WINTER
While it’s been a mostly dry and sunny winter so far in Portland, it seems the cold has officially found us. Winter time, according to the Huang Di Neijing, is a time where all things in nature go inward, return home, and enter a resting period. During the winter months the yin qi in our environment dominates the yang qi, meaning there is less yang qi available to bolster us. With that in mind, it’s recommended to practice energy conservation. Some ways to put that concept into practice are to lean into gentle exercise practices instead of high intensity exercise that make you produce a lot of sweat, and protect yourself from the cold by wearing a lot of layers and making sure your head and neck are covered while outside. In winter it’s also recommended to get more sleep by getting to bed earlier closer to sunset and rising later with the sunrise. Due to the excess of cold in our environment, it’s best to avoid raw or cold food and drinks. Lean into warming spices like cinnamon and ginger while cooking, drink warm beverages, and eat easy to digest foods like congee or soups.
Another way to think about winter is through the lens of five phase theory. Winter is associated with the Kidneys. Chinese medical theory Kidney can be thought of as the foundation or savings account of the body, and there are ways to bolster the Qi of this system during the cold months. One way is to eat foods that nourish this phase, those include black sesame seeds, walnuts, black beans, black lentils, goji berries, and adding salt to your foods or electrolytes to your water. The emotion associated with winter is fear, and the way to remedy fear is to practice gratitude. Gratitude in practice could take many forms, it could look like taking a moment before eating a meal to internally or externally express gratitude for your food, starting a small journal where you write down one thing you are grateful for per day, or doing a gratitude-based meditation once (or multiple times) per week. Personally, I’ve been feeling immense gratitude for this community and how much love and kindness comes through the doors at The Mend.