keeping Winter safe

According to Chinese Medical Theory, The emotion associated with winter is “Fear” and its element is Water.

When our Kidney Qi (Chi) is balanced within us, fear is a healthy emotion, keeping us alert to our surroundings, prompting us to take action and keeping us safe, though when it is out of balance, this fear can manifest in a variety of ways, leading to unbalanced responses that can lead to familiar issues causing problems in the family or your community.

As the season changes to Winter, our Acupuncturists at Iwood Health are prepared to help you transition the seasonal change, and to bring you into Winter with an emotionally and physically healthy attitude.During spring and summer, nourish our Yang.

Focus on going ‘outward’, flourishing and using your energy to grow.

During autumn and winter, nourish our Yin.
Focus on going ‘inward’, resting, storing and restoring

Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic 黄帝内经

The three months of winter is the time referred to as “shuttering and storing”. The winter freezes and the earth cracks. Don’t expand your Yang.
Go to bed early and rise late! Wait for the sunlight to stir and make your will appears if you are going into hiding. Avoid the cold and stay close to the warmth. Do not allow overt sweating and avoid extreme Qi deprivation.
This is the way of responding to the Qi of the winter and the way of nurturing storage. If you go against it, you will injure the Kidney Qi and lack the provisions required to support sprouting in the spring.
(translated by Sabine Wilms, Humming with Elephants)

TCM Winter Food
Warming food like soup and stews
Salty foods
Small amounts of slightly bitter/cooling food
Black colour (Kidney) foods

Winter Teas
Dried Ginger (+ Red Date) tea
Longan + Red Date + Goji tea
Citrus Peel (Chen Pi) tea
Osthmanthus or rose Flower tea
Masala Chai

Conclusion

• – Please take this time to rest and restore. You can take things slow.
• – Be kind to yourself.
• – Please go to bed early and you are encouraged to wake up late! Yay!
• – Keep yourself warm, especially in the ‘Kidney’ (lower back) region.
• – Drink warm tea and soup.
• – Eat food that are warming and nourishing, black colour food and a small amount of slightly bitter/cooling food.

In Chinese Medicine there is a famous concept that goes:
During spring and summer, nourish our Yang.
Focus on going ‘outward’, flourishing and using your energy to grow.

During autumn and winter, nourish our Yin.
Focus on on going ‘inward’, resting, storing and restoring

So Winter is all about nourishing our Yin. The “Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic” one of our oldest acupuncturist text books dating from around 2200 years ago says. “The three months of winter are the time referred to as “shuttering and storing”. The winter freezes and the earth cracks.”

It is suggested to “Go to bed early and rise late! Wait for the sunlight to stir. and make your will appear as if you are going into hiding. Avoid the cold and stay close to the warmth, and avoid extreme Qi wastage and overt sweating.

This is the way of responding to the Qi of the winter and the way of nurturing storage. If you go against it, you will injure the Kidney Qi and lack the provisions required to support sprouting in the spring.

In this modern day with central heating, and a warmer climate we do not need to be so strict in these ways, but we do need to be wary of the cold by wrapping up warm when outdoors.