Prša Roszak Wellness

物の哀れ (mono no aware) • the tender ache of things, because they don't last.

I found this tucked inside The Tale of Genji, the world's first novel, where the word "aware" appears more than a thousand times, almost once a page. Centuries later, scholar Motoori Norinaga called it the true essence of literature itself.

Chinese medicine has been saying something similar for a very long time. Wood becomes Fire. Fire becomes Earth. Earth becomes Metal. Metal becomes Water. Water becomes Wood again. Nothing in the Five Elements holds still, and maybe that's the point.

You don't have to hold on tightly for something to matter. It mattered because it moved through you.

The full thought continues in the swipe. Sources sit on the last slide, I like to show my working. 🌸

(Background reading: Marra, The Poetics of Motoori Norinaga — University of Hawaii Press; Bushelle, "The Poetics of Nativism," Monumenta Nipponica.)

Dr Rebecca Prša-Roszak
Doctor of Chinese Medicine
Five Element Dietary Therapist

Cherry blossom season in Nara. A few weeks a year, and then it’s over.

There’s something about standing under a tree like this that slows you right down. You can’t rush past it, you just have to look up. Spring works a bit like that too, it doesn’t ask permission, it just starts moving.

Spring is starting to stir across Australia now, more light, more energy, and for some of us, a little more restlessness before it settles.

A few more thoughts are blooming too. Slower than the blossoms, but on their way.

Doctor of Chinese Medicine
Five Element Dietary Therapist
Prša Roszak Wellness

Li Chun 立春.

Beginning of Spring.

If you’ve felt a little more wired, restless, or short-fused this week .. you’re not imagining it.

Research shows the rapid increase in spring daylight forces your serotonin and melatonin systems to recalibrate, and that shift is linked to more irritability, disrupted sleep, and anxious energy as the season turns.

TCM mapped this centuries ago, in a different language.

Spring belongs to the Liver > the organ system responsible for keeping Qi flowing smoothly through the body.

Flowing well: clarity, patience, ease.

Stuck: frustration, tension, that wired-but-tired feeling.

For the women I work with … usually juggling full calendars with little room to slow down … this here is often the moment digestion gets sluggish, sleep gets lighter, and patience runs thin.

A few small things help:

*More green on the plate
*Gentle movement first thing
*Letting yourself wake slightly earlier as the light does.

What is your body asking for this week?

Doctor of Chinese Medicine
Five Element Dietary Therapist
Prša Roszak Wellness

Sascha had been waiting for me since late afternoon.

By the time I found him on the street in Tokyo, the cold had crept in slowly, the way it does, and he was shaking.

Not dramatically. Just that deep, bone-level cold that settles in when you’ve been outside too long and your body has quietly been giving everything it has to stay warm. I insisted he put my scarf on.

We found a small restaurant just across the street. Dark wood, warm light, bowls of deep, nourishing food. We sat down and just ... let the warmth come back in.

Watching him slowly stop shaking made me think about how often we do this.

We don’t notice the cold coming. We push through. We keep going. And by the time we realise we’re depleted, we’ve been standing in the cold for hours.

In Chinese medicine, this is a Kidney story.

The Kidney governs your deepest reserves of energy, the ones your body draws on when everything else is running low. Cold depletes it faster than almost anything else.

And what restores it? Warmth. Depth. Nourishment.

Foods like bone broth, miso, black beans, walnuts, black sesame. Slow cooked. Warm. Simple.
Not a quick fix. A return.

If the cold has been creeping up on you this winter, in your body, your energy, your mood, this is worth paying attention to.

In this instance, his body wasn’t failing. He had just been standing outside too long.

Rebecca Prša-Roszak 🌿 Doctor of Chinese Medicine · Five Element Dietary Therapist Seasonal Chinese medicine consultations online — link in bio

June is the beginning of winter in Chinese medicine.

Not just a change in temperature … a change in direction. The energy of the natural world moves downward and inward. And your body, whether you’re conscious of it or not, is doing the same.

In Chinese medicine this is the season of the Kidney … the deepest, most foundational energy in the body. The Kidney governs your vitality, your stress response, your deepest reserves of energy. It is what you draw on when everything else is depleted.

Winter is not the time to push harder. It is the time to store, to rest, to go inward.

This runs completely counter to how most of us have been taught to treat our bodies.

Over the coming weeks I’ll be sharing what Chinese medicine understands about winter... the foods that support you, the patterns that become visible this season, and why the tiredness, the low mood, or the recurring immune dips you experience every year might be telling you something worth listening to.
If you’ve been curious about Chinese medicine but never quite known where to start, this season is a good place.

Rebecca Prša-Roszak 🌿 Doctor of Chinese Medicine Five Element Dietary Therapist
Seasonal Chinese medicine consultations online… link in bio

Winter arrived quietly this week.

Not with drama … just that particular cold in the morning air, the way the light sits lower, the way the body wants to slow down before the mind is ready to let it.

In Chinese medicine, we’re entering the season of the Kidney … the deepest, most foundational energy in the body. Winter is not the time to push harder. It’s the time to store, to rest, to go inward.

This runs completely counter to how most of us have been taught to treat our bodies.

Over the coming weeks I’ll be sharing what Chinese medicine understands about winter … the foods that support you, the patterns that become visible this season, and why the tiredness, the low mood, or the recurring immune dips you experience every year might be telling you something worth listening to.

If you’ve been curious about Chinese medicine but never quite known where to start, this season is a good place.

Welcome to winter. 🌑

Rebecca Prša-Roszak 🌿
Doctor of Chinese Medicine Five Element Dietary Therapist
Seasonal Chinese medicine consultations online (link in bio)

After a quieter chapter, I’m reintroducing PRW.

Prsa Roszak Wellness is moving into a more focused online space, supporting Australian-based patients through Chinese Medicine consultations, Five Element dietary therapy, herbal medicine guidance and seasonal health education.

This next chapter is about returning to the foundations of Chinese Medicine: observing the body in relationship with food, digestion, emotions, climate, daily rhythm and seasonal change.

Seasonal care is not one-size-fits-all.

In Chinese Medicine dietary therapy, we consider more than the calendar date. We look at the person, the climate they are living in, their constitution, digestion, energy, sleep, stress, appetite, temperature and current presentation.

My work will continue to centre around practitioner-led education, food therapy, herbal medicine support and practical seasonal guidance for Australian-based patients online.

Thank you for being here as PRW enters this next chapter.

— Rebecca
Doctor of Chinese Medicine
Five Element Dietary Therapist
Prsa Roszak Wellness

The Lunar New Year marks a shift in annual Qi.

A change in the underlying rhythm that shapes how we move through the year ahead.

This moment is less about momentum and more about attunement.

Noticing pace.
Listening before acting.
Allowing direction to emerge rather than forcing it.

In East Asian medicine, beginnings are approached with care.

How we enter a cycle matters just as much as what we do within it.

Presence before pace.
Direction without urgency.

Rebecca Prša Roszak
Dr of Chinese Medicine
Seasonal medicine · Attunement · East Asian medicine