Many people associate winter with: colder weather, storms, snow, holidays, family, gifts, New Year’s etc… Farmers and gardeners are aware that this is the time of year to cultivate and harvest certain frost and freeze friendly fruit and vegetables such as beets, cabbage, broccoli, broccoli rapini, cauliflower, clementines, grapefruit, kiwi and mandarin oranges just to name a few.

This is also the time of year when we begin to notice an increase in the common cold, flu, respiratory infections and other “winter” or cold weather ailments. Those with arthritis are particularly fretful during this season as the daily fluctuation of temperature directly impacts their symptoms and sensations.

What are the greater implications of this season and how does the season impact our health and well-being? Is there a connection between the winter season and the preceding autumn or succeeding spring seasons?

For these answers, lets look at what Huang Di stated in one of the oldest books in the world, the great classic of Taoism, “The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of the Internal ” the Neijing Suwen:

“During the winter months all things in nature wither, hide, return home, and enter a resting period, just as lakes and rivers freeze and snow falls. This is a time when yin [energy] dominates yang [energy]. Therefore one should refrain from overusing the yang energy. Retire early and get up with the sunrise, which is later in winter. Desires and mental activity should be kept quiet and subdued. Sexual desires especially should be contained, as if keeping a happy secret. Stay warm, avoid the cold, and keep the pores closed. Avoid sweating. The philosophy of the winter season is one of conservation and storage. Without such practice the result will be injury to the kidney energy. This will cause wei jue, consisting of weakness, atrophy of muscles, and coldness in spring, manifesting as paralysis, wei/flaccid syndrome, arthritis, or degeneration of the bones and tendons. This is because the body has lost its ability to open and move in the spring. (Maoshing Ni, p. 6)”

If we do not properly retreat and store our energy during the winter months, then our body will have a difficult time, opening up in spring. This is also seen in nature when plants grow or sprout prematurely only to die in early spring, since they exhausted their vital energy.

Let us observe and follow the Natural Laws at work and use this time to bring our energy inward, nourish our roots, and warm the interior; in the same manner that trees pull their energy into their deep roots to survive the coldest and harshest of winters. In spring, life will begin to emerge and we can once again safely begin to increase our activity and energy levels. As you will see in a future article, spring appears much earlier than our calendars indicate.

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