Qin Yueren revives the heir-apparent of Guo. From Zhongguo gudai yixuejia de gushi.

Winter is the time for deep rest. After all of the activity of the previous spring, summer, and fall, which are cycles of growth, maturation, and decline (or decay), respectively, now is the time for slowing down—a perfect taiji thing to do!

In the winter, nature recedes in order to replenish the reserves that were drawn from during the previous seasons. When we have a restful winter, we will have the necessary energy available to us for the upsurge of the coming spring.

If we don’t have a restful winter, one commensurate with the energy of the season, then when it’s time to burst forth with the new growth of spring, we might not be able to summon the vital qi for that next important phase of the year.

Chinese medical theories offer us some clues for keeping balanced. In Chinese medicine, each season is associated with an “element” or “phase” and with various physical characteristics that can help in diagnosis of a person’s disharmony or suffering. Use of these characteristics for diagnosis of underlying causes is based on the principle of “what manifests in nature also shows up within each of us.” We are the microcosm of the macrocosm.

Five Elements Chart

As an example, let’s take a look at winter and its correspondences. Winter is associated with the Water element and, as such, has correspondences to the emotion of fear, the color blue-black, a voice that groans, and a putrid odor. Kidney and Bladder are the organs associated with the Water element.
We can look more closely at the emotion of fear in order to understand how balance and harmony works. Fear, in and of itself, is an important emotion. It alerts us to things or occurrences that might threaten our well-being and safety. In the right situations, fear is an appropriate emotion. But in Chinese medicine, we look for an imbalance of emotional expression, such as an excess of fear: one who is overly fearful about people, places, and things. Or the converse: one manifesting a lack of fear. (The stuntman Evil Knievel comes to mind).

On a very visceral, primitive level, we react with fear to the threats of winter’s arrival as if we were still living in a pre-modern age where we were more exposed to the elements. We are afraid that we might not have enough food to last us until the thaw of spring. Our storehouses might not have enough in reserve due to a bad harvest or imprudent usage. Illness might strike due to exposure to the extreme cold, damp, and wind of wintertime. Or, even more terrifying, there is a primal fear that starving animals might attack.

The Bladder meridian

So what can you do to help yourself during the long, dark days and nights of winter? One thing is to continue cultivating your taiji practice and develop further understanding of its roots in Chinese medicine. Taiji is designed to assist the flow of energy throughout the body. Because of taiji’s very special connected movements, the acupuncture meridians are gently lengthening and opening during practice, thereby helping this miraculous qi to flow through all of the organs. The outcome is a clearing of energetic blocks and strengthening, rebuilding, and balancing the body, mind, and spirit.

Since taiji predominantly uses the legs, and since the Kidney and Bladder meridians together travel the length of the body (see diagrams), it is beneficial to the Kidneys and Bladder to practice taiji. Energetically, the

The Kidney meridian

Kidneys in Chinese medicine are known to house the congenital or prenatal qi. This is the qi that we inherit from our forebears through genetics. Hence it is referred to as our Source qi (yuan qi). We are not able to replenish our Source qi, though when born, we have enough for our lifetimes. We do need to learn ways to conserve and protect it against excess depletion. Women normally lose Source qi (or Essence) through pregnancy and childbirth, men through loss of seminal fluids, and we all lose it through serious illness and, like a clock ticking, we lose it just through living day by day.

The good news is that we can build and purify another type of qi that is available to us: Acquired qi. Source qi is our foundation and the Acquired qi is what surrounds, feeds, and protects it. Acquired qi comes to us in the form of sunlight, air, food, and water. It stands to reason that using the best of these will enhance the quality of our Acquired qi, thereby protecting our precious and limited Source or jing (Essence) qi. Daily living as well as stressful activities can deplete Acquired qi. If your Acquired qi is not ample and strong, this stress will eventually erode your valued Source qi. Taiji also builds and enhances our Acquired qi. Practicing taiji is like building a fortress around our Source qi, ever guarding the precious resources of our Kidney qi.

Keep Warm This Winter Robert W. Schmitt

Counteract the extreme cold and damp by staying warm and by not eating any raw food. Do not drink any iced beverages—drink only hot or room temperature fluids. Eat warming foods such as winter squashes, shrimp, sweet rice, pine nuts, peaches, mustard greens, lamb, coconut milk, chicken, and others that are energetically warming. Use spices such as cayenne or black pepper, ginger, cumin seeds, and coriander. Walnuts are warming and they tonify the Kidneys, check seminal emission, and strengthen sperm. Onions, garlic, and butter also have warming actions. Use warm cereals in the morning as the first food of the day. Eat thick soups and hearty stews. Familiarize yourself with the inherent properties of commonly used herbs, and use in your cooking those that have warming actions. Salt is the taste associated with the Water element. Since we know that salt controls the flow of fluids, notice your cravings for salty food and use only the appropriate amount for your particular needs.

Another focal point related to the Kidney and Bladder energy is the Mingmen (translated as “Gate of Destiny” or “Gate of Life”). This is an acupuncture point located directly on the middle of the spine between the second and third lumbar vertebrae on the Governor Vessel, one of the which runs up the spine. Mingmen is on the same horizontal line with the Kidney’s associated point on the back Bladder meridian.

In women, the Mingmen is the connection point for the reproductive organs and in men it is the storage point for the jing. When you sink and drop your lower back and tailbone, you are actively working the lumbar area of the spine, particularly the Mingmen, giving an internal massage to the primary organs located in this region.

As for the Bladder meridian, found here are special points uniquely and individually associated with each of the organs of the body. Unwanted tension in the back will prohibit the flow of qi throughout all of the organs. It is also interesting to note that the Bladder meridian is the longest of all meridians, with sixty-seven acupuncture points. Ending at the outside edge of the little toe and beginning at the outside corner of your nose (between the nose and inside edge of your eye), it traverses the entire upright length of your body. Therefore, practicing taiji with perpetual mindfulness of relaxation and attention to an erect spine has many positive results.

In fact, taiji’s ultimate acupuncture point, Bubbling Well, the first point on the Kidney meridian, is on the sole of the foot between the second and third metatarsals (see diagram). During the practice of taiji, the feet relax onto the ground, becoming the interface between ground and human. The Bubbling Well point is where our taproot issues forth from the body, an energetic root that connects us to the ground. In more developed taiji players, this root becomes very deep and very strong, most notably apparent during sensing or push hands.

The ancient Chinese had a keen understanding of ways to live in harmony with nature that we can still benefit from today. Living in harmony with nature and the cycles of the seasons assists us in finding balance throughout the year. Since taiji is designed to help us live more in harmony and balance within ourselves and in our world, it lends us many opportunities to put into play some of these age-old ideas in our practice as well as the rest of our lives.

Suggested Readings

Chinese Medicine From the Classics: The Kidneys, Claude Larre, and Elizabeth Rochat de la Vallee, Monkey Press, revised edition, 1992.

The Way of Chinese Herbs, Michael Tierra, Simon and Schuster, 1998.