By Jane Gregorie, M.S., L.Ac., FABORM
Owner & Clinic Director
Introduction
Something shifts in Colorado as September turns toward October. The light softens. The aspens begin their slow burn into gold. Mornings carry a dryness and a cool edge that was not there a week ago. And something in the body shifts too — a pulling inward, a quieting, a sense of readying for a slower season.
In Traditional Chinese Medicine, this seasonal transition is understood through the Metal element — the energetic frame of autumn, of the lungs, of breath and skin and boundaries. Metal governs letting go: the way leaves release from the tree, the way we draw a breath in and surrender it back out, the way the body cycles waste out through the large intestine, and the way the heart — in a healthy rhythm — holds and then releases what it loves.
Metal’s emotional terrain is grief. Which can sound heavy. But in TCM, grief is not pathology — it is a virtue of autumn, as natural as the falling of leaves. Grief, felt and allowed, is what makes letting go possible. The season is simply offering us an opportunity to meet it.
This post is for you if you are:
- feeling the energetic shift of fall and wanting to care for your body through the transition
- vulnerable to colds, flu, allergies, respiratory issues, or dry skin as the weather changes
- carrying grief from miscarriage, pregnancy loss, infant loss, or infertility — including grief you may be surprised to find resurfacing in fall
- navigating general grief — a parent, a partner, a friend, a chapter of your life
- interested in using the Metal-element lens to be with the season rather than fight it
At Acupuncture Denver, fall is one of our favorite seasons to work with patients. The weather itself is doing part of the medicine for us — if we can get out of the way, listen, and support what the body is already trying to do.
The Metal Element in Traditional Chinese Medicine
The Five Element framework — Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water — is one of the organizing lenses of Chinese medicine. Each element corresponds to a season, a pair of organ systems, a tissue, a sense, a color, a climate, an emotion, and a virtue. The elements describe not just how the body works but how the body relates to the natural world around it.
Metal corresponds to:
- Season: Autumn
- Yin organ: Lungs
- Yang organ: Large Intestine
- Climate: Dryness
- Direction: West
- Color: White
- Taste: Pungent (ginger, garlic, scallion, radish, mustard greens)
- Sense: Smell
- Tissue: Skin and body hair
- Sound: Weeping
- Emotion (shadow): Grief, sadness, inability to let go
- Virtue (balanced): Reverence, integrity, inspiration, the ability to let go
Every element has both a shadow and a virtue. The shadow of Metal is unprocessed grief — held in the chest, held in the breath, closed off, dry. The virtue of Metal is the completed arc of grief — grief felt, honored, and allowed to shape us without defining us. Metal, at its most refined, is also the element of inspiration (literally, in-breath).
Fall is when the Metal element is at its most active. The season invites — and sometimes insists — that we attend to our breath, our boundaries, our immunity, and anything we have been avoiding grieving.
The Lungs: Metal’s Yin Organ
The lungs are far more than respiratory organs in TCM. They are considered the “canopy of the organs” — the uppermost organ in the body, the first to be touched by the outside world, and the organ most responsible for our boundary with that world.
What the lungs do in Chinese medicine:
- Govern Qi and breath. With every inhale, we take in the clear Qi of the outside world; with every exhale, we release the turbid. The lungs’ rhythm is the body’s rhythm.
- Produce Wei Qi (defensive Qi) — the immune system. In TCM, Wei Qi circulates between the lungs and the surface of the body, protecting us from external pathogens. This is why fall is when respiratory immunity is tested, and why strong lung function is the body’s first defense against colds, flu, and seasonal illness.
- Govern the skin and body hair. The lungs’ domain extends to the body’s outer boundary — skin dryness, eczema, acne, chapped lips, and brittle hair are often lung-related in TCM.
- House the Po — the corporeal soul. The Po is the aspect of consciousness associated with sensation, instinct, and the physical self. When the lungs are depleted, the Po becomes restless — grief, anxiety, and a sense of being untethered can follow.
- Receive what the Kidneys send up. The lungs and kidneys share a Metal-Water relationship. Breath that feels shallow or incomplete — the body’s inability to take in a full inspiration — often has a Kidney component as well.
In Western terms, the lungs are the gateway between inner and outer: oxygen exchange, mucosal immunity, airway function, autonomic regulation (via vagal tone and breath rate), and skin as our largest organ of boundary. Every one of these systems is responsive to acupuncture.
The Large Intestine: Metal’s Yang Organ
The large intestine is Metal’s pair with the lungs. If the lungs take in and the Po receives, the large intestine is where letting go becomes literal — the removal of what the body has extracted meaning from and no longer needs.
In Chinese medicine, the large intestine does this physically (bowel function, waste elimination, water balance) and symbolically — it is the organ of release. Patterns that bring patients to our clinic in fall often include:
- Chronic constipation that worsens with dryness
- Alternating constipation and loose stools under stress
- Bloating and sluggish digestion
- IBS flares that track with seasonal transitions
- The feeling of being “stuck” — unable to release something emotionally, with corresponding physical holding
The fall invitation of Metal is not just to grieve, but to finish grieving — to allow what has been processed to actually leave. The large intestine is the body’s teacher in this.
Grief as a Metal Virtue
Here is the reframing that Chinese medicine offers, and that many of our patients find profoundly relieving:
Grief is not pathology. Grief is a healthy, necessary emotion — one of the body’s natural responses to loss, and one of the Metal element’s gifts.
In the Western frame, grief is often treated as something to “get past” or “move through quickly.” In TCM, grief is honored as the appropriate response to loss, and the lungs are understood to be the organ that holds grief. Unprocessed grief does not disappear — it accumulates in the chest, in the breath, in the shoulders that curl protectively forward. Acknowledged grief, by contrast, can be felt, honored, and allowed to transform.
Fall is the season when this transformation becomes most available. The outer world is modeling release everywhere — leaves, light, warmth, growth. The energetic field of the season supports what might feel impossible in summer: the full feeling of a loss, followed by the slow work of integration.
When patients ask us why fall feels harder than other seasons — why old grief resurfaces, why anniversaries land heavier, why sadness arrives unbidden — the Metal element offers an answer: because the season itself is asking you to tend what you may have put down. And that is not a problem. That is the work the season offers.
Grief in a Season of Letting Go: Fertility, Miscarriage, Infant Loss, and General Grief
This section is written especially for the patients who come to our clinic carrying losses the world often does not know how to meet.
If you have experienced miscarriage or pregnancy loss
Miscarriage affects approximately 15% of recognized pregnancies, with an estimated 23 million miscarriages worldwide each year (Quenby et al., 2021, The Lancet — “Miscarriage matters”). If you are reading this and you have experienced one, you are not alone — but the loneliness of it can be its own additional grief, because the world often has no language for a loss that was known mainly to you.
The Metal element frames pregnancy loss as a complete arc: a soul that came in, that was known, that is now gone. The grief is proportional to the knowing, not to the duration. Early loss is still loss. Loss at any gestation is loss.
If you have experienced infant loss or stillbirth
Perinatal and infant loss carries a weight that defies most frames. The Metal element does not minimize this — it simply names it. The lungs hold the grief of this loss particularly: the arms that held, the breath that was shared, the future that was imagined. Many patients in this situation find that fall is especially difficult — the energetic quality of the season meets the energetic quality of the grief, and the result can feel like a flood.
We treat this not as a problem to solve but as a current to be in. Weekly acupuncture during the fall for patients carrying infant loss is not about “fixing” the grief. It is about supporting the body as it holds what it is holding.
If you have experienced recurrent pregnancy loss
Our post on acupuncture for recurrent pregnancy loss addresses the medical and TCM dimensions of RPL. What that post does not fully capture is what fall can bring to the person navigating repeated loss: the compounding of grief, the fear of trying again, the quiet rage at biology. The Metal element invites us to give that grief air — literally. Breath, stillness, the honored silence of acknowledgment.
If you are navigating infertility grief
Infertility carries griefs that are often invisible — grief for the pregnancy that has not arrived, grief for the identity of parenthood that is on hold, grief for the ease many others seem to have. If you are an unexplained infertility patient, or over 35 and feeling the timeline, or a male partner carrying unspoken weight — this is grief. The Metal element names it.
If you are grieving something or someone else
Not all fall grief is reproductive. Many of our patients are grieving parents, partners, friends, pets, a version of their body or their health, a job, a city, a dream. The Metal element meets all of these the same way: with respect, with breath, with the honor of being allowed to feel. Grief is not a hierarchy. The lung’s response to loss is similar regardless of what was lost.
A note from the practitioner
I write this with my own history: I have been through recurrent pregnancy loss. This subject is not academic to me. Autumn is the season I became most intimately acquainted with Metal. If you are in the thick of grief this fall, please know that you are welcome in our clinic exactly as you are — in whatever state, at whatever point in the journey. We hold space. We do not rush.
— Jane
Fall Health Challenges: What to Watch For Physically
Alongside the emotional work of Metal, fall brings specific physical patterns we see every year in our Denver patient community:
- Dry skin, chapped lips, dry nasal passages — the Metal climate is dryness, and Colorado’s altitude compounds it
- Allergies and sinus congestion — ragweed and other fall pollens, plus wind-dryness patterns
- Colds, flu, and respiratory infections — cold/flu season begins in October and intensifies through winter
- Cough and bronchitis flares — particularly in patients with asthma, prior pneumonia, or long-COVID histories
- Low mood and seasonal affective symptoms — some patients begin feeling the shift as early as September
- Sleep disruption — particularly 3–5 a.m. waking, which in TCM is the lung’s time
- Grief flares and anniversary reactions — see above
- Constipation — as the large intestine responds to the dryness of the season
- Immune system transitions — particularly in children, elderly family members, and anyone with autoimmune or inflammatory conditions
TCM Self-Care for Autumn
Chinese dietary and lifestyle therapy is beautifully specific about how to live in harmony with each season. For fall, the principles are:
Eat for Metal
- Moistening, warming foods — bone broth, soups, stews, cooked root vegetables, warm oatmeal
- White foods (lung-nourishing in TCM): pears (poached pears with honey are a classic Fall remedy), daikon radish, white sesame, almonds, millet, cauliflower, mushrooms, Asian pear, Chinese white fungus (Tremella)
- Pungent spices in moderation (Metal’s taste, open the lungs): ginger, garlic, scallion, cardamom, cinnamon
- Pears and honey — specifically moisten the lungs and are classic fall foods in Chinese medicine
- Omega-3-rich fish — anti-inflammatory, supports both lungs and skin
- Limit: too much raw/cold food, excessive dairy (phlegm-forming in TCM), sugar (dampens immunity)
Live for Metal
- Earlier bedtime — the days shorten; follow the light
- Morning sunlight — supports mood and circadian rhythm as daylight decreases
- Breathwork — the simplest Metal practice. 5–10 minutes of slow nasal breathing daily. Box breathing, extended exhale, or any practice that lengthens the breath
- Time in nature — the aspens doing their work, the quality of fall light
- Journaling and reflection — fall is a natural time for internal taking-stock
- Reduce multitasking — Metal is the season of refinement; one thing at a time
- Honor grief when it comes — crying is medicine, not weakness
Care for the Lungs Directly
- Steam (face steam with chamomile or eucalyptus for sinus congestion)
- A humidifier — especially in Colorado, especially overnight
- Nasal rinse (neti pot) — helps allergy and infection prevention
- Avoid smoking of any kind — the lungs are especially vulnerable in fall
- Protect against wind — scarves, closed layers; TCM considers wind a primary external pathogenic factor
How Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs Support Fall Transition
Acupuncture during fall addresses multiple layers at once:
- Tonifies Lung Qi — supports immune function (Wei Qi), respiratory capacity, and skin
- Moistens dryness — points and herbal formulas address the dryness of the season
- Supports grief processing — specific points (LU7 “Broken Sequence,” HT7 “Spirit Gate,” PC6 “Inner Pass,” and others) support the Lung-Po-Shen complex
- Supports Large Intestine function — bowel regularity and the metaphorical “release”
- Supports sleep and mood — including the 3–5 a.m. waking pattern many patients report in fall
- Modulates stress and the autonomic nervous system — shifting the body toward parasympathetic tone during an inherently transitional season
Chinese herbal medicine in fall often emphasizes:
- Lung-moistening formulas — such as Bai He Gu Jin Tang (Lily Bulb to Preserve the Metal), Mai Men Dong Tang, or modifications
- Lung Qi tonifying formulas — such as Yu Ping Feng San (Jade Windscreen) — a classic formula taken during cold-and-flu season to strengthen Wei Qi and prevent respiratory illness
- Grief and Shen-calming formulas — including Gan Mai Da Zao Tang (traditionally used for the “Lily Disease” presentation of grief, restlessness, and sorrow)
- Pattern-specific adjustments for each patient’s constitution
All herbal formulas are custom-prescribed, cross-checked with any medications, and sourced from GMP-certified suppliers with third-party testing. See our Chinese herbs service page for more.
Staying Healthy Through Cold and Flu Season: The StayWell Membership
Many of our patients want to use fall as a seasonal maintenance window — building immunity before the deeper cold of winter sets in, supporting sleep and mood as the light shifts, and giving themselves one or two protected hours a month to actually rest.
This is exactly what our StayWell Membership is designed for.
Each month at $180 (a $53 savings over à la carte pricing), the StayWell Membership includes:
- One 60-minute follow-up acupuncture treatment — immune-building, Lung Qi tonifying, grief-honoring, or whatever your fall-specific pattern calls for
- One 60-minute massage — fall tends to pull the shoulders and chest tight; massage is a direct Lung-opening practice
- One infrared sauna session — moist heat that counters the dryness of fall, supports circulation, and gives you an hour of quiet
- 10% discount on all products — including the Chinese herbs, supplements, and self-care tools you may be using
StayWell is particularly suited to:
- Patients vulnerable to cold and flu who want proactive seasonal immune support
- Patients navigating grief who need regular, protected care through the hardest months
- Patients in long-term fertility care who are not actively in a cycle but want to maintain the integrative support
- Patients recovering from a long year — surgery, bereavement, intense work periods, caregiving
- Patients who find that monthly accountability helps them actually follow through on self-care
Email the clinic or ask us at your next visit to sign up.
A Personalized Fall Plan at Acupuncture Denver
For patients wanting a layered seasonal approach, a typical fall protocol includes:
- Comprehensive intake — Metal-element pattern assessment plus any ongoing conditions (fertility, pain, women’s health, mental health, immune)
- Weekly or every-other-week acupuncture through the fall transition (September through December)
- Lung-tonifying custom Chinese herbal formula adjusted every 2–4 weeks
- Cold-and-flu prevention protocol — including Yu Ping Feng San if constitutionally appropriate
- Infrared sauna sessions — 2–4× per month for warmth, circulation, and nervous-system regulation
- Red light therapy for mood and mitochondrial support as daylight shortens
- Breathwork and self-care guidance — tailored to your constitution
- Grief-honoring protocols for patients carrying loss — longer, slower sessions; attention to Lung-Heart points; coordination with your mental health provider when appropriate
- StayWell Membership for patients wanting monthly cost-smart maintenance
- Support group access — our free monthly women’s infertility support group is a Fall anchor for many patients
When Grief Needs More Than TCM
The Metal element honors grief as a natural emotion — but it does not minimize when grief becomes prolonged, immobilizing, or dangerous. If any of the following describe your experience, please reach out to a mental health professional in addition to integrative care:
- You are having thoughts of self-harm or suicide
- You are unable to carry out basic daily functions for more than a few weeks
- You are using substances to manage grief
- You are experiencing panic attacks, dissociation, or severe sleep deprivation
- Your grief has lasted more than 12 months and is actively worsening, meeting criteria for Prolonged Grief Disorder (now a formal DSM-5-TR diagnosis)
National resources:
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline — call or text 988 (U.S.)
- Postpartum Support International — 1-800-944-4773 or postpartum.net, with Climb Out of the Darkness and specific infant loss support
- Return to Zero: HOPE — rtzhope.org, specifically for pregnancy and infant loss
- Share Pregnancy & Infant Loss Support — nationalshare.org
In Denver specifically, we are happy to refer to therapists who specialize in reproductive grief, perinatal loss, and prolonged grief. Ask us.
Patient Takeaways
If fall feels different this year — or if you want to meet the season well:
✔ Fall is the season of the Metal element in TCM — governing the Lungs, Large Intestine, breath, skin, immunity, and the healthy processing of grief
✔ The lungs are the body’s primary defender against cold and flu through Wei Qi (defensive Qi); strong Lung function is seasonal immune protection
✔ Grief is a Metal virtue, not pathology — felt and honored, it is part of being human
✔ Fall is especially tender for patients carrying miscarriage, pregnancy loss, infant loss, or long-standing grief — the season meets the body where it already is
✔ TCM self-care for fall: moistening foods (pears, honey, white vegetables, bone broth), breathwork, earlier bedtime, humidification, gentle time in nature
✔ Acupuncture addresses the physical (immunity, dryness, sleep, respiratory, digestion) and the emotional (grief, Po restlessness, letting go) simultaneously
✔ Our StayWell Membership is a cost-smart way to build seasonal immunity and nervous-system regulation into a monthly rhythm — acupuncture + massage + infrared sauna for $180/month
✔ If grief is immobilizing, dangerous, or prolonged, please reach out to a mental health provider in addition to TCM — call or text 988 if you are in crisis
Fall in Our Clinic: An Invitation
If you are navigating the fall transition — physically, emotionally, or both — we would be honored to walk alongside you. At Acupuncture Denver, a fall-aligned plan is built around your:
- Metal-element constitutional pattern
- Immune, respiratory, skin, and digestive health
- Any grief you are carrying — fertility-related, perinatal, or other
- Fertility goals if TTC
- Energy for monthly maintenance vs. weekly support
👉 Schedule your consultation to build a personalized Fall plan.
Our free monthly women’s infertility support group is open to any woman navigating fertility challenges, pregnancy loss, or related grief — this is particularly well-attended in fall.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Metal element in Chinese medicine?
The Metal element is one of the five elements in Traditional Chinese Medicine (alongside Wood, Fire, Earth, and Water). It corresponds to the season of autumn, the Lung and Large Intestine organ systems, the climate of dryness, the color white, the taste pungent, the sense of smell, the tissue of skin, and the emotion of grief. In its balanced state, Metal is the energetic virtue of letting go — the ability to release what has completed its arc.
Why does fall feel emotionally heavier?
Fall is energetically a season of release — leaves falling, light shortening, the body turning inward. In TCM, this seasonal shift activates the Metal element and, with it, the lungs’ capacity to process grief. For patients carrying unprocessed loss, fall can bring old grief back to the surface. This is not a problem — it is the season offering an opportunity to tend what has been held.
Is grief really connected to the lungs in Chinese medicine?
Yes. In TCM, each emotion corresponds to an organ system, and grief is the emotion of the lungs. When grief is felt and honored, it moves through. When grief is suppressed or unprocessed, it accumulates in the lung field — manifesting as shallow breath, chest tightness, chronic cough, skin issues, immune weakness, and the “frozen” quality many grieving patients describe.
How can acupuncture help with grief after miscarriage or infant loss?
Acupuncture does not “fix” grief, and no honest practitioner would promise that. What acupuncture can do is support the body as it carries grief: calm the nervous system, support sleep, reduce the physical symptoms of grief (chest tightness, fatigue, digestive disruption, immune depletion), and create a weekly protected space for the body to rest in. We hold weekly sessions as a steady container for many patients navigating pregnancy and infant loss — not to accelerate the grief, but to accompany it. See our acupuncture for recurrent pregnancy loss post for the related clinical detail.
How does Chinese medicine help prevent colds and flu in fall?
Chinese medicine supports the lungs’ production of Wei Qi (defensive Qi) — the TCM equivalent of surface-level immune function. Acupuncture tonifies Lung Qi and supports the Lung-Spleen-Kidney immune axis. Chinese herbal formulas like Yu Ping Feng San (Jade Windscreen) are classic preventative formulas for cold and flu season when prescribed to the right constitutional pattern. Combined with lifestyle practices (sleep, moisture, warm nourishing foods, stress management), this is a well-established seasonal prevention protocol.
What foods should I eat in fall for Metal-element support?
Lung-nourishing fall foods include pears (especially poached pears with honey), white foods (daikon, Asian pear, white sesame, almonds, millet, Tremella mushroom), moistening soups and bone broth, cooked root vegetables, and pungent spices in moderation (ginger, garlic, scallion). Reduce raw and cold foods, excess dairy, and sugar — all of which can weaken the Lung-Spleen axis during fall.
What is the StayWell Membership and is it right for me?
StayWell is our monthly membership program at $180, including one 60-minute acupuncture follow-up, one 60-minute massage, one infrared sauna session, and 10% off products — a $53 savings over à la carte pricing. It is well-suited to patients who want consistent seasonal maintenance through cold and flu season, patients navigating grief or long-term stress who need regular protected care, and patients between active treatment phases. Learn more in our StayWell Membership post or email the clinic.
Why do I wake up between 3 and 5 a.m. in the fall?
In the TCM organ clock, 3–5 a.m. is the lungs’ time. Early-morning waking during fall often reflects Lung Qi issues, unprocessed grief, or dryness patterns. Night sweats, racing thoughts, or waking with a tight chest at this hour are all signals worth addressing with your acupuncturist.
Is it safe to come in for acupuncture if I’m pregnant or recently had a loss?
Yes, with pregnancy-appropriate protocols. All Acupuncture Denver practitioners are ABORM board-certified in reproductive medicine and are experienced with pregnancy-safe point protocols. For patients who have recently experienced loss, we often adjust the pace and depth of sessions — slower, gentler, more spaciousness in the room. There is no “right time” to come back; whenever you are ready, you are welcome.
What if my grief feels more than TCM can hold?
Please reach out to a mental health professional. TCM supports grief as part of an integrated whole, but it does not replace mental health care. If grief is immobilizing, if you are having thoughts of self-harm, or if symptoms have been severe for 12+ months and worsening, please contact a licensed therapist, your physician, or call/text 988 (U.S. Suicide & Crisis Lifeline). For perinatal loss specifically, Postpartum Support International (1-800-944-4773) and Return to Zero: HOPE (rtzhope.org) are excellent resources.
References
- Quenby, S., Gallos, I. D., Dhillon-Smith, R. K., et al. (2021). Miscarriage matters: the epidemiological, physical, psychological, and economic costs of early pregnancy loss. The Lancet, 397(10285), 1658–1667.
- Smith, C. A., Armour, M., Lee, M. S., Wang, L.-Q., & Hay, P. J. (2018). Acupuncture for depression. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Issue 3. (SMD −0.66 for depression severity, 95% CI −1.06 to −0.25; evidence rated low certainty.)
- Chen, B., Wang, C. C., Lee, K. H., Xia, J. C., & Luo, Z. (2023). Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Research in Nursing & Health, 46(1), 48–67.
- American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Prolonged Grief Disorder. DSM-5-TR.
- Maciocia, G. (2015). The Foundations of Chinese Medicine (3rd ed.). Elsevier. (Standard foundational text on Five Element theory, including Metal and the Lungs.)
- Bensky, D., Clavey, S., & Stöger, E. (2004). Chinese Herbal Medicine: Materia Medica (3rd ed.). Eastland Press. (Reference for Yu Ping Feng San, Bai He Gu Jin Tang, Mai Men Dong Tang, and other fall-relevant formulas.)
- National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Acupuncture: Effectiveness and Safety.
Medical disclaimer: This article is for educational purposes only and is not a substitute for personalized medical or mental-health care. If you are grieving a pregnancy loss, infant loss, or other significant loss and are struggling, please reach out to a licensed mental health professional in addition to integrative care. If you are in crisis or experiencing thoughts of self-harm, call or text 988 (U.S. Suicide & Crisis Lifeline) immediately, or contact Postpartum Support International at 1-800-944-4773 for perinatal-specific support. Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine should be provided by a licensed, board-certified practitioner, in coordination with your medical team.
