Yangsheng: The Art of Living in Season

Monthly online yangsheng class exploring the 24 solar nodes through Chinese medicine teachings, seasonal recipes, and gentle qi gong.

What does it mean to live in rhythm with the world?

A class with Anne Shelton Crute & Tara Bianca Rado.

Classical Chinese medicine describes the year not as a static calendar, but as a living sequence of qi transformations. The 24 solar nodes mark the subtle shifts in climate, light, and movement that shape our bodies, emotions, and spirit throughout the year.

Yangsheng—“nurturing life”—is the art of aligning ourselves with these changes. It is not about fixing symptoms or optimizing performance. It is about learning to live well within the unfolding patterns of Heaven and Earth. In many ways, this is the home and daily-life expression of what we do in the acupuncture clinic with needles.

This monthly class offers a steady, practical way to study and embody the seasonal qi through:

• Teachings on the solar nodes and their cosmological meaning

• Simple seasonal recipes and food practices

• Gentle qi gong and breathwork appropriate to the time of year

• Reflection on how to use our energy when it is not consumed by obligation or strain

Over time, the class becomes a kind of living almanac—a place to return each month to recalibrate, nourish the body, and remember the larger rhythms we belong to.

No prior experience is required. This class is open to patients, students, and anyone interested in Chinese medicine as a lived philosophy.

Format & Structure

Course begins after the Chinese New Year in March 2026
Meets monthly for 10 months each year, over a two-year cycle
Participation for the full two years is not required

Classes meet live on Zoom
Recordings are sent a few days later if you miss the live session
Zoom link is emailed before each class

Cost: $65 per month. Payable via Zelle, Venmo, or PayPal

Proposed 2026 Spring Dates: to be confirmed soon

All classes at 1 pm Eastern / 10 am Pacific

• March 1

• April 5

• May 17

About the Teachers

Anne Shelton Crute, LAc, DAOM

Anne is the founder of Ritual Health Acupuncture & Herbalism in Berkeley, California, a Doctor of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, and a Chinese Polestar astrologer. She is a published author and educator, with a chapter in A Ring Without End: Reflections on Classical Chinese Medicine Mind/Body Mapping, and serves as an editor on several Chinese medicine and astrology texts, including her teacher Liu Ming’s forthcoming book on Chinese Polestar astrology. Anne has been in clinical practice for more than fifteen years and has trained through private apprenticeships in Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, Tibetan herbalism, and astrology in the U.S., Japan, and India. Her work focuses on chronic illness, nervous system regulation, life transitions, and reconnecting patients with their innate sense of spirit.

Tara Bianca Rado, LAc

Tara is the founder and lead acupuncturist of Durham Integrative Health and Acupuncture Center, a nonprofit sliding-scale clinic in Durham, North Carolina. She began studying traditional healing arts in the mid-1990s through Asian bodywork, qi gong, meditation, and community-based Western and native herbalism, and worked for nearly two decades as a massage therapist specializing in shiatsu and tui na. She later completed formal training in Traditional Chinese Medicine, earning her master’s degree from the Acupuncture and Integrative Medicine College in Berkeley and a bachelor’s degree in Medical Anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley. Tara’s clinical work integrates acupuncture, herbal medicine, and bodywork, with a focus on accessibility, partnership, and cultivating resilience, connection, and joy in the healing process. She continues to deepen her studies in Classical acupuncture and Daoist healing, and also practices Chinese Polestar astrology.

Lunar New Year: Year of the Yin Wood Snake Recording!

The Year of the Yin Wood Snake is Here!

View the recording of our Lunar New Year celebration which benefitted San Francisco SafeHouse, hosted by Blue Willow Teaspot in Berkeley, CA. Catch up on what you missed!

In this recording, we discuss the Auspices of the Yin Wood Snake year, what it means for us collectively, with a look at politics, pop culture, business, tech, and romance. We close by discussing how it affects the 12 animals.

Thanks so much for everyone who joined us and helped support sheltering women escaping sexual violence! If you didn’t donate yet, please do so here.

Happy New Year: Yin Wood Snake 2025!

Welcome! Watch the full-length video of Dr. Anne’s Lunar New Year Yin Wood Snake 2025 video here.

We have transitioned to the Yin Wood Snake year, out of the vibrant Yang Wood Dragon annual qi. Let’s explore this profound shift in energy and its implications for our well-being and personal growth. Watch the video HERE!

Our Lunar New Year Talk & Party at Blue Willow Teaspot explored practical strategies for aligning with this year's energy and have a lot of fun doing it.

If You’re Afraid of the Dark: Take a Look!

The Yin Wood Snake year brings a stark contrast to the outward, dynamic energy we've just experienced. This year is characterized by a deeply introspective, "down and in" nature, calling us to turn our focus inward.

The forceful momentum of the previous year gives way to a time for rest, sleep, dream, and recalibration. This is a year for observation, for gathering resources, for rooting deeply into our most authentic truth, perhaps even re-evaluating what our truth may be. In fact, consider allowing a generous not-knowing about how to re-evaluate truth, or whether it is even possible.

Stay in the not-knowing. That’s where the wisdom is this year.

Never Sat Still Before? Give It a Try! 

The world of possibilities we were introduced to last year is still there. We just know now more than ever that we don’t know what to do with it. It is a great year to be a beginner at stillness.

Interestingly, the Yin Wood Snake finds itself in an unusual element. The elemental qi native to the Snake is Yin Fire: a simmering, smoldering quality that waits for its moment to strike. So, Snake energy is comfortable with stillness, even hiding, and waiting. The Snake this year is paired with Yin Wood – an energy more naturally aligned with the Rabbit, which wants to hunker down. Yin Wood Snake is an immature serpent lacking what Ming called “striking force,” not knowing its timing, aware that it needs to re-evaluate itself, but unsure how and wants help doing it.

Generally, we think of a Wood Snake as a harmless snake, but when we apply this elemental value to annual qi, we see that the fire energy is in there. Expect a year of watchful waiting, but look out occasional expressions of wood-like impulsive energy, especially in the springtime. We may see an unripe, striking quality in the summer months or certain lunar months. Wood Snake is generally docile, but think of immature poisonous snakes in the wild which cannot yet regulate the flow of venom. These can be more dangerous than they would be in maturity, but they are also less effective.

This mismatch between the Snake's native element and the year's energy has significant implications:

·      Caution grand new projects or big ventures. Pump the brakes and consider just planning instead. It is a Wood year, so some individuals may nevertheless find success (depending on personal astrology and fate progressions), but in general, new initiatives may struggle or even collapse with little concentrated energy for get-up-and-go.

·      True to the Snake's nature, there's potential for deep, profound learning from these experiences. What is success or failure, really, in the grand scheme of things, haha?

·      When we are in touch with our true nature, we are not dependent upon external gains. The Snake offers us the opportunity to look deeper into reality, embracing truths that lie beneath surface appearances. Snake energy doesn’t care whether we learn the easy way or the hard way. We have the possibility of understanding this truth this year ourselves, rather than just being freaked out.  The main takeaways of the year may be hidden from view—meaning not understood until years later, and/or manifesting as internal transformation.

·      The Yin Wood aspect reminds us not to take ourselves – or the reality we perceive – too seriously. Judicious use of humor can be a valuable tool this year. Fun fact: humor is a great way to fight fascism. Autocrats need us to take them seriously and rely on fear to hold control. There is actual research on this. I encourage you to look at it for the sake of aligning yourself with the qi of the year…this will also help protect against that Yin Wood Snake tendency for depression.

·      While the Yin Fire Snake typically waits for the perfect moment to strike, the Yin Wood Snake may struggle to recognize when to take action. This emphasizes the importance of patience and careful observation.

Humor Undermines Fear!

Let’s break down the energy:

Socially and politically, there will be false-starts. The whip of the dragon’s tail (the end of the previous year) saw a time when leadership threw every idea that it could against the wall. It was a hasty and disorganized exercise: executive orders and proclamations signed which had weird typos and inaccuracies which bear the mark of AI. In Yin Wood Snake year, we will see what sticks—not much. Other things may move forward in a hidden way: backroom dealings, sloppily done.

In terms of health, this time presents an opportunity to observe and concentrate our energy. It's a time for deep healing and internal work. Path dreaming. However, be mindful of the potential for heaviness, depression, or feelings of hopelessness – these are the unhealthy manifestations of this year's energy if not properly balanced. See your acupuncturist.

In tech and business: creativity always abounds in a wood year, but we might not see the work product immediately this time. Snake invites imagination to the way projects are conceived and accomplished. Expect total re-evaluations of how things are done, often coming from the ground up, maybe not released until next year. Creative fields are emphasized. Design, too. In medicine, look for tech developments. AI will obviously transform in this coming year, as it has in the past, but look for a snake signature.

Romantically, snake energy is about seductive energy and mystery. A snake year can be hot! Snake, however, doesn’t normally like to show itself. When it does, there will be deep intimacy. Snakes energy may equally hide in plain sight. Case by case.

The Takeaway: 

If you are afraid of the dark, take a look! If you have never sat still, give it a try! Humor undermines fear!

As we navigate this introspective year, remember that it's setting the stage for the more action-oriented Fire Horse year to follow. We’ll know what to do when we get there. Use this time wisely for observation, organization, and internal preparation.

To learn about how the annual energy affects the 12 animals, watch the video HERE.

Get your personalized reading to learn more about how this year affects you.

We're here to support your journey through this transformative year, helping you cultivate the inner wisdom and strength that will serve you in the more active times to come.