Winter, a Time to Nourish Your Yin Energy
Our body is transforming through the cycle of the seasons. With summer at the peak of Yang energy (warming, dynamic and masculine), we are now entering the prime of Yin energy (cooling, fluid and feminine) in winter, a time to reflect and go deeply inward. It is an opportunity to release and tend to our stillness.
Winter Stillness
Winter blesses us with stillness; as creative beings, it is a time to nourish our deep reserves. Hence, we have fertile ground for new seeds to bloom and flourish in the Spring, gathering our strength to stay warm in this deep Yin time and be ready to sprout, living in harmony with nature as we are nature!
In Traditional Chinese medicine, Winter is represented by the element of Water, the depths below the surface, and darkness. Water can flow and overcome any obstacles. Like rivulets running down the side of a mountain, gathering momentum, until those tiny rivulets form a stream, forever flowing, making their way through any obstacles, changing their depth and shape, and moving on. Our energy can resemble a mighty river or a trickling stream, the waves of the ocean, or gentle rain. To understand the attributes of water in ourselves, we can think of the many ways water represents itself in nature. The Water Element is the Most Yin of all the Elements.
Water is the Realm of Fear, Drive, Ambition, Flexibility and Willpower.
We look at the Kidney and Bladder, which represent the channels belonging to water and winter. The two channels draw energy downward and inward, anchoring the qi (energy) into the body. They correspond with the lower back and lower extremities, and we see signs of aging.
The emotions that correspond with the organs of the Kidney and Bladder are fear and anxiety, most evident when the body is not in balance. When in harmony, the emotions correspond with willpower, a sense of awe, and life flow. Nourishing our Yin energy brings balance.
Nourishing Yin Energy
Nourishment of Yin is replenished with Yin yoga, a deeply relaxing practice to calm the nervous system to allow the body to reach deep states of relaxation, preserving muscles and distributing warmth and fluid. Taking walks in nature, activities that bring stillness, moving away from the busyness of life. Reading, sleeping longer, keeping warm with layers, ensuring your kidneys are wrapped in warmth, and covering your neck with a scarf to keep the coolness from entering, which can cause cold and flu. It is a time to keep your feet warm with woolly socks, as the Kidney channel begins on the plantar of the foot. Cold Kidneys can result in bladder infections and UTIs.
The Benefits of Acupuncture and Breathwork in Winter
Acupuncture with breathwork, a still of meditative stillness, with slow breaths down to your dan tian (lower belly), moving through your heart with each breath, allows the energy to descend and anchor. When we anchor the body, we receive nourishment throughout the body. In the clinic, Melinda combines acupuncture with moxibustion (moxa), a deep heat therapy using a mugwort herb benefiting the kidneys and reduces cold within the body.
Working with clients, creating support with acupuncture and breathwork, a style of care that allows for transformation, balancing out the mindbody, transforming the physical, emotional and spiritual, leaving space to move through the change with ease and guidance.
Food As Medicine
Foods for Winter are required to support the kidneys, the water element and the colour black. We use salt as a way of drawing energy inward. Many foods and flavours to help warm the body through winter are listed below to add to your meals. Think foods that are slow-cooked, with warm winter teas to drink.
Black sesame seeds and seaweeds (dulse, kelp, nori, wakame, and kombu) give nourishing minerals for kidney health
Black tahini, aduki beans, black lentils, black rice, and amaranth
Salty foods like miso and umeboshi plum vinegar
Replace table salt with sea salt to draw the energy inward
Hearty warm soups, stews, whole grains
Tea - like warming chai
Spices that are warming, cinnamon, black pepper, fenugreek, star anise, cloves
Roasted nuts, walnuts
Cooking with garlic, onions, fennel, and ginger
Incorporate Reishi and cordyceps into your tea or take them as supplements; we have them in the clinic
Melinda Webb, the founder of Beattie Street Health Studio, is a Dr Chinese medicine working in Japanese and Chinese acupuncture. She combines her Buteyko Breathwork skills entwining them to work with clients for positive outcomes for health and wellbeing.
