The Metal Element and Your Lungs
Autumn is more than just a season in Chinese Medicine. It is the time of year that resonates with the Metal Element. The Metal Element includes the Lung and Large Intestine. The Lung’s superpower is Inspiration – of physical breath and spiritual creativity. And the Large Intestine superpower is Letting Go. Autumn can be the ideal time to let go of not only physical clutter, but also mental/emotional clutter and life situations that are no longer serving us. 
The Lung is also responsible for your immunity as the first place natural invasion takes place is through the breath.
Now is a key time to focus on breathwork, meditation and immunity enhancing foods for the Metal Element, such as garlic, onions, foods that are fresh and white at their center – potatoes, cauliflower, almonds, radishes, parsnip, pear, apple, oats, rice, and white peppercorn.
The Lung also manifests in the skin. So if you have any chronic skin conditions an acupuncture treatment for strengthening the lung could hold the answer for you. 
We can assist our skin to be as radiant as possible by looking after our internal organs which are the root cause of its health. Namely the Lung, and the Spleen. The Spleen plays a key role in digestion – the transforming and transporting of food as nourishment. The Spleen ascends moisture and pure qi upwards towards the lungs. Keeping the Spleen healthy will assist the Lungs indirectly through our diet and digestion.
We can see through the quality of our skin, the state of the Spleen.
If the skin is greasy and has many pimples it can mean the spleen is weak in its function of controlling dampness. Healthy digestion will show on your face as a radiant complexion. Foods like asparagus, papaya, beans and turnips help to eliminate dampness, also avoid excessively cold foods like ice cream, dairy, iced drinks, and raw food diets. 
Yin nourishing foods in particular though will assist the lung in creating youthful radiant glow. Think of foods like goji berries, beans, dates, and dandelions to name a few.
Using a jade roller on the face will boost circulation to the face and help with elimination of stagnation and toxins, making your skin brighter and more elastic. Use it from the center of your face and roll outwards after your normal cleanse and moisturize routine.
Acupuncture facials are great for an immediate boost of collagen to the face. A course of facial treatments can also give phenomenal results. A facial acupuncture treatment will be combined with body points according to your unique diagnosis to strengthen the internal organs and promote smooth flow of qi and an immense sense of wellbeing.
Acupuncture points you can self massage with acupressure are Heavenly Appearance, located behind the curve of the jaw, and Large Intestine 4 located in between the thumb and first finger on the mound of muscle there.
These are some TCM recommendations and of course good hydration, exercise and sleep are imperative too. Happy autumn.
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