Category Archives: Flexibilty

Summit Walk Early Spring

Anger, Flexibilty, Planning, Seasons, Spring, Vision, Wood Element, , , , ,

Monday 31st August 2026
Early Spring
Mount Barker Summit – Womma Mu Kurta

It is three months since I last drove up the rutted track to the summit. Time to see what has changed. Today is comfortably warm and sunny, prompting outer and inner smiles. In the spirit of the Wood Element of the season, I am on a mission. Armed with a printout from Green Adelaide’s ‘Common native orchids of the Adelaide Hills’, I’m on a private treasure hunt to find as many as I can.

First, I take the short trail to the trig point which gives a clear, panoramic view of the surrounding district. Mount Lofty to the north-west seems so close but the old metal plaque on the cairn reveals it is 21.5 miles away (34.6 km). To the south-east, further still, I can see the sun glinting on the waters of Lake Alexandrina and at the edge of vision, the dunes of the Coorong. Such wide vision engenders a sense of expansiveness, raising the spirits and imbuing me with optimism.

Tearing myself away from these views, I head back down to rejoin the main track around the summit that I trod in the winter. This time the sky is clear and blue, the sun warm on my skin, the ground dry underfoot. Last season I walked hurriedly huddled in my jacket; today I want to linger and savour everything the land has to offer. This suits my mission as I hunt for the elusive orchids.

Here is my first flower find: a pink-tinged white flower, but, hmm there are loads of them. I take a photo and identify it as kind of freesia. Or iris. It becomes clear that I am no botanist.

Ambling along the eastern edge of the ridge, scanning left and right, I find another candidate, a tall, pencil-like flower with small purple flowers with smaller yellow centres. It does not fit any of the images on my identification sheet. And again, there are many more examples. Another strike.

A gorgeous pink six-petalled flower turns out to be onion grass; a white beauty is completely unidentifiable; another purple one might be a kind of… I begin to realise that AI is not set up for plants in the Adelaide Hills. A subtle sense of disappointment and frustration creeps in: my mission has been unsuccessful. I recognise the feeling as a minor expression on the anger spectrum. And yet, I have seen an abundance of beautiful wildflowers! In not finding what I’ve been looking for, I haven’t really appreciated what I have seen. Bound by my tunnel-visioned mission, I have missed the wider picture. Such a lesson of the Wood Element.

Letting go, I continue in a lighter and more open frame of mind. I reach the northern end of the loop and turn onto the western slope. This was very cold and windy last time; today it is balmy and inviting. The tree canopy is denser on this side and I notice there are far fewer flowers. They peek out from open pockets of sunshine. Rounding a corner, there is a blaze of yellow bubbles from a wattle over-reaching the path. It is gorgeous, rich, bursting with yellowness. It doesn’t need a name or a label. Letting go of labelling somehow allows a fuller appreciation of its beauty. Reminds me of how we label people and thereby fail to see their uniqueness.

The last leg of the circuit is a steep climb up high steps strewn with rocks. Now I am hot and take off my sweatshirt which today is living up to its name. Just before I get back to the carpark, there is a profusion of wildflowers in the scrub by the path. Nameless and heart-liftingly beautiful.

Back home I do some research and discover that the orchids most likely to appear at Mount Barker Summit in September are Donkey Orchids, Pink Fingers, King Spider, Pink Fairies and Sun Orchids. I am advised to look closely at the damp, shaded soil patches beneath the open stringybark canopy and around exposed rock slabs. Maybe a little more planning would have helped, but such is the nature of Wood. When plan A doesn’t work, think again and try plan B.

I look forward to my next try.

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Staying Flexible

Anger, Detoxification, Flexibilty, Planning, Wood Element, xi-cleft points, , , ,

Liver 6 ~ Zhongdu ~ Central Capital

Boy, what a spring it’s been in southern Australia: powerful forces blowing through, upending the calm serenity, unexpected gusts shaking things loose. I’m not just referring to the weather here, though it has been very windy and stormy of late; I’m also talking about the uprising, often jerky energies of the Wood Element that create a surging force, putting pressure upon any of our Wood issues that are unresolved.

I mentioned last time my unexpected gall bladder protestations. In response I’ve begun taking some supplements that cleanse and support the liver and gall bladder, only to find that my dreams have been unusually frequent and vivid. Sleep sometimes feels like a long-running Netflix drama series. This is because the liver houses the hun, spirit of Wood, which organises our dreams at night. Flushing the liver can affect the dream life.

Anger has also been prominent for many people this spring as the rising tide of Wood energy lets us know how balanced is this Wood emotion within us. I’ve had many clients comment on their frustration levels recently. And I’ve noticed that these emotions are spilling over into angry public protests over the Covid lockdowns.

Which brings us to an acupoint that can address some of these issues, the xi-cleft point of the Liver channel: Liver 6, Zhongdu, Central Capital. Its name refers to its location in the centre of the shin bone, to the cleft or hollow in which it is located, and perhaps because the xi-cleft point is where Qi accumulates as does the population of a capital city.

As a xi-cleft point, it is very good for clearing stagnation along the whole length of the Liver channel, starting at the big toe, travelling up the inside of the leg, around the groin, into the abdomen and through the diaphragm before finishing below the breast. It is particularly known for treating acute conditions of the genital area, urinary pain, uterine pain, and lower abdominal pain. It can also address numbness in the hands and feet and emaciation of the legs.

An overarching function of the point is that it spreads and smooths Liver Qi. One of the main functions of the Liver official is to promote smooth flow of blood and Qi throughout the body. Central Capital is a significant point to support this function. One of the ways that stagnant Liver Qi can present is in constant sighing, brought on by tightness in the diaphragm which prevents Liver Qi from ascending. Another point we’ve looked at in the past, Liver 14 in the chest , can be paired with Liver 6 to address this condition.

Zhongdu can also treat stagnation at the psycho-emotional level which might present outwardly as frustration, irritability, anger and judgement of others; or internally as collapse, hopelessness, despair, and judgement and criticism of oneself. For some, there is a flipping back and forth between the two responses. In both scenarios, the Liver Qi is not moving smoothly up the body as it needs to.

One of the major issues that the Wood Element presents us is about how we manage the limits and boundaries we encounter. How we deal with the inevitable roadblocks we meet in life will tell us much about the health of our Wood. When you meet an obstacle to your forward movement, how do you tend to respond? A healthy Wood will be flexible and adapt to changing circumstances. If plan A isn’t working, we look around, make wise assessments, change the plan, and move forward. If you collapse at hurdles or try to crash through them, consider alternatives and work around the barriers. Working with Liver points will support your adaptability and flexibility, and Central Capital can be central to this support.

Location of Liver 6

The point lies 7 cun above the prominence of the inner ankle bone. As there are 15 cun from the knee crease to the ankle on the inside of the lower leg, the point is slightly less than halfway up. It lies on the back border of the tibia bone in a hollow between the tibia and the gastrocnemius muscle.

It makes for a nice pairing with Gall Bladder 36 which we looked at last time. GB 36 is at the same level as Liver 6 but on the outside of the leg.