Points of Wellness

Living with the Seasons: Finding Our Rhythm Again

September is here.

For many families, the kids are back in school. The backpacks have been packed, schedules rearranged, lunches figured out, and everyone is beginning to settle into a new rhythm.

And maybe now there is finally a little space to think about ourselves again.

I hear it from patients, friends, and honestly, from myself too:

“I need to get back into a routine.”

Back to exercising.
Back to eating better.
Back to sleeping at a reasonable hour.
Back to taking care of the things we somehow let slide during summer.

But I’ve been thinking about the word routine.

Maybe we don’t need another rigid schedule or a long list of things we’re supposed to do. Maybe what we’re really looking for is rhythm.

Nature has rhythms. Light and darkness. Activity and rest. Growth and dormancy. And our bodies have rhythms too.

So instead of trying to fix everything on September 1st, choose one thing.

Take that morning walk again.
Make breakfast before you rush out the door.
Get back to your exercise class.
Cook dinner at home a few more nights.
Go to bed 20 minutes earlier.
Make the doctor’s appointment you’ve been putting off.
And yes…schedule that acupuncture appointment you’ve been meaning to make. 😉

One small thing that says, I’m taking care of myself again.

Last week I wrote about creating a ritual to welcome the changing season. Maybe this is the next part of that ritual: not just noticing that nature is changing, but allowing our own daily lives to change with it.

We don’t need a perfect routine.

We just need a rhythm that helps us feel a little more like ourselves again.

What is one thing you’re getting back to this September?

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Living with the Seasons: A Ritual for Welcoming Fall
There is always a moment near the end of summer when you can feel the season beginning to turn.
The days are still warm, but the mornings are a little cooler. The light changes. The evenings come a little sooner.

In Chinese medicine, we don't necessarily wait for the calendar to tell us a new season has arrived. We pay attention to what is happening around us and begin helping our bodies adjust with it.

Autumn is associated with the Lung and with the emotion of grief. It is also a season of letting go.

You can see it happening all around us. Plants begin to retreat. Gardens start to quiet. Trees will eventually release leaves they spent an entire season growing.

There is something beautiful about that.
Letting go doesn't mean that something wasn't important. Sometimes it means it has simply completed its season.
So this year, I thought I would create a little fall ritual.

Nothing complicated. Just a few things to tell the body and mind: the season is changing, and we are changing with it.

Begin warming your food. Start moving away from so many cold and raw foods and bring back soups, broths, congee, roasted vegetables and warm breakfasts.

Protect your neck and chest. Those first cool mornings can be deceiving. Keep a light scarf or jacket nearby instead of pretending it is still July.

Breathe intentionally. The Lung governs respiration in Chinese medicine. Step outside and take five slow, deep breaths. Notice the cooler air. Let your exhale be a little longer than your inhale.

With each exhale, imagine releasing something you no longer need to carry.

Clear something out. A drawer. A closet. Your garden. Your schedule. Autumn reminds us that making space is part of preparing for what comes next.

Go to bed just a little earlier. The days are shortening. Instead of fighting the darkness, experiment with following it. Even 15–20 minutes earlier is a start.

Choose something you are ready to release.
Maybe it is a worry. A disappointment. An expectation. A habit. Or perhaps grief for something or someone that still deserves to be acknowledged.
Write it on a small piece of paper.
Sit quietly with it for a moment.
Thank it for whatever place it has held in your life, and when you're ready, tear up the paper, compost it, or simply throw it away.
If you are having trouble deciding what to release, then simply…

Breathe in what you want to carry forward.
Breathe out what you no longer need. You don't even have to name it.
That's actually quite Lung-like. The body releases every exhale without having an intellectual discussion about what it's releasing.

Also know, you don't have to forget something in order to loosen your hold on it.

Finally, make yourself a warm cup of tea and sit for a few minutes without doing anything else. Ginger, cinnamon, roasted barley, chamomile or rooibos can all make a lovely fall ritual.

No phone. No television. No multitasking.
Just breathe and notice that another season of your life is beginning.
We spend so much time trying to make our bodies live according to our schedules.

Perhaps sometimes we should let nature remind us when it's time to slow down, breathe deeply, and let something go.

Welcome, fall. I'm ready to change with you.

Living with the Seasons: Celebrating Milestones

August seems to be full of milestones.

My eldest niece turned 25 this week, and I’m celebrating my own birthday too. Kids are heading back to school, and some of my friends are watching their children leave for college for the first time.

Some milestones are big and obvious. Others are quieter, a new beginning, a goal reached, getting through something difficult, or simply realizing how far you’ve come.

I think sometimes we move so quickly from one thing to the next that we forget to stop and mark the occasion.

But these moments matter.

Life moves in seasons, and every season brings something worth remembering. So whatever is happening in your life right now, celebrate it. Take the picture. Have the cake. Make the dinner. Gather the people you love. Pause long enough to appreciate where you are before moving on to what comes next.

Because one day, these ordinary moments become the milestones we look back on.

Celebrate well. Be grateful. And honor the season you’re in this second of living.

Living with the Seasons
Old Friends, New Seasons
This weekend, I spent time with girlfriends I have known since high school. We took a cooking class together, making pasta, laughing, talking, and catching up on all the years between then and now.
There is something special about being with people who knew you in another season of your life.

They knew the younger version of you, the girl before careers, responsibilities, families, losses, successes, and all the experiences that eventually shape us into the women we become.

And now, here we are in our 50s.

We aren’t the same girls we were then. Our lives have taken different paths, and each of us has changed in ways we probably never could have imagined back in high school.

But somehow, when old friends come together, pieces of those younger selves return too. The laughter feels familiar. The stories come easily. And for a little while, the years between then and now don’t seem quite so long.

Maybe that is one of the gifts of growing older: realizing that friendships don’t always have to remain constant to remain meaningful. Some people walk beside us every day. Others disappear for years and then find their way back into our lives.

Like the seasons, friendships can change, rest, return, and bloom again.
And sometimes all it takes is a table, some flour, a rolling pin, and a few old friends to remind us how far we’ve come.

Honoring the people who knew us then and getting to know who we’ve become now.

Living with the Seasons
This weekend I spent time with college friends who have become family over the years.
For two days we wandered through Chinatown, shared hot pot, discovered a wonderful mango dessert, laughed until our cheeks hurt, and spent time at Lollapalooza. Surrounded by music, we watched thousands of people, many just beginning their own seasons of life.
What struck me most wasn’t the festival itself. It was realizing how much our conversations have changed.
In our twenties, we talked about careers, relationships, and where life might take us.
Now, in our fifties, we talk about our parents, our health, retirement dreams, and how precious time together has become.
One of our dear friends is facing cancer. Her courage reminded all of us that none of us knows how many summers we are given. We didn’t spend the weekend dwelling on illness. Instead, we celebrated friendship, created new memories, and promised not to let another year pass before gathering again.
As I grow older, I’m grateful not only for friendships that have lasted decades, but also for the new friendships that continue to enter my life. Our hearts never lose their capacity to welcome new people, no matter the season.
Perhaps this is one of the quiet gifts of growing older.
We begin to understand that life’s greatest treasures aren’t extraordinary events, but ordinary moments shared with people who have walked beside us through many seasons, and those who are just beginning to share the journey.
This weekend reminded me that every season has something to teach us. Youth brings possibility. Midlife brings perspective. Family and friendship make every season richer.
Here’s to family, old friends, new friends, and making time for the people who matter most.
—
Living with the Seasons
Dr. Anh Tran, L.Ac., M.S.O.M.
Points of Wellness Acupuncture

Living with the Seasons

This weekend I took my mom to the farmers market.

She wandered through the flower stands with the same excitement she always has, carefully choosing a bouquet to brighten her home. Sometimes the simplest mornings become the ones we remember most.

One flower that always catches my eye is the marigold. In many Buddhist traditions, marigolds are offered as a symbol of generosity, gratitude, and the reminder that life is always changing. Their brilliant colors don’t last forever, which makes them even more beautiful.

As summer begins to wind down, I’ve started collecting marigold seeds for next year. It’s a small ritual I enjoy, saving a little of this season so it can bloom again.

I’m hoping to collect enough seeds to share with anyone who would like to plant them next spring. It feels like a simple way to pass along a little beauty and a little hope.

Nature has a wonderful way of teaching us that every season eventually returns. Sometimes all we have to do is save a few seeds.

—
Living with the Seasons
Dr. Anh Tran, L.Ac., M.S.O.M.
Points of Wellness Acupuncture

Living with the Seasons

This week I gave myself a simple gift.

An hour-long walk.

No destination.
No earbuds.
No rushing.

Just quiet.

The lake was still. A kayaker drifted across the water while the trees swayed gently in the breeze. For an hour, I simply walked and noticed what was around me.

The Japanese have a practice called Shinrin-yoku, often translated as forest bathing. It isn’t about hiking farther or exercising harder. It’s simply spending time among the trees and allowing nature to quiet the mind.

As I walked, I realized that’s exactly what I needed.

Not another task to finish.
Not another appointment.
Not another notification.

Just space to breathe.

As an acupuncturist, I often remind my patients that healing isn’t always something we add. Sometimes it’s something we allow.

Sometimes the most restorative thing we can do is step outside and let nature do what it has quietly done all along.

Reflection

Where is the place you go when you need to reset?

Living with the Seasons

Summer has always been the season for cooling desserts.

This week, this is what I had in my kitchen.

Like many traditional recipes, every Asian family has their own variation. Some add lotus seeds, red dates, grass jelly, or different fruits. This is the version I made this week with ingredients I had on hand.

It includes coconut water, longan, almond jelly with collagen, peach gum, snow mushroom, ginkgo seeds, basil seeds, chia seeds, and a splash of soy milk, served cold.

In Chinese medicine, many of these ingredients have been enjoyed for generations during the warmer months. Snow mushroom and peach gum are traditionally valued for supporting hydration and are often included in desserts believed to help keep the skin looking soft and radiant. Coconut water is naturally refreshing, while basil and chia seeds add fiber and a fun texture.

One of the things I love about seasonal cooking is that it changes with what is available. No two bowls are exactly alike, and that’s part of the tradition.

For me, this bowl isn’t just dessert.

It’s a reminder that food can nourish more than our bodies. It can connect us to our culture, the seasons, and the simple joy of making something with our own hands.

Reflection:

Does your family have a favorite summer dessert or recipe? I’d love to hear about it.

Living with the Seasons

One of my favorite parts of summer is walking out to the garden before dinner to pick fresh herbs.

This year I noticed something interesting. The perilla growing among the flowers has hardly been touched by insects, while the herbs growing by themselves seem to have become a favorite meal for every bug in the neighborhood. Nature has a way of creating its own balance.

Growing up in a Vietnamese family, herbs were never just decoration on the plate. They were part of the meal. Tonight’s spring rolls will be filled with lettuce, fresh tia tô (perilla), Thai basil, mint, and Chinese chives, most of them picked just minutes before dinner.

There is something deeply satisfying about harvesting what you’ve cared for and bringing it straight to the table.

Summer reminds us that abundance isn’t only measured by how much we have. Sometimes it’s measured by simple things: a handful of fresh herbs, flowers in bloom, vegetables from a local garden, and a meal shared with people we love.

What herbs are growing in your garden this summer? I’d love to hear what’s thriving where you live.

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Living with the Seasons
Anh Tran, L.Ac., M.S.O.M.
Points of Wellness Acupuncture