumn: The wind shift and climate variability of wet season together with pollination can affect the system of bioelectricity (Vata system), affecting bowel movement and causing gastrointestinal discomfort. Some may be achy all over and have a headache or stuffy nose due to atmospheric pressure change.
- Summer: The summery heat undoubtedly aggravates the system of metabolism (Pitta system), raising body temperature and making us feel uncomfortable. Some may get annoyed, tired easily, and experience inflamed and irritated skin. The body becomes dehydrated.
Integrative Solutions To Rebalance The Body's Elements
Winter
For Balanced Semha
Nutrition
✓ Pungent flavour
✓ Bitter taste
✓ Warm foods
✕ Sweet taste
✕ Sour taste
✕ Salty taste
✕ Cool foods
Exercise
Cardiovascular exercises such as HIIT Re-energise Training or Thai Boxing Exercise are recommended to be incorporated in your regimen to balance Semha system through increased metabolism and energy levels.
Therapy
Thai treatments such as Traditional Thai Herbal Steam or Ya-Soom can help recalibrate Semha system to leave you a light, stress-free feeling by relieving the symptoms of nasal congestion while increasing blood circulation. To further support Semha system at a cellular level, Immune Myer IV acts as a complementary treatment to enhance the immune system, reducing susceptibility to infection and speed up body recovery from illnesses.
Spring
For Harmonised Vata
Nutrition
✓ Sweet taste
✓ Sour taste
✓ Salty taste
✓ Oily foods
✕ Bitter taste
✕ Pungent flavour
✕ Astringency
✕ Raw and dry foods
Exercise
For a sense of grounding and calm, Pilates is a recommended exercise since it focuses on individual breathing patterns while improving strength and balance of Vata system.
Therapy
As people with imbalanced Vata may experience poor circulation, Traditional Thai Oil Massage can help improve blood and lymph flow and loosen up stiff and tense muscles and joints. Restore vitality on a deeper level with Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy which helps oxygenate cells and tissue, pacifying Vata energies by encouraging metabolic waste removal.
Summer
For Free-Flowing Pitta
Nutrition
✓ Sweet taste
✓ Sour taste
✓ Salty taste
✓ Oily foods
✕ Bitter taste
✕ Pungent flavour
✕ Astringency
✕ Raw and dry foods
Therapy
Excessive Pitta can result in heat-related imbalances such as headaches, stress and dry eyes. Traditional Thai Ya-Pok therapeutic Massage is therefore viable solution to reduce the heat accumulated around the ocular area and head. To address skin problems caused by excessive heat in other areas of the body, Traditional Thai Ya-Chae is recommended to soothe the problematic outer body parts.
On the mental part of your health, try incorporating Tai Chi or yoga in your regimen to relieve stress and anxiety through the mind-body connection.
