An Introduction to Summer Energy

Most stress, disappointment, and frustration results from the misperception that we live a linear life instead of a cyclical life.

From the tides to our daily rhythms, from lunar phases to hormone cycles, from hunger to sleep, from your breath to your biorhythms, everything in nature follows a cyclical pattern. Each of these patterns follows the energetic cadence of the cycle of the seasons.

These cycles play out on the large scale over a life span, on the smallest scale in our daily rhythms, and at all the points in between. The seasonal patterns apply to projects, workouts, relationships, and even your interests and hobbies.

Understanding these energetic patterns can help us better understand our fluctuating energy levels and mental acuity, and interest levels. Knowing where you are in the cycle — both in the macro sense of your life as well as in each relationship or project — is crucial to doing the right thing at the right time.

In a previous installment of this series, we explored the energy of Spring. Today, let’s look at summer and its archetypal energy, as well as its associated elements and patterns.

The Energy of Summer

Summer begins with the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year.

By Summer, the newness of Spring’s creations has worn off. We are no longer in the “shiny and new” phase — this is the season for consistent and persistent daily action that ensures that Spring’s blossoms don’t die on the vine.

In the warmth and heat of the Sun, Spring’s pastels become more saturated; its fragile leaves become more sturdy.

Just as the Sun shows up every day to shine its light, we do the same. This is not a time to be concerned with results or with when the crops will be ripe and ready.

In Summer, the Sun is at it’s peak height and strength. The days are long and hot, and activity is in full force. We often want to be outside.

Summer is the season of nurturing, tending, maintaining, and sustaining our efforts: watering the crops, tilling the soil, tending to growth.

Summer asks us to trust that the steady dedication will yield results — even if those results might be different from what we initially expected or envisioned.

How Summer Shows Up

Summer is ….

• the pause after the inhale where you are filled with oxygen
• the full moon
• the peak of the tide
• mid-day, or high-noon in the cycle of your day
• peak energy
• the climb to the peak of the mountain
• the mother/father archetype

Elements and Emotions of Summer

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) associates each season with an element, organ system, body part, emotion, color and energy.

Summer is ruled by the fire element, which is associated with heat, growth, and movement.

Fire and summer are associated with the heart, pericardium, small intestines, and the tongue. The heart is responsible for blood circulation and flow, consciousness, and mental-emotional well-being.

In the Chakra system, the heart chakra is the center of the system. It integrates the mind and body, our exterior persona and shadow, ego and unity.

Summer’s energy is yang, or outward moving energy. Yang energy is extraverted, expansive, and engaging out in the world.

The balanced emotion of summer is joy.

Fire is nature at its peak growth. Its movement is upward and outward.

Just like fire rises and spreads, summer is a great time to spread ideas and messages of your heart.

Summer in Flow and Out of Flow

When we are in the flow of summer energy, we are working consistently and persistently, engaging with others, sharing our ideas, and tending to all the details of our life.

Summer is also a time for play and rest, and it’s important to maintain our inner harmony.

When our system is out of balance, we might lack joy or have excess joy to the point of being manic. Out of balance, summer energy can lead to agitation, nervous exhaustion, and insomnia. Excess heat can cause inflammation, digestive issues, and burnout.

Even within summer, it’s crucial to find pockets of rest: lazy, dog-day afternoons where we allow the sun to refuel us with its light and replenish our systems.