Winter: Welcoming a Season of Rest, Reflection and Conservation
“Life meanders like a path through the woods. We have seasons when we flourish and seasons when the leaves fall from us, revealing our bare bones. Given time, they grow again.”
One of the most important concepts of Traditional Asian Medicine is balance and living in harmony with our own nature and that of the natural world. When we live in harmony, life flows freely with the seasons and natural cycles. Right now we are entering the season of Winter where the darkness and the cold encourage us to slow down, replenish our energy, and conserve our strength.
“During the winter the earth becomes a seed. Dead on the surface, it’s potential frozen deep within”
Winter is ruled by the Water element, which is reflected in the the Kidneys, Bladder, and Adrenal Glands. The Kidneys are said to be the source of all the Qi (energy) of the body and they store the Qi and the Jing (essence). The Jing, like the seed in winter, contains all the potential for unfolding of our life. It is said that the sage knows the quality and quantity of all available resources throughout life, so that they may used wisely to empower the fulfillment of our destiny.
During the winter months we are encouraged to become like the sage, nurturing and nourishing our Kidney Qi, protecting our deepest most treasured and most finite resources, as it is the time when energy can most easily be depleted. If you notice yourself feeling fatigued or burned out, remember that our bodies are instinctively seeking the natural principles of winter — rest, reflection, and conservation.
If we remain introspective, restful, and honor ourselves by going to sleep early, staying warm, and expending a minimum quantity of energy, we will consolidate our Qi and be prepared for an outburst of new life and energy in the spring.
“The wise nourish life by flowing with the four seasons and adapting to cold or heat, by harmonizing joy and anger in a tranquil dwelling, by balancing yin and yang, and what is hard and soft. So it is that evil cannot reach the man of wisdom, and he will be witness to a long life. ”
Winter is Yin in nature: inactive, cold, and damp. Cold, like overexertion may damage the healthy functioning of the Kidneys and the Water element and by inhibiting the mingmen fire or “life gate fire.” This fire is the source Yang Qi and fuels all the body’s activity. During the Winter/Water season we use warm, and sometimes “spicy” foods to tend mingmen fire as cold surrounds us. We also utilize slightly sweet (to support the digestion and the Middle Jiao), and salty flavors along with darker or black-toned foods (which enter the kidney channel), hearty soups, whole grains, and roasted nuts to keep us warm and well nourished.
Foods for the Season
Recommended foods by Five Seasons TCM
Vegetables: scallion, garlic, carrot, root vegetables, fennel, leek, chestnut, potato, radish, winter bamboo shoots, cooked cabbage, mushroom, asparagus, Chinese yam
Fruits: grape, pomelo, tangerine, mulberry, apple
Protein: black soybean, walnut, black sesame, sunflower seeds, hempseed, bone broth, lamb, beef, venison
Carbohydrates: black rice, purple rice, glutinous millet, glutinous rice, rye bread, whole wheat flour
Herbal: goji 枸杞, jujube dates 红枣, longan 桂圆, safflower 红花, Chuan Xiong 川芎, Dang Gui 当归, astragalus 黄芪, Sichuan pepper 花椒, turmeric 姜黄, cordyceps 虫草, bay leaf 月桂叶, black pepper 黑胡椒
Others: miso, ginger, cinnamon, spices, black tea
To Limit: iced/cold beverages, raw foods, cold/cooling herbs
