Storing The Essence
Winter in the northern hemisphere will reach its apex with the solstice on December 21. With cold and brief days, winter can feel harsh and introspective compared to the brimming yang of summer light. However, the healthier we are, the more we value all of the seasons, and the way they represent the cycles of our lives.
Āyurveda, Tibetan Medicine, and Chinese Medicine view seasonal living as the basis of preventative healthcare. Each season brings unique gifts for our health as we learn to live in harmony with these natural changes. In Asian cultures, people typically saw their physician during times of seasonal change, in order to assess their health and to receive dietary and behavioral recommendations. In this article, we will explore how Āyurveda, Tibetan Medicine, and Chinese Medicine understand the nature of winter and how we should live in accordance with its natural laws.
Winter and the Six Seasons of Āyurveda
Āyurveda features a six-season paradigm due to the inclusion of a summer monsoon season and the further division of Autumn and late-Autumn seasons. This six-season cycle is specific to the Indian subcontinent and also a numerological convention for accommodating the tridosha paradigm. In North America, we typically experience four distinct seasons of equal length, and have to consider the ways in which traditional seasonal wisdom applies in our locale.
According to Āyurveda, the doshas exist as a spectrum of manifestation that follows seasonal laws. During each season, one dosha is pacified (or unmanifest), one dosha accumulates (or grows and increases), and one dosha manifests. The manifesting dosha is sometimes called the “aggravating” dosha. This is because the manifesting dosha is naturally predominant in the environment and is thus more likely to cause a pathological accumulation of the same dosha in our bodies.
In Winter, pitta is pacified, kapha is accumulating, and vāta is manifesting. Individuals with vāta-predominant constitutions need to take special care during the winter, as vāta is aggravated by the cold and windy qualities of winter. The cold and wet qualities of the winter season are increasing kapha in the background, causing potential kapha imbalances in the Spring if not managed well. Therefore, seasonal guidelines revolve around balancing vāta with warm nourishing food and oil massage, while remaining mindful to prevent secondary kapha imbalances from overconsumption of damp foods.
Winter recommendations in Tibetan Medicine
Tibetan Medicine mostly resonates with the Āyurvedic structure of seasonal doshic flow, the only difference being the Tibetan division of Winter into “early” and “late” (where the Indians divided Autumn). This adjustment is likely due to the longer Winter season of the Tibetan plateau.
On the nature of the winter season as a whole, the Explanatory Tantra of Tibetan Medicine states:
The physical strength of a person is at its peak during the winter, at its lowest during summer and monsoon, and moderate during autumn and spring.
Having established Winter as the peak of vitality, the Tantra continues to describe appropriate seasonal behavior for early Winter:
During early winter, due to the severe cold, the pores of the body close, resulting in an elevation of internal body heat further increased by the action of vāta. One may become physically weak if adequate food is not taken. Therefore, one should eat food consisting of the first three tastes (sweet, sour, and salty). Long nights can bring hunger and this will further make the body weak. Therefore, massage with sesame oil, partaking of meat broth and oily foods, putting on warm clothes and shoes, using hot compresses, sitting close to the fire, basking in the sun, and staying in a double-walled earthen house.
Rather than providing a separate regimen for late Winter, the Tantra simply refers back to recommendations for early Winter, stating: “During late winter, when weather becomes extremely cold, the above activities are highly recommended”.
Traditional medical wisdom affirms that seasonal shifts manifest real changes in our bodies. In response to the external cold, our internal heat grows stronger, making our digestive fire capable of digesting the heavier foods that are needed at this time of year. The sun rises later in the morning and sets earlier in the day, making it natural for us to sleep more at night. These three—seasonal foods, healthy digestion, and quality sleep—become the cornerstones of rejuvenation.
Winter recommendations in Chinese Medicine
In contrast to the six seasons of Indo-Tibetan medicine, Chinese medicine describes 5 seasons, with a division of Summer and Late-Summer. Each season corresponds to an element in the natural cycle of the five elements.
In Chinese medicine, winter corresponds to the Water element, the Kidneys and Bladder, the color blue, the sound of groaning, the putrid odor, and the emotion of fear. The Water element represents our reserves, the deep inner resources and essence-energies that are the root of our vitality. It is a time of storage, preservation, and introversion that roots and nourishes our vital energy so that we can truly sprout in the Spring.
The Yellow Emperor’s Classic gives the following description of appropriate winter behavior:
The three months of Winter are called the period of closing and storing. Water freezes and the Earth cracks open. One should not disturb one’s yang.
People should retire early at night and rise late in the morning and they should conceal their wishes, as though they had no internal purpose, as though they had been fulfilled. People should try to escape the cold and they should seek warmth, they should not perspire upon the skin, they should let themselves be deprived of breath of the cold.
All this is in harmony with the atmosphere of Winter and all this is the method for the protection of one’s storing.
Those who disobey (the laws of Winter) will suffer an injury of the kidneys; for them Spring will bring impotence, and they will produce little.
In discussing the “concealing of wishes”, the meaning is to be introverted, to store one’s ambitions and purposes, rather than to make them known. Winter offers the gift of stillness and natural retreat, bringing quiet nourishment to our spirits. By storing our vital energy in the winter, we ensure a creative re-birth in the Spring.
Summary of seasonal advice:
Sleep more—go to bed early and rise with the Sun.
Eat warm and nourishing foods—favoring sweet, sour, and salty tastes.
Drink bone broth, or if vegetarian, lentil soups and veggie broths.
Practice warm oil self-massage (abhyānga) with sesame oil.
Protect the “wind gate” (back of the neck) and “jade palace” (sides of neck) from wind and cold to prevent sickness.
Store ambitions and embrace introversion.
Practice meditation.
Practice gentle exercises such as standing qigong and slow hatha yoga.