Chinese Medicine offers a wealth of knowledge for living harmoniously and thriving in each season. Winter in Chinese Medicine is the most yin season, it is cooler, darker, our energy tends to be less driven towards outward pursuits and more content curled up with a blanket, a book (or movie) and a cuppa. The wisdom of Chinese Medicine asks us to follow these instinctual shifts, and enjoy this season of replenishment, rest, and restoration.

Here are four simple tips to help you welcome winter and enjoy the season.

Socks

Winter in Chinese Medicine is associated with the Kidney’s. The Kidney channel starts on the soul of the feet and then moves upwards through the legs and into the torso. Wearing socks helps to keep this energetic channel warm and nourished. This is particularly important for fertility as we often say in Chinese Medicine ‘warm feet, warm womb’! Keeping your feet warm reduces the cold traveling up the channel which may also help prevent stiffness of the back and painful or irregular periods. Keeping your lower back covered is also recommended.

(Please note: Organs in Chinese Medicine are not like organs in western medicine- they may relate to some of the same physical functions but will also include a broader idea of the organ’s energetic functions, mental and emotional aspects.)

Rest

Winter is a time to nourish our Yin, listen to those instinctual pulls to go out a little less, take your time with a slower morning and enjoy an early night. This desire to slow down also extends to the movement we do, walking, yoga, slow and steady training will feel more pleasing and natural for your body. Remember there is a season for everything, so more high intensity, heavier weights, and longer sessions will be back before you know it. 😉

Warm Nourishing Foods & Drinks

In Chinese Medicine we think of digestion as a fire. We want to keep it burning strong to breakdown and receive the nourishment from all of the delicious foods and drinks we consume. As the weather turns colder, if we are consuming cold food and drinks our digestion will have to work harder to get the nourishment from these foods. As the body is already working hard to keep us warm and fight off the sniffles that are going around office, we want to support it receiving the fuel for these tasks as best we can. Thus, winter is the perfect time for slow cooked meals, soups, bone broth, porridge with stewed fruits and warm herbal teas.

Yin Yoga

One of the emotional aspects of the Kidney’s in Chinese Medicine is our ability trust our intuition and inherent wisdom. Winter asks us to grant ourselves the time to turn inward and begin to establish or strengthen our practices to reconnect us to this inner knowing.

Often the unease people feel in winter is due to the way life naturally slows down, we have become so used to the business and the noise it can be hard to enjoy the calm and the quiet and richness that lies within it. One of the reasons I love Yin Yoga is because it helps us to learn to be okay with these pauses in-between life happening. The physical practice of Yin asks us to come into different shapes with our body, (most of) which are support on the floor with all the bolsters, blankets, and variations we need to feel supported as we work with a particular area of the body. From there, whether we have done yin yoga once or thousands of times, we never quite know what will unfold. The practice of yin yoga asks us to sit in a state of being, instead of doing; and to notice, listen, and experience. When we fight this invitation, the practice becomes more uncomfortable, annoying even, we are just waiting for each shape to be over. Winter is the yin yoga of the seasons, we can fight it, complain about it, crave the warmth and energy of summer but then we are missing it’s magic. The magic of winter is its calm, its slowness, its introspection, its rest. Winter is the space to nourish, restore and replenish ourselves for journey of what’s to come.