Winter is a time of stillness- nature’s energy has turned in. It is a time to sleep more, to eat warm foods, keep the kidneys warm, rest and reflect.
Perspective of Traditional Chinese medicine on winter
Winter offers the opportunity to become aware of your inner world and notice what is left of your reserves. It is a time to nurture and fill up your energy tank, to consciously choose to do less and turn your focus inward.
When spending all your energy there will be nothing left, not enough substance, trust, courage and strength of will- you might start to feel fear. Fear of being with what is and not having enough of what is needed to move forward once spring comes along.
In a society that is always super-busy (and raises the bar constantly) containing our energy within ourselves can be challenging. We often spend all our daily energy by multitasking, rushing, being on the phone while shopping, etc. and feeling exhausted and mentally drained at night. What if we left a little energy in our ‘bank account’ every day instead?
Now in winter, we can reflect on this, reflect on how we spend our energy in our daily lives.
The kidney and urinary bladder organ systems are associated with season of winter
According to Traditional Chinese medicine, every season is associated with an organ system. The organ system consists of a yin organ (they store vital substances) and yang organs (more have active function of constantly filling and emptying). Every organ system exerts an effect on both the physical body but also the emotional self.
The kidneys are the Yin organ, they store our essential energy - as the powerhouse of our body they supply energy to any other organ system when in need. The kidneys in TCM govern the low back and the knees. When the water element is depleted we may experience exhaustion or feel overwhelmed as we struggle to cope physically and emotionally without healthy energy reserves to fuel us. As mentioned before, the kidneys are associated with fear when imbalanced.
Yin Yoga + acupressure to support the water element
The first acupressure point of the Kidney meridian, Kidney 1 located on the soles of your feet, helps with grounding- since Kidney 1 on the base of your foot is where the energy of the earth enters the body.
Also called ‘bubbling spring’, Kidney 1 influence the nervous system and can bring a deep calm as it is decreasing the stress response. The Kidney 1 point can be easily added to any kind of foot massage combined with Yin Yoga practices, see an example below.
Please note that this point might be contraindicated in pregnancy!
Find Kidney-1 point on one foot (see descriptive picture at bottom of page), then apply some pressure and massage for a minute. Do the other side as well, then place the soles of the feet together and fold forward into Badda Konasana (use props for head: bolster or blocks).
Toe tuck: from an all fours position, tuck your toes under and slowly walk hands back. They might stay on the floor or you take hands onto your lap, sinking weight beck for your Toe squat- a great way to stretch out the plantar fascia of our feet and put a load on the joints of the toes.
Massage the plantar fascia in a standing position, using a little massage ball underneath the soles of your feet (around the area of Kidney 1, rolling both forward and back and sideways like a windscreen). This can help loosen up some of the myo-fascial strains along the backs of the legs. Try folding forward after you massaged only one foot- you will feel a difference! Then do the other side and fold forward into a dangling shape once more, releasing the head.
Yang part: Bladder
The bladder being the Yang organ in this system, removes water from the body and this process needs energy from its paired yin organ, the kidneys. In TCM it also plays a role in regulating or balancing the nervous system (sympathetic and parasympathetic response/balance).
The bladder meridian is actually the longest meridian in the body: it runs from the inside corner of the eye over the top of the head, down the neck and the back on either side of the spine, down the back of the leg to the little toe - along this way you can nicely influence this meridian with Yin stretches or massage tools.
Here are three more Yin poses to stimulate the kidney/bladder organ system:
Caterpillar (Paschimottanasana) forward fold - nicely affects the whole back line of the body and soothes the nervous system
Sphinx - compresses the tissues in your low back
Butterfly forward fold - soles of feet touching, inner seams of legs open, back line partially stimulated.
If you like to explore acupressure with Yin Yoga, this
free ACU-Yin Yoga mini-course
might be for you!
Give your nervous system a rest with three short Acu-Yin Yoga flows, delivered to your inbox along with some information on the class, intention and acupressure point used.
Looking after our energy levels is crucial, so we don’t exhaust ourselves.
Please note, the information about acupressure points and their benefits are general descriptions, to find out more about these points you might want to see a Chinese medicine doctor or Shiatsu practitioner.
Stay well over winter :-)
X Simone
Location of Kidney 1 point:
