The energy of Winter gives us time to pause and gather strength, to allow us to root and reflect – a perfect way to start a New Year.
Winter is, as it is for all of nature, a time for internal work: meditation, containment, concentration, and the storing of our energy. We use this season for rest, filling and maintaining our reserves; gathering strength for the year ahead. Our ancestors had to conserve what they had canned, salted or preserved before the next growing season. Despite climate control and refrigeration, we are still natural beings connected to natural circadian rythms.
The best medicine now is to conserve our energy. Like the seed that cannot sprout until it has gathered sufficient strength, our ideas and plans cannot manifest with strength if our energy is dispersed or drained.
Winter is a time of stillness and quietude, as it the most inwards of all the seasons – trees in winter look skeletal and outward signs of life have disappeared. There is still work going on, but inside. In this state of deep rest within, energy is collected and held in reserve for the warmer months ahead.
The Energy of Water
Water, the element that corresponds to Winter, points us to that dark, quiet pool within where our essential self-identity resides.
Allowing ourselves to simply be still and quiet, noticing the energy inside ourselves, is to stand in the energy of the Water element. Living in a society of constant “doing,” we expect instant results and immediate answers. But nature has another idea: everything to its season. T’ai chi master Patrick Watson called this “listening ability” – being so still and empty that we can feel and know directly where balance and imbalance exist and how to respond appropriately. This is the wisdom of water: the effortless response to its environment by taking the exact shape of whatever contains it.
Consider for a moment, water and its many forms – soft and still, rapid and rushing, bubbling and boiling, warm and inviting, or cold and frozen.
When a person’s water element is in balance, there’s a sense of flow and ease – they feel connected and in line to their life purpose, and are doing things that “light” them up. There is a sense of forward movement, towards one’s destiny.
When a person’s water element is out of balance, it could be like a rush of water, i.e. a lack of containment/boundaries, fidgeting, and excessive worry. Or there’s a sense of sluggishness, memory loss, lack of ambition, restlessness, fear and anxiety. Conversely, one’s “water” may freeze, i.e. panic and/or agoraphobia.
The Energy of the Kidneys
The Kidneys (also known as the “Root of Life”) is the organ of Winter. As the powerhouse of the body, the Kidneys supply reserve energy to any organ running low on Qi. When we are exhausted, the Kidneys implore us to slow down and conserve energy by getting more rest. As the temperatures drop and the seasons change, the Kidneys become easily stressed and our Kidney qi becomes deficient. It is therefore especially important to nourish the Kidneys during winter (even starting in Fall to help the Kidneys cope with the transition of the changing seasons).
Simply, the Kidneys act like a battery for the body with Winter as the time for recharging.
The Kidneys hold an interesting duality – the left is yin and the right is yang – an orientation of inactivity and activity. Much like the lungs of Fall (i.e. inhale vs. exhale, taking in vs. letting go, with an emphasis on change and alchemy, etc.), the Kidneys set the tone for the season: doing and not doing, envisioning vs. impulsivity, with an emphasis on inward incubation.
As we enter a New Year, in the spirit of new directions and pivots, it may be interesting to note that the Kidneys also hold a special and timely meaning with associations concerning one’s life-purpose.
Will: Kidney yin and Kidney yang, respectively are the “life” and “force” to the phrase ‘life-force.” This life-force is essentially, the energy exuded in one’s “’will to live.”
Power: The Kidneys are symbolized by the image of a stretched bow and arrow. Though not the bow and arrow itself, but the strength behind it. The power of the Kidneys is the ability or possibility of producing something, an effect.
Destiny: Kidney qi is thought to be the driving force towards the realization of one’s destiny. Kidney yin energy governs inherited genetic essence from one generation to another (past), Kidney yang energy transmits genetic force (future). This combined inherited, surging force is believed to be on the level of heightened sensory awareness and intuitive wisdom, transcending the power of our senses, and connecting to “other.”
To harness the power and potential of the season, we invite you to embrace Winter’s energetics – rest, sit in stillness and solitude, and listen. When we rest enough, still our minds enough, and be in quietude, then we are able to listen to our truth and the wisdom that lies within. By intuiting what’s next, we are tapping into our inner Wisdom. Only with this can we trust we have the wherewithal to move forward on our spirit and heart’s path.
