為無為 action-non-action

Midwest Women's Herbal Conference reflections

Hello friends,

Lying on grass, we gaze at sun through our eyelids. Feel damp earth through our clothes. Hear lake lapping against shore. I slip my rattle from my backpack and start walking and rattling around the circle, beginning with Rumi, “You are in your body like a plant is solid in the ground, yet you are wind.”

We begin where we started, concluding a two-day Elemental intensive at the Midwest Women’s Herbal Conference. We take three breaths together: for ourselves, each other, the Great Mystery. We rub our hands to generate heat, then clap on three, two, one, CLAP! We conclude. We begin again.

Planning this class, I sat with an empty notebook gazing at the ocean, sipping tea, retracing trails. So many ideas as always, but no impetus this time to gestate into a polished plan. Instead, “We are here to experiment and experience together,” I say in our first few minutes of class, “and I am here with you.”

Planning without planning, I scaffolded possibilities for each Element, theming around my Five Element Lifestyle Medicine framework. Before each session, I wondered, “How do I want people to feel?” and chose a few practices I hoped to share. Then we flowed.

I approached the conference similarly, leaving a class early to wander with a new friend, bump into more friends, and discover a hidden lake where sandhill cranes crooned and Canadian geese honked overhead. Marching towards yoga class the final morning, I change course to strain nearly forgotten turmeric dye, chat with friends, then continue alone to my favorite spot by the lake, “Hello water. Hello land.” I close the conference in my own way by conversing with this place, remembering similar lake-Ling conversations over the years, back to over a decade ago as a new herbal teacher quivering here for the first time. Here again now, I feel the comforting waters returning, flowing, onwards.

Teaching via 為無為 action-non-action, I hold the bones of my curriculum lightly, ask students what they want, and we saunter into the unknown together.

Studying, traveling, and verb-ing 為無為 action-non-action, I trust intuition, listen to what the moment calls for, and let the details reveal themselves, welcoming magic.

What arises when you soften into not knowing, allowing what is arising to to emerge organically on its own time and of its own nature?

Almond, WI

節氣 Seasonal Nodes

The 24 seasonal nodes in the Chinese lunisolar calendar observe seasonal shifts. Each node has 3 pentads, poetic snapshots of natural phenomena to align us with EarthBody cycles. Here’s June’s upcoming seasonal nodes and pentads:

• June 6: 芒種 Grain in Beard • 螳螂生 Praying mantises hatch • 腐草為螢 Rotten grass becomes fireflies • 梅子黄 Plums ripen yellow

• June 21: 夏至 Summer Solstice • 乃東枯 Summer herbs wither • 菖蒲華 Irises bloom • 半夏生 Pinellia rises

Recommendations

• ✨ Ventura: Come hangout with me and Lanny Kaufer, author of Medicinal Herbs of California, at Timbre Books on 6/12 for a fun conversation about his life, herb walks, and book!

• Podcast: Listen to my interview with Thomas Elpel, author of Botany in a Day— and stay tuned for an interview with

  Bevin Clare
  (one of my fav herbalists!)

• Library: My top books from May (in progress) include The Book of Alchemy by

  Suleika Jaouad
  (writing prompts) and California Against the Sea by Rosanna Xia (climate change)

• Substack:

  Concrete Avalanche
  (alternative music from China),
  Lucia Deyi
  (East Asian medicine meets folklore),
  CREATIVE NOURISHMENT
  (creative lyric essays), and a Stealth-Care piece from
  Art That Breathes
  (interview drops next month on Herbal Radio)

❤️ May this be the best season of your life,

Jiling Lin, L.Ac.

JilingLin.com • Acupuncture, herbs, art

---

Hi! I’m Jiling, an acupuncturist and herbalist in coastal southern California bridging medicine and expression through my Ventura acupuncture clinic, Five Elements classes, and Elemental book-in-progress that interweaves nature, art, movement and ritual for thriving personal and ecological wild beauty. Learn more about me here, join events here, and get acupuncture here. See you next month!